Associate Director, Risk Operations, Payments, NA

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 Operations team at Airwallex ensures the smooth and efficient functioning of our services and processes. We focus on optimizing workflows, improving operational efficiency, and delivering exceptional customer support. By streamlining operations and implementing best practices, we help drive the company's growth and maintain high service standards. Our team is dedicated to providing a seamless experience for our customers and supporting Airwallex’s mission to empower businesses globally.

The NA Risk Operations team covers multiple markets and products, and plays a key role in shaping global standards for how we manage risk for our largest and fastest‑growing customers.

What you’ll do

As Associate Director, Risk Operations, Payments, NA, you will be the senior leader accountable for end‑to‑end risk operations across North Americas, spanning credit risk, consumer fraud and merchant risk operations.

This is a career‑defining opportunity to shape how Airwallex manages risk at scale in one of our most important regions.

This role is based in San Francisco.

Responsibilities:

• Define and own the North American Risk Operations Strategy aligned with global risk frameworks and regional growth priorities

• Translate strategy into clear OKRs, roadmaps, and operating plans across payment fraud, disputes and credit risk operations

• Build, lead, and develop a diverse, high‑performing leadership bench (managers and senior ICs) in US

• Create a culture of ownership, craftsmanship, and continuous improvement anchored in Airwallex’s Operating Principles

• Own end‑to‑end operational performance for North America payments risk operations, including SLAs, quality, loss metrics, and customer impact

• Oversee design and execution of merchant underwriting, monitoring, investigation, reserve management, and escalation workflows across North Americas

• Partner with global legal, risk and compliance team to implement new policies and control changes efficiently into operations

• Work with Product and Engineering to evolve risk tooling (rules engines, case management, AI/LLM‑based workflows, analytics surfaces) for higher accuracy and efficiency

• Champion automation and AI to reduce manual work, speed up decisions, and improve reviewer effectiveness while maintaining strong control standards

• Serve as the primary North Americas Risk Operations counterpart to:

• Risk Management, Financial Crime, and LRC

• Product & Engineering (Onboarding, Payments, Issuing, Risk Platform)

• Commercial and Customer‑facing teams (Sales, Account Management, Customer Success, Merchant Service)

• Represent Airwallex Risk Operations in key commercial deals, complex escalations, and audits with payment partners, regulators, and strategic merchants

• Influence decisions on product launches, GTM initiatives, and new business models by clearly articulating risk implications and mitigation options

• Scale and structure the North America Risk Operations organisation to support high growth and new product lines

Who you are

You are a senior risk operations leader who is equally comfortable in the details of complex cases and in board‑level conversations about strategy and risk appetite. You know how to scale teams, influence cross‑functional stakeholders, and build systems that enable both growth and protection.

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:

• 10+ years of experience in payments / fintech / acquiring with at least 3+ years people management experiences

• Deep expertise in one or more of:

• Consumer fraud / transaction risk (real‑time controls, rules, models)

• Merchant risk / credit risk (underwriting, reserves, exposure management)

• Proven track record managing senior ICs in multi‑location teams

• Demonstrated ability to operate in ambiguity, set clear priorities, and drive outcomes in a fast‑moving, high‑growth environment

• Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills, including with senior executives, external partners, and non‑risk audiences

• Experience balancing risk appetite with commercial objectives, and articulating trade‑offs with clarity and conviction

• A strong desire to learn about new payment trends and technologies.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent practical experience

Preferred qualifications:

• Strong analytical and data skills – comfortable using dashboards and data tools to diagnose issues, design experiments, and measure impact

• Experience building or scaling risk operations in a global fintech or top‑tier payments company

• Familiarity with North America regulatory environments and payment scheme expectations around fraud and merchant risk

• Hands‑on experience partnering with Product/Engineering to design risk tooling or automation, including use of AI/ML/LLMs in operations

• Prior exposure to board or regulator‑facing discussions on risk posture, incidents, or portfolio performance

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.