Senior Director, Enterprise Risk Management

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software we empower over 250000 businesses worldwide including Brex Navan Qantas SHEIN and many more with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts payments spend management and treasury to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne we have a team of over 2300 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 27 offices around the globe. Valued at US$11 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price Visa Mastercard Robinhood Ventures Sequoia Salesforce Ventures DST Global and Lone Pine Capital Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If youre ready to do the most ambitious work of your career join us.

We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact accelerated learning and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking and youre motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment dig deep with curiosity and make decisions from first principles balancing speed and rigor.

Youre humble and collaborative; turn zerotoone ideas into real products and you get stuff done end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here youll tackle complex highvisibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you lets build whats next.

About the team

The Global Risk team at Airwallex plays a critical role in enabling the companys growth by building a strong scalable and globally consistent approach to risk management. The team works across the business to define risk appetite develop frameworks and policies support strategic decision-making and provide oversight of key risks as Airwallex expands across products markets and regulatory environments. Youll be part of a highly collaborative group that partners closely with Product Engineering Operations Commercial Financial Crime Compliance Regulatory Compliance and Legal teams to help Airwallex grow responsibly and with confidence. This is a team where youll tackle complex high-impact challenges shape how risk is managed at a global fintech and help build the foundations for long-term scale.

What youll do

As Senior Director Enterprise Risk Management you will shape and scale Airwallexs enterprise risk management capability across the US and EMEA helping ensure risk management is a strategic enabler of growth rather than a check-the-box exercise. You will translate Board-approved risk appetite into practical decision-making strengthen governance and reporting guide major product and organization changes and help the company stay resilient as it grows across markets products and regulatory environments. You will work closely with the Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer and senior leaders across the business to turn complex risk signals into clear action while building a strong and practical risk culture across the organization.

This role is based in the US or EMEA.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the evolution of Airwallexs enterprise risk architecture including risk appetite taxonomy governance standards escalation protocols and enterprise-wide oversight ensuring the framework remains aligned with business strategy and global growth priorities.

• Translate complex risk data issues and trends into clear decision-useful reporting for the C-suite Board committees and external stakeholders and act as a trusted independent advisor who can challenge initiatives that exceed approved risk appetite or outpace control maturity.

• Oversee risk-informed change governance for new products new markets major systems changes and structural changes ensuring governance supports business velocity while maintaining effective control standards and clear accountability for remediation of material issues.

• Own and continue to strengthen the enterprise crisis management framework including escalation triggers governance and executive response mechanisms while improving preparedness for severe but plausible events across operational regulatory technology and business domains.

• Drive a unified risk-aware culture across the organisation by championing consistent adoption of enterprise risk standards reinforcing first line ownership and promoting risk management as a shared responsibility and competitive advantage.

• Build and lead a high-performing global second line team partnering closely with Product Engineering Operations Commercial Compliance Legal Treasury Finance and regional leadership to support Airwallexs next phase of scale with more data-driven and technology-enabled risk oversight.

Who you are

Were looking for people who meet the minimum requirements for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have but are not mandatory.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Finance Economics Business Law STEM or another relevant quantitative field.

• 10 to 15 years of experience in risk management operational risk enterprise risk compliance controls or audit within financial services fintech payments banking or another highly regulated environment.

• At least 5 years leading enterprise risk management operational risk or governance programmes in a complex matrixed multi-jurisdiction organisation.

• Proven experience designing building or scaling second line of defense frameworks including risk appetite statements risk taxonomies governance processes and escalation mechanisms.

• Strong familiarity with the regulatory environment relevant to electronic money institutions and payments firms including practical exposure to regulators such as the FCA DNB Bank of Lithuania MAS and FinCEN.

• Demonstrated experience preparing risk papers and communicating effectively with senior executives Board or committee audiences regulators or auditors with excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Experience defining crisis or incident governance frameworks and leading or supporting executive-level response to material operational regulatory or business events.

• A high-ownership pragmatic approach with the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities and significant cross-functional collaboration.

Preferred qualifications:

• Advanced degree such as an MBA Masters in Risk Management or JD.

• Professional certification such as FRM PRM CRMA CAMS or CFE.

• Deep fintech and payments experience including exposure to cross-border payments merchant acquiring card scheme environments local payment methods or multi-entity regulated groups.

• Experience managing risk approvals and governance in a high-velocity product and engineering environment where new features products markets or operating models are launched frequently.

• Strong data literacy and comfort using dashboards metrics and technology-enabled tools to support risk oversight and reporting.

• A clear bias toward automation AI and scalable tooling to improve issue management reporting and second line efficiency paired with the judgment to balance innovation business agility and control effectiveness.

To protect you from recruitment scams please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport) or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @ email address. Please apply only through or our official LinkedIn page.

Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition regardless of any other provision to the contrary.

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit qualifications competence and talent. We dont regard color religion race national origin sexual orientation ancestry citizenship sex marital or family status disability gender or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation please let us know.

Required Experience:

Exec