Senior Manager, Operations Strategy, Information Security

Airwallex-; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Airwallex, the AI-native financial operating system, is seeking a Senior Manager, Operations Strategy, Information Security, in San Francisco. You will partner with CISO leadership to design operating rhythms, planning processes, and cross-functional programs that elevate security maturity across engineering, IT, GRC, and legal.

You will scale the team of Technical Program Managers and translate complex risk topics into actionable plans.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; top-tier university background preferred.
• 8+ years in strategy and operations, business operations, or related fields in high-growth tech/fintech or regulated environments.
• Experience owning complex cross-functional programs end to end, incl. planning, dependency mapping, execution tracking, risk mgmt, exec reporting.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to deconstruct ambiguous problems and propose pragmatic solutions.
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills; able to communicate with engineers and non-technical executives.

Responsibilities

• Build and run annual and quarterly planning processes for INFOSEC and IT, including roadmap development and risk assessment.
• Coordinate and run QBRs and operating reviews for INFOSEC and IT with clear narratives on progress and risks.
• Implement tracking for INFOSEC OKRs, risk indicators, and maturity metrics within company reports.
• Design operating processes for alert investigations, policy updates, incident management, and other workflows.
• Develop a high-quality INFOSEC knowledge base to support self-service and AI-assisted workflows.
• Manage cross-functional security/IT programs from strategy to delivery, mapping dependencies and ensuring outcomes.
• Establish change-management practices for new security policies and operating models.
• Develop dashboards and automated workflows to improve visibility and scale INFOSEC operations.
• Lead post-incident reviews and translate lessons into durable process improvements.
• Build and coach a team of Technical Program Managers with clear standards for planning and delivery.

Skills

Strategy planning

Cross-functional mgmt

Executive comms

Program management

Security domain knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Job description

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 676,000 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 2,300 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

As Senior Manager, Operations Strategy, Information Security, you will serve as a strategic and operational partner to the CISO and INFOSEC leadership team. You will build the operating rhythms, planning processes, reporting mechanisms, and cross-functional programs that help INFOSEC prioritize effectively, manage risk, and deliver measurable improvements in security maturity. You will work closely with Security Engineering, IT, Engineering, GRC, Legal, and executive stakeholders, translating complex technical and risk topics into clear decisions and actionable plans. You will also build, manage, coach, and grow a team of Technical Program Managers as the function expands. This role is based in San Francisco.

This is a full-time role based in San Francisco.

Responsibilities:

• Build and run annual and quarterly planning processes for INFOSEC and IT, including roadmap development, prioritization, resource planning, and risk assessment exercises.

• Coordinate and run QBRs and other operating reviews for INFOSEC and IT, preparing clear narratives on progress, risks, dependencies, decisions, and required leadership actions.

• Implement tracking and reporting for INFOSEC OKRs, key risk indicators, maturity metrics, and operational health measures, embedding security outcomes into company-wide reports and updates.

• Design, document, and continuously improve INFOSEC operating processes covering alert investigations, service requests, incident management, policy updates, and other core workflows.

• Build and maintain a high-quality INFOSEC knowledge base that improves documentation accuracy, supports employee self-service, and enables AI-assisted security workflows.

• Manage complex, cross-functional security and IT programs from strategy through execution, mapping dependencies, aligning stakeholders, driving decisions, and holding teams accountable for outcomes.

• Establish change-management practices that help technical and non-technical teams adopt new security policies, processes, tools, and operating models without creating unnecessary friction for the business.

• Develop dashboards, decision-support mechanisms, and automated workflows that improve visibility, reduce manual effort, and help INFOSEC operate at scale.

• Lead post-incident reviews and operational improvement initiatives, ensuring lessons learned are translated into durable process, control, and automation improvements.

• Build, manage, coach, and develop a team of Technical Program Managers, establishing clear standards for planning, delivery, communication, and operational excellence.

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 or equivalent experience. A top-tier university background is preferred for this role.

• 8+ years of experience in strategy and operations, business operations, technical program management, security programs, or a related field, preferably in a high-growth technology, fintech, payments, or other regulated environment.

• Experience owning complex, cross-functional programs end to end, including planning, dependency mapping, stakeholder alignment, execution tracking, risk management, and executive reporting.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to deconstruct ambiguous problems, challenge assumptions, evaluate trade-offs, and recommend pragmatic solutions.

• Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate credibly with engineers and translate complex technical or risk topics for non-technical executives.

• Demonstrated experience designing operating rhythms and performance-management mechanisms, such as annual planning, quarterly planning, OKRs, KPIs, QBRs, risk reviews, or executive dashboards.

• Experience leading, coaching, or developing program managers or other operational professionals.

• Strong ownership and self-direction, with a track record of identifying priorities, building structure in ambiguous environments, and delivering measurable outcomes without relying on detailed direction.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience serving as chief of staff to a CISO, CTO, senior security leader, or comparable technology executive, or experience leading strategy and operations within an INFOSEC organization.

• Experience with information security, technology risk, governance, compliance, incident management, operational resilience, or security maturity programs.

• Familiarity with security operating models and workflows spanning security engineering, corporate IT, GRC, risk management, identity and access management, endpoint security, vulnerability management, or incident response.

• Experience translating regulatory, audit, privacy, or risk requirements into practical policies, processes, controls, and operating mechanisms in a financial services or payments environment.

• Experience building automation-first operating processes, knowledge-management systems, or AI-assisted workflows that improve the leverage of security and technical teams.

• Comfort operating in a high-growth environment with high standards, rapid iteration cycles, evolving priorities, and significant ambiguity.

• Demonstrated alignment with Airwallex INFOSEC competencies, including grit, critical thinking, curiosity, impact orientation, and ownership.

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. 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.