Senior Director, Enterprise Risk Management

Airwallex; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex is seeking a Global Lead of Enterprise Risk Management to shape and scale our risk management capabilities across the US and EMEA. The role will focus on translating risk appetite into actionable strategies and ensuring effective governance aligned with business objectives.

The ideal candidate will have 10-15 years of experience in risk-related roles, with specific expertise in compliance and operational risk. Join us in building the global payments and financial platform of the future.

Qualifications

• 10 to 15+ years of experience in risk management or compliance.
• 5+ years leading enterprise risk management or governance programs.
• Strong familiarity with the regulatory environment for electronic money institutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the evolution of Airwallex’s enterprise risk architecture.
• Translate complex risk data into clear reporting for senior executives.
• Oversee risk governance for new products and major systems changes.

Skills

Risk management

Operational risk

Compliance

Governance

Data literacy

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Law, STEM

Tools

Risk assessment tools

Job description

Location

NL - Amsterdam; UK - London

Employment Type

Full time

Department

Regulatory & Compliance, Risk

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.

What you'll do

As Global Lead of Enterprise Risk Management, you will shape and scale Airwallex’s 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 Airwallex’s 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 Airwallex’s next phase of scale with more data-driven and technology-enabled risk oversight.

Who you are

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

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor’s 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, Master’s 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.

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.