Regulatory Counsel, Americas

Airwallex; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex is seeking a Regulatory Counsel to support regulatory matters across the Americas, focusing on payments and financial services licensing, money transmission, and cross‑border product offerings. You will guide licensing and ongoing compliance obligations, partnering with Compliance and Legal teams to drive responsible expansion.

The role requires strong regulatory fundamentals and the ability to translate complex legal requirements into actionable guidance for product and business

Qualifications

• Regulatory fundamentals in fintech and US payment rules.
• Familiarity with licensing, money transmission, and registrations.
• Ability to translate complex legal issues into clear guidance for product and business teams.

Responsibilities

• Support regulatory matters across the Americas, including licenses and registrations.
• Research and summarize developments in payments and financial services regulation.
• Partner with Product Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk and Financial Crime teams on regulatory questions.
• Support licensing, product initiatives, and regulatory mapping for new markets and products.
• Analyze how funds move and identify applicable licensing requirements.
• Provide practical risk assessments and guidance to stakeholders with senior counsel support.
• Coordinate management of external counsel and track deliverables and costs.
• Assist with regulatory filings and responses in relevant Americas jurisdictions.

Skills

Regulatory compliance

US payments law

Licensing & registrations

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Juris Doctor (JD)

Job description

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 250,000 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 2,300 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 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

The Legal, Risk & Compliance (LRC) team at Airwallex is a collaborative group of legal minds and risk management experts. We're passionate about safeguarding Airwallex's operations, fostering a culture of compliance and ethical conduct, and ensuring we navigate the global financial landscape with integrity. We provide expert guidance and support to all areas of the business, proactively identifying, mitigating, and managing legal, compliance and financial risks.

What you'll do

You will be primarily responsible for supporting regulatory matters across the Americas region. This role will focus on advising on regulatory issues relating to payments and financial services, including licensing, money transmission and related requirements, and cross‑border product offerings. You will support licensing, registration and ongoing compliance obligations in relevant Americas markets by helping to assess requirements, develop practical guidance, and partner closely with Regulatory Compliance and other control functions.

As a Regulatory Counsel, you will provide practical legal advice to business and control‑function stakeholders in the Americas. With support and mentorship from senior members of the team, you will own defined regulatory workstreams, contribute to licensing and product initiatives, and build deeper expertise in US payments regulation, money‑transmitter licensing and the regulatory treatment of different payment flows.

This role is well suited to someone who has strong regulatory fundamentals and wants to grow within a fast‑moving fintech environment. You will work on meaningful matters across the US, with opportunities to support regulatory projects in Canada, Mexico and Brazil. The ideal candidate is curious, detail‑oriented, collaborative and comfortable translating complex legal requirements into clear, actionable guidance.

This hybrid role is based in San Francisco or New York.

Responsibilities

• Support regulatory legal matters relating to Airwallex's business across the Americas, including advice on existing licenses and registrations and potential future applications.
• Research and summarize developments in payments and financial services regulation, identifying potential impacts on business operations and strategic objectives.
• Partner with Product Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk and Financial Crime Compliance teams on regulatory questions involving money transmission, stored value, FX, remittance, card issuing and related financial‑services products.
• Support Product, Strategy, Management and Commercial teams on new market entry, license expansion and regulatory mapping for new products and features.
• Analyze how funds move through different payment structures and help identify the applicable licensing and regulatory requirements, escalating complex issues when appropriate.
• Provide clear, practical legal guidance and risk assessments to cross‑functional stakeholders, with appropriate support from senior counsel and external advisers.
• Support the management of external legal counsel and consultants, including preparing instructions, reviewing advice and tracking deliverables and costs.
• Assist with regulatory filings, submissions and responses in relevant Americas jurisdictions in partnership with Regulatory