(Senior) Director, Financial Crime Compliance, Asia

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.

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 and financial risks.

What you’ll do

As the (Senior) Director of Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) for Asia, you will act as the regional executive for our Asian operations. You will oversee our licensed entities across a diverse and rapidly expanding footprint throughout the region.

You will be responsible for managing the Asia FCC team, ensuring our program is robust, scalable, and compliant with complex local regulations while aligning with Airwallex’s global standards. This is a strategic leadership role: you will drive the maturity of our program in established markets while providing critical oversight as we expand into new jurisdictions. You will serve as a senior member of the global FCC leadership team, playing a pivotal role in shaping global strategy, including the Enterprise Wide Risk Assessment (EWRA), defining strategic OKRs, and strengthening the global compliance framework.

Responsibilities

• Regional Program Leadership: Own the strategic direction and execution of the Financial Crime Compliance framework across Asia. You will partner closely with local Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) and country leads across the region. You will ensure compliance with applicable local laws and regulations while driving alignment with global policy

• Team Management: Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing Financial Crime Compliance team across multiple Asian jurisdictions, fostering a culture of excellence and ensuring the team is structured to support rapid regional growth

• Regulatory Liaison: Oversee high-level relationships with key regulators across the region. You will maintain constructive engagement with various regulatory bodies and oversee responses to regulatory examinations, independent reviews, and audits

• Global Strategy & Governance: Partner with the Global Head of FCC to execute against our strategic OKRs and drive forward global initiatives. You will lead cross-regional projects such as enhancing our Management Information (MI) reporting, conducting product/risk coverage assessments, and monitoring performance against our risk appetite

• New Market & Product Advisory: Serve as a trusted advisor to Product, Strategy, and Commercial leadership on Asian market expansion and product launches, providing pragmatic, commercially-aware counsel that balances growth with risk appetite

• Operational Oversight: Oversee the region's BAU financial crime operations, ensuring robust mechanisms for high-risk due diligence, transaction monitoring escalations, and the filing of regulatory reports (e.g., STRs) where required

• Audit & Remediation: Lead the coordination of internal and external audits for the region; ensure findings are owned, tracked, and remediated effectively

• Stakeholder Management: Represent Airwallex with critical external stakeholders, including banking and payment partners, ensuring transparent and well-governed engagement on FCC matters

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

• Experience: 12+ years of financial crime compliance experience, with significant time spent in a senior leadership role within a global financial institution or fintech

• Regulatory Knowledge: Deep expertise in Asian financial crime regulations. Strong familiarity with the regulatory landscape in Singapore and Southeast Asia is required, along with experience managing compliance across diverse markets in the region

• Leadership: Proven track record of managing large, distributed teams and developing senior talent in a fast-paced environment

• Stakeholder Skills: Exceptional ability to engage, influence, and challenge C-suite stakeholders and external partners, with a "compliance as a service" mindset

• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, capable of drafting board-level materials and complex regulatory submissions

• Language Skills: Fluency in Mandarin is required

Preferred qualifications

• Audit/Consulting Background: Previous experience in a Big 4 audit or consulting firm is highly desirable

• Industry Experience: Background in Fintech, payments, or e-commerce, ideally supporting cross-border products

• Certification: Recognized professional certification (e.g., CAMS, ICA, ACAMS)

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.