Senior Director, Enterprise Risk Management

Airwallex; London (KY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex is seeking a Senior Director, Enterprise Risk Management to scale risk capability across the US and EMEA, turning risk appetite into practical decision-making and strengthening governance. You will partner with senior leaders to ensure resilience as the company grows in multiple markets and products.

This role is based in the US or EMEA, with a focus on building a robust risk framework and a strong risk culture across the organization, while leading a global second line team and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Law, STEM, or another quantitative field.
• 10 to 15+ years of experience in risk management, operational risk, governance programmes, or audit within regulated environments.
• At least 5+ years leading enterprise risk management or governance programmes in complex organisations.
• Experience designing or scaling second line of defence frameworks, including risk appetite statements and governance processes.
• Strong familiarity with regulatory environments for electronic money institutions and payments firms.
• Experience communicating with senior executives, boards, regulators or auditors with strong written and verbal skills.
• Experience defining crisis or incident governance frameworks and leadership in response to material events.
• High ownership and pragmatism in fast-paced, cross-functional settings.

Responsibilities

• Lead evolution of enterprise risk architecture and governance standards across regions.
• Translate risk data into clear reporting for executives and boards, challenging initiatives within risk appetite.
• Oversee risk-informed change governance for products, markets, and major systems.
• Strengthen enterprise crisis management framework, including escalation triggers and responses.
• Promote a risk-aware culture and first line ownership across the organization.
• Build and lead a high-performing global second line team with cross-functional partners.

Skills

Enterprise risk management

Governance programs

Regulatory awareness

Executive communication

Crisis governance

Cross-functional collaboration

Data literacy

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree (MBA / Risk Mgmt / JD)

Professional certification (FRM / PRM / CRMA / CAMS / CFE)

Tools

Dashboards & analytics tools

Regulatory reporting systems

Job description

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 675,000 businesses, including McLaren Racing, Qantas, SHEIN, and TikTok, use us, directly or through our platform partners, to run their financial operations or build and monetize financial products of their own.

We started in Melbourne in 2015 to build the infrastructure global commerce runs on. We're the regulated backbone behind global payments: not by accident, but by design. A decade plus, 85+ licenses, and a financial infrastructure spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

We're co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, with more than 2,700 people across 27 offices. We hire builders with founder-level energy, people who move fast with good judgment, dig in with real curiosity, and make calls from first principles rather than waiting to be told what to do. Read our operating principles to see it in full.

About the team

The Global Risk team at Airwallex plays a critical role in enabling the company’s 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. You’ll 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 you’ll tackle complex, high‑impact challenges, shape how risk is managed at a global fintech, and help build the foundations for long-term scale.

What you'll do

As Senior Director, 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 organization 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.