Sr Software Engineer II - Enterprise Architecture

About the role

Enterprise Architecture is an organization within the Chief Technology Office at American Express and a key enabler of the company’s technology strategy. The four pillars of Enterprise Architecture include:

• Architecture as Code: owns and operates foundational technologies leveraged by engineering teams across the enterprise.
• Architecture as Design: provides solution and technical design for transformation programs and business-critical projects needing architectural guidance.
• Governance: defines technical standards and develops innovative tools that automate controls to ensure compliance.
• Colleague Enablement: focuses on colleague development, recognition, training, and enterprise outreach.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deliver scalable, high-quality software solutions across the full stack, leveraging Java and Python for enterprise-grade platforms and services.
• Lead the architecture and implementation of distributed systems, ensuring performance, reliability, and maintainability.
• Own end-to-end delivery of features—from design and development to deployment, monitoring, and support in production environments.
• Act as a senior member of an Agile team, driving best practices in coding standards, testing, documentation, and continuous delivery.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers, providing technical leadership through code reviews, design discussions, and knowledge sharing.
• Collaborate closely with architects, product managers, and cross-functional teams to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Build and evolve RESTful APIs, microservices, and event-driven systems, ensuring strong service contracts and backward compatibility.
• Champion engineering excellence by improving CI/CD pipelines, test automation, and developer productivity.
• Proactively identify system bottlenecks, debug complex issues, and drive root-cause analysis with long-term fixes.
• Design systems for scalability, resilience, and observability, including monitoring, logging, and alerting strategies.
• Contribute to cloud-native adoption, including containerization, infrastructure-as-code, and auto-scaling architectures.
• Influence technical direction and challenge the status quo by proposing innovative, pragmatic solutions.
• Take ownership and accountability for delivering high-impact outcomes aligned with team and organizational goals.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional software development experience with strong expertise in Java and working knowledge of Python for backend or data-driven applications.
• Deep experience with Java ecosystems and frameworks such as Spring, Spring Boot, or equivalent.
• Proven experience in full-stack development, including backend services and modern frontend frameworks (e.g., React, Angular, or similar).
• Strong experience building RESTful APIs, microservices architectures, and service-to-service integrations.
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, scalability, and performance optimization.
• Hands-on experience with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle) and/or NoSQL databases (Cassandra, DynamoDB, MongoDB).
• Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation, etc.).
• Experience with messaging and streaming platforms such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, or JMS.
• Practical experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and cloud-native development patterns.
• Hands-on experience in test data generation and unit test development and execution.

• Preferred:
• Basic understanding of AI/ML concepts and Generative AI technologies, including LLMs, prompt engineering, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).
• Experience with API design standards, OpenAPI/Swagger, versioning, and contract-driven development.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines and tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, etc.).
• Proficiency in Agile/Scrum methodologies and modern software development lifecycle practices.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience (advanced degree is a plus).

Depending on factors such as business unit requirements, the nature of the position, cost, and applicable laws, American Express may provide visa sponsorship for certain positions.

Benefits

• Competitive base salaries and bonus incentives.
• 6% Company Match on retirement savings plan.
• Free financial coaching and financial well-being support.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and disability benefits.
• Flexible working model with hybrid, onsite, or virtual arrangements depending on role and business need.
• 20+ weeks paid parental leave for all parents, regardless of gender, offered for pregnancy, adoption, or surrogacy.
• Free access to global on-site wellness centers staffed with nurses and doctors (depending on location).
• Free and confidential counseling support through the Healthy Minds program.
• Career development and training opportunities.