Senior Director, Enterprise Risk Management

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.

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 organisation 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.

We’re looking for people who meet the minimum requirements for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.

• 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…