About Airwallex
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 200,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Rippling, 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 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 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 you’re ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.
Attributes We Value
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 you’re 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.
You're humble and collaborative; turn zero‑to‑one ideas into real products, and you “get stuff done” end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you’ll tackle complex, high‑visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let’s build what’s next.
About the team
Global FCC and Risk Operations at Airwallex is a first-line-of-defence function that runs financial crime and risk operations globally. The org is led by the Head of Global FCC and Risk Operations and spans five pillars: Financial Crime Risk Ops, Risk Operations (Payments), Risk Operations (Cards), Card Credit Risk Ops, and Risk Strategy & AI Enablement.
This role leads the Financial Crime Risk Operations pillar — the largest team in the org — and sits alongside the other pillar leads as a peer. You will partner closely with 2LOD Financial Crime Compliance (including the MLRO function), Regulatory & Compliance, Legal, Risk Product and Engineering, and Commercial leaders across our key markets.
What you’ll do
As Director, Financial Crime Risk Operations, you will own and scale our first‑line financial crime risk operations globally.
You will:
-
Shape our risk culture
Champion high standards for integrity, judgement and documentation in all financial crime operations work.
Act as a senior mentor and thought partner for leaders across the Risk Operations org, 2LOD FCC and Regulatory & Compliance on financial crime and fraud topics..
Who you are
You are an experienced financial crime / fraud operations leader who thrives in high‑growth, high‑ambiguity environments and is excited to build a best‑in‑class first‑line function in a global fintech.
Minimum qualifications
Extensive experience (typically 10+ years) across financial crime risk operations and/or fraud operations, including leadership of multi‑country teams in banks, payments companies or high‑growth fintechs.
Deep knowledge of AML / CTF, sanctions, fraud, KYC, transaction monitoring and investigations processes and controls, and how they map into first‑line operations.
Proven track record leading large‑scale operational teams (managers, investigators/analysts) with clear performance management, coaching and succession planning.
Demonstrated experience designing and running control frameworks, QA and audit‑ready documentation in integrity‑sensitive environments.
Strong partnership experience with 2LOD FCC / MLROs, Regulatory Compliance, Legal, Risk and Product, including on policy implementation, escalations and regulatory engagements
Excellent judgement under uncertainty, able to balance risk, regulatory expectations and commercial realities, and to make clear, well‑reasoned decisions quickly.
Outstanding communication skills – able to distil complex risk topics for senior executives, regulators and cross‑functional partners.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; relevant professional certification (e.g. CAMS, ICA, ACAMS, fraud or AML certifications) is a strong plus.
Preferred qualifications
Experience operating in global payments or cross-border financial platforms, including exposure to complex, multi-jurisdictional financial crime and fraud regimes.
Demonstrated success driving tooling and rule-set evolution with Risk Product / Engineering and data science teams, including ML-enabled controls.
Prior experience engaging directly with regulators or law enforcement on financial crime or fraud topics.
Experience in high-growth, API-first environments where speed, scalability and resilience must coexist.
Applicant Safety Policy: Fraud and Third-Party Recruiters
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 @airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com 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.
Equal opportunity
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 don’t 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.
