Senior Manager, Partnerships Strategy

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.

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.

The Financial & Strategic Partnerships team at Airwallex is a global group of strategists, deal makers and relationship builders who forge the alliances that power our growth. We work with leading banks, card schemes, local payment methods (LPMs), fintechs and platforms to unlock new markets, launch new products and improve economics for Airwallex and our customers.

We sit at the intersection of strategy, product and commercial, partnering closely with regional GMs, Product, Finance and Risk to ensure our most important partners become durable, mutually valuable growth engines. On the Financial Partnerships side, that includes global and regional banks, card schemes, and local payment method providers; on the Strategic Partnerships side, it includes e‑commerce and vertical SaaS platforms, marketplaces, and large technology platforms (e.g., commerce, travel and ERP/financial software partners).

As Senior Manager, Partnerships Strategy, you will be the strategy lead for the Partnerships organization. You’ll own how we decide where to partner, what to build vs. buy vs. partner, and how to structure our largest deals so that Partnerships directly amplifies Airwallex’s global strategy.

This role is global in remit, reports to the VP of Financial & Strategic Partnerships, and is based in San Francisco or New York.

• Global Strategy & Market Entry:
  Define and refine the "where, why, and how" of our partnership roadmap. You’ll lead the "build vs. buy vs. partner" analysis to support new market expansion and product growth.
• Strategic Deal Architecture:
  Drive the strategy for our most complex negotiations (schemes, global banks, aggregators). You’ll lead economic scenario modeling and pressure-test deal structures to maximize long‑term value.
• Operating Rhythm & Value Tracking:
  Design and run the team’s "business engine"—including QBRs, performance scorecards, and pipeline reviews—ensuring leadership has clear visibility into the value Partnerships creates.
• Executive Support & Board Readiness:
  Act as a primary thought partner to the VP of Partnerships. You will draft the decision memos, strategy docs, and Board materials that enable fast, high-quality executive decisions.
• M&A & Ecosystem Intelligence:
  Serve as the subject‑matter expert on the global financial ecosystem. You’ll lead due diligence for major partnerships and identify potential M&A targets that align with our strategic goals.
• Cross‑Function…