Head of Risk

Overview

In this role you will lead Airwallex’s global second-line risk management, building scalable frameworks and governance to enable growth. You will partner with Product, Engineering, Compliance, and Legal to ensure risk-aware decision making across products, markets, and entities. You will shape risk strategy and cultivate a strong risk culture at a fast-growing fintech. This is a strategic, high-impact leadership role with global scope and meaningful cross-functional impact.

Pay / Benefits

• Equity
• Bonus
• Hybrid work
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) plan
• Paid vacation and company holidays

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the global risk management function and framework across all operations
• Create risk strategies, metrics, and monitoring to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities aligned with risk appetite
• Partner with Risk Product, Risk Operations, Engineering, Product, Data Science, Commercial, Operations, and Compliance stakeholders
• Communicate risk appetite clearly to promote consistent risk standards and accountability
• Collaborate with business, technology, and product leaders to minimize financial crime, fraud, counterparty, and enterprise risks
• Monitor, enhance, and embed the Risk Management Framework across global entities
• Advise senior leadership on risk, governance, and regulatory topics and escalation of material issues
• Lead recruitment, development, and performance of a global risk team
• Champion a practical risk culture where risk excellence drives competitive advantage

Key requirements

• 15+ years of experience in Risk Management, Compliance, Control, or Audit within fintech, payments, remittance, banking, or financial services
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Risk Management, Law, or related field
• Experience building or leading risk management frameworks, governance models, and oversight programs
• Ability to define and operationalise risk appetite, policies, metrics, and escalation processes
• Strong communication skills with senior management and cross-functional teams
• Experience leading international teams in fast-paced environments
• Experience partnering with regulators, auditors, boards, or risk committees (preferred)
• Comfort working across enterprise risk, fraud, counterparty, operational, and regulatory risk (preferred)

• strong communication and influencing at executive level
• ownership mindset and pragmatism
• collaborative, cross-functional teamwork
• risk management frameworks and governance
• risk appetite definition and escalation
• regulatory compliance knowledge across multiple jurisdictions

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