Big Data/Mainframe Engineer American Express
New York, NY

Job Description

Why American Express?

There's a difference between having a job and making a difference.

American Express has been making a difference in people's lives for over 160 years, backing them in moments big and small, granting access, tools, and resources to take on their biggest challenges and reap the greatest rewards.

We've also made a difference in the lives of our people, providing a culture of learning and collaboration, and helping them with what they need to succeed and thrive. We have their backs as they grow their skills, conquer new challenges, or even take time to spend with their family or community. And when they're ready to take on a new career path, we're right there with them, giving them the guidance and momentum into the best future they envision.

Because we believe that the best way to back our customers is to back our people.

The powerful backing of American Express.

Don't make a difference without it.

Don't live life without it.

The American Express Global Consumer Services Technology organization is comprised of over 750 passionate, dedicated Technology professionals that support the Global Consumer business at American Express in 32 markets, directing nearly a quarter of the company's total Technology Platform assets and over $300M dollars in annual investment in Technology.

We are looking for a self-motivated Engineer to be part of Innovative Enterprise Solution called Arena to drive, launch and improve as this platform grows.

The Arena Product & Engineering organization is part of American Express' Global Consumer Services Technology unit. As a rapidly evolving and growing organization, our primary mandate is to reimagine how the enterprise performs integration testing within our overall Scaled Agile construct. Our Vision is not to speed up water-scrum-fall delivery methods, but to build the ecosystem and support construct required to make continuous integration an essential part of the lives of our Engineers, Product Owners, business partners and customers alike. In doing so, we will ignite step level change in our strategic agility, speed to market and delivery effectiveness.

The Arena Product & Engineering organization has 3 core Charters of responsibility:

* Engineering the Arena Platform: By building and fully enabling our next generation integration testing ecosystem, this team is the proving ground for re-thinking how we do integration testing at American Express. We are the engineering team responsible for designing & building our always-on, persistent, highly available, heavily engineered and fully automated integration test ecosystem for the enterprise. In addition to the environment itself, this team defines and engineers the tooling & infrastructure responsible for test data, and for maintaining the environment at the level of performance and capacity the enterprise demands.
* Operating the Arena Ecosystem: In addition to setting plans for Arena adoption and accordingly scaling out the Arena ecosystem, we are solely accountable for making it tick. Working hand in hand with their Engineering counterparts, end-to-end program test teams and consumers of Arena, the Operations team are fully responsible for defining its operating cadence, developing & maintaining its highly efficient test execution model, resource construct and underlying support infrastructure. Additionally, this team sets primary product and feature direction for the data model and its' related support, ensuring it meets the ongoing testing needs of all enterprise consumers.
* Defining & Managing the Arena Product Function: Developing & prioritizing the platform and product strategy, capability roadmap, rolling 36 month investment plan, product technical backlog, resource strategy and change and communication strategy is the role of the Arena Product team. Within the product function, the Arena Governance team is responsible for defining and driving the enterprise change to CI testing, while tracking progress against our defined set of Arena program KPI's. This team builds and tracks overall performance against plans for Arena adoption, environment availability, end to end product testing execution, Arena CI platform maturity and Legacy test environment and tool chain wind down. We ensure cohesive communication plans are executed in support of the Arena Vision, helping the franchise turn the corner towards realizing the full benefits of continuous testing.

The integration testing practice landscape across American Express is undergoing unprecedented change that includes rapid development of new and modified technology, tooling, process and data innovations, which are in turn changing the core nature of development methods, testing methods and their related underlying demand for Technology and process innovation.

Key Responsibilities:

* Operationalize of Arena the Ecosystem - Support Product leadership to evangelize the product, platform, environment and its vision both internally and externally, shepherding testable products through the build/test process, advocating to achieve the best outcomes.
* Provide primary input into the Integration Testing Framework - reimaging testing vs. making old ways of working, faster- this framework will set the direction for what, how, when, who and why inside the Arena operating environment.
* Define & Implement Test data management toolsets including Data Self Service and processes
* Obtain feedback on the product, using data, analytics, and customer input, to iterate and drive improvements in future releases of Arena tools, Running the ecosystem
* Our ideal candidate is expected to be adaptable across a wide range of different technology stacks i.e. Mainframe, Big Data, Web and Middleware technology
* Data analysis skills - ability to dig in and understand complex platform data models and Business processes.
* Mentor junior engineers, pair-program with them and model high-performing behaviors for them
* Proven problem-solving / problem-resolution abilities.
* Quickly generate and updating proof of concepts for testing and team feedback.
* Manage your own time and work well both independently and as part of a team.
* Embrace emerging standards while promoting best practices.
* Create a culture of innovation and experimentation, engage in fun and outcome-oriented culture, and always be ready to try new concepts without fear of failure.
* Interpret technical and business objectives and challenges, and articulate solutions by working in partnership with company platforms, enterprise architecture and Implement in Arena.

Experience/Qualification:

* Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other technical discipline preferred, or equivalent work experience required.
* 3 years of software engineering with application development experience, demonstrated track record of launching products/programs with experience in two or more of the following languages: Mainframe, Big Data Stack, Java, Web Technologies
* Experience in rapid application development teams to delivery technology solutions on time, on budget and to spec.
* Working experience in building large scale enterprise systems/products and also should have understanding of a Product Development lifecycle
* Hands-on experience on DevOps technologies and best practices: Continuous Integration and Continues Delivery using tools and automation testing capabilities such as XL Release, IBM Rational, Compuware Workbench, JUnit, TestNG, Jenkins, Git, Stash, Jira etc.
* Strong analytical ability to identify opportunities of improvement and data driven decision-making abilities
* Experience with TDM toolset implementation (inhouse or industry tools) e.g. IBM OPTIM, CA Data Finder, Delphix, Informatica will be a plus
* Working experience in American Express Consumer/Corporate/Commercial/Merchant Services company platforms combined with major product launches will be a plus
* Technical certifications will be a plus

About you:

* You thrive in fast paced environment and gain great satisfaction from solving large scale technical problems.
* You are passionate about DX, end-consumers (our customers) and generating business value.
* You are results-oriented and hold yourself accountable to outcomes.
* You are excellent at balancing competing priorities.
* You solve complex problems with a blend of analytics, stakeholder feedback and intuition.
* Willing to explore/learn new technologies and exploit them to their optimal potential.
* You acknowledge, pivot and recover from your mistakes.
* You operate well under pressure.
* You have high standards of integrity and authenticity, and lead by example.
* You are intellectually curious, resilient, tenacious, and highly collaborative.
* You have a passion for new learning, new technology and maintain a balance of internal and external focus.

Employment eligibility to work with American Express in the U.S. is required as the company will not pursue visa sponsorship for these positions.