Senior Manager, Merchant Risk Operations, APAC

Airwallex; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex in Singapore is seeking an experienced risk operations leader to head the APAC Merchant Risk Operations for Payments. You will own end-to-end operational performance, including SLAs, quality and loss metrics, and customer impact, with a focus on scalable processes across multiple markets.

You will partner with legal, risk and compliance, work with Product and Engineering to evolve risk tooling, champion automation and AI, and drive fraud and chargeback metrics to meet OKRs.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in payments / fintech / acquiring with at least 3+ years people management experiences.
• Deep expertise in one or more of Merchant Risk: credit and fraud risk, brand risk (AUP and compliance management).
• Proven track record managing senior ICs in multi-location teams.
• Operate fast in ambiguity, set clear priorities, drive outcomes in a fast-moving environment.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead APAC Merchant Risk Operations team for Payments.
• Own end-to-end operational performance for APAC merchant risk operations, including SLAs, quality, loss metrics, and customer impact.
• Oversee design and execution of merchant monitoring, investigation and escalation workflows across APAC region.
• Partner with global legal, risk and compliance team to implement new policies and control changes into operations.
• Work with Product and Engineering to evolve risk tooling (rules engines, case management, AI/LLM-based workflows, analytics surfaces).
• Champion automation and AI to reduce manual work, speed up decisions, and improve reviewer effectiveness while maintaining strong control standards.
• Drive the key performance metrics (fraud ratio, chargeback ratio, etc) in MRM team to meet company OKR.
• Proactive stakeholder management including risk, compliance, commercial, product.
• Always challenge the status quo and strive for operational excellence.

Skills

risk operations leadership

payments / fintech / acquiring

people management

data skills

stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Data dashboards

Analytics tools

AI/ML tooling in ops

Job description

What you will do

• Lead APAC Merchant Risk Operations team for Payments
• Own end-to-end operational performance for APAC merchant risk operations, including SLAs, quality, loss metrics, and customer impact
• Oversee design and execution of merchant monitoring, investigation and escalation workflows across APAC region
• Partner with global legal, risk and compliance team to implement new policies and control changes efficiently into operations
• Work with Product and Engineering to evolve risk tooling (rules engines, case management, AI/LLM‑based workflows, analytics surfaces) for higher accuracy and efficiency
• Champion automation and AI to reduce manual work, speed up decisions, and improve reviewer effectiveness while maintaining strong control standards
• Drive the key performance metrics (fraud ratio, chargeback ratio, etc) in MRM team to meet the company OKR
• Proactive stakeholder management including risk, compliance, commercial, product etc.
• Always challenge the status quo and continuously strive for operational excellence

Who you are

You are an experienced risk operations leader who is equally comfortable in the details of complex cases and in board‑level conversations about strategy and risk appetite. You know how to scale teams, influence cross‑functional stakeholders, and build systems that enable both growth and protection.

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:

• 8+ years of experience in payments / fintech / acquiring with at least 3+ years people management experiences
• Deep expertise in one or more of Merchant Risk:
  • credit and fraud risk ( reserves and exposure management)
  • brand risk (AUP and compliance management)
• Proven track record managing senior ICs in multi‑location teams
• Demonstrated ability to operate fast in ambiguity, set clear priorities, and drive outcomes in a fast‑moving, high‑growth environment
• A strong desire to learn about new payment trends and technologies.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

Preferred qualifications:

• Strong analytical and data skills – comfortable using dashboards and data tools to diagnose issues, design experiments, and measure impact
• Experience building or scaling risk operations in a global fintech or top‑tier payments company
• Hands‑on experience partnering with Product/Engineering to design risk tooling or automation, including use of AI/ML/LLMs in operations
• Mandarin language proficiency.

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.