Global Lead, Commercial Risk Strategy

ABOUT AIRWALLEX Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 675,000 businesses, including McLaren Racing, Qantas, SHEIN, and TikTok, use us, directly or through our platform partners, to run their financial operations or build and monetize financial products of their own. We started in Melbourne in 2015 to build the infrastructure global commerce runs on. We're the regulated backbone behind global payments: not by accident, but by design. A decade plus, 85+ licenses, and a financial infrastructure spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. We're co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore, with more than 2,700 people across 27 offices. We hire builders with founder-level energy, people who move fast with good judgment, dig in with real curiosity, and make calls from first principles rather than waiting to be told what to do. Read our operating principles https://www.airwallex.com/en-us/operating-principles to see it in full. HOW YOU'LL MAKE IMPACT You'll build and lead Airwallex's first-line commercial risk function globally, reporting directly to the Chief Revenue Officer and shaping how we originate, structure and grow the commercial book. You'll define the frameworks, guidance and governance that help the business pursue sustainable growth while making sound risk decisions. - Own the commercial risk strategy and supportability frameworks for the customers and use cases Airwallex backs. - Drive structured guidance for complex or high-risk merchant opportunities, helping commercial teams move the right opportunities forward while escalating appropriately. - Translate second-line risk appetite and policies into practical commercial playbooks, controls and operating processes. - Build continuous portfolio monitoring that brings together risk tiers, fraud or loss rates, revenue concentration and risk-adjusted commercial performance. - Lead incident post-mortems, root-cause analysis, remediation and governance across multiple lines of defense. - Partner with Sales, Partnerships, Account Management, Revenue Strategy & Operations, Data, Legal, Risk and Compliance to strengthen commercial risk capability and scale global coverage. You'll work from our San Francisco office on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR ESSENTIALS - 10–12 years of risk management experience within financial services, including significant experience in first-line or business-aligned roles interfacing directly with front-office or Sales teams. - Deep expertise in at least two of the following areas: credit and portfolio risk, payments or merchant risk, operational and conduct risk, or enterprise risk. - A track record of designing and implementing practical risk frameworks that materially influence commercial strategy within a Three Lines of Defense model. - Strong analytical and data literacy, with the ability to define KPIs, interrogate dashboards, and balance quantitative metrics with qualitative business judgment. - Exceptional communication skills, including the ability to translate complex risk concepts into clear commercial language and navigate challenging risk-versus-revenue discussions with senior stakeholders. - Experience defining commercial risk strategy and supportability frameworks for complex or high-risk customers or use cases. - Experience translating risk appetite and policies into practical playbooks, controls and operating processes for commercial teams. - Experience designing portfolio monitoring frameworks and tracking indicators such as risk tiers, fraud or loss rates, revenue concentration and risk-adjusted commercial performance. - Experience leading incident post-mortems, root-cause analysis, remediation and governance across multiple lines of defense. - Experience partnering with senior commercial, revenue operations, data, legal, risk and compliance stakeholders. PREFERRED - Experience in a high-growth, product-led fintech environment, particularly in payments, issuing, FX or modern banking. - Familiarity with global regulatory and scheme frameworks relevant to B2B fintech, including KYC/AML, sanctions, card network rules and data privacy. - Experience designing portfolio early-warning indicators, concentration limits and stress testing. - Experience recruiting and developing a high-impact risk team with global coverage. YOU'LL THRIVE HERE IF - You're comfortable owning the roadmap yourself. - You own the outcome and you don't wait for permission to fix what's broken. - You're comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and moving quickly anyway. - You've operated in a compliance-heavy environment and know how to move fast without cutting the corners that matter. - You connect dots across functions and hold the big picture without losing grip on the details. LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR TEAM The Commercial Risk Control team sits in the first line of defense within the Commercial organization and partners directly with Sales, Partnerships, Account Management, Revenue Strategy & Operations and other Legal, Risk and Compliance teams across Airwallex. Our mandate is to embed risk discipline into how we originate, structure and grow our commercial book so that revenue is sustainable and commensurate with the risk we take. We help the business win the right customers faster, avoid the wrong ones earlier, and build a culture where every commercial leader thinks like an owner of our risk profile. You will join at a moment where we are formalising our first line commercial risk function globally, with strong sponsorship from our Chief Revenue Officer (“CRO”), Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer (“CRCO”) and senior commercial leadership 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 th