Regulatory Compliance Manager, Japan

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. About the team The Legal, Risk & Compliance (LRC) team at Airwallex is a collaborative group of legal minds and risk management experts. We're passionate about safeguarding Airwallex's operations, fostering a culture of compliance and ethical conduct, and ensuring we navigate the global financial landscape with integrity. We provide expert guidance and support to all areas of the business, proactively identifying, mitigating, and managing legal, compliance and financial risks. The Global Regulatory Compliance Team forms part of the second line of defence (2LOD) at Airwallex whilst operating within the larger LRC function. We are a proactive and trusted business partner committed to enabling Airwallex’s growth and strategic goals by providing an advisory and oversight role. Our team culture is collaborative, impact-driven with a focus on continuous improvement. You’ll be part of a team that values transparency, empowerment, and high performance. This role has a specific focus on our business in Japan. This role will be a key member of the Global Regulatory Compliance Team, with a reporting line to the Director, Regulatory Compliance, Asia (based in Singapore). WHAT YOU'LL DO As Regulatory Compliance Manager, Japan you will deliver on the regulatory engagement strategy for Airwallex in the region and manage our existing payment services and money remittance regulatory compliance program. You will maintain our licensing responsibilities and coordinate with all internal and external parties as necessary to ensure compliance. This includes communication of regulatory requirements, cross-functional collaboration to productize solutions and offerings, implementation and execution of processes, filing of all requisite reports, renewal of registrations and licenses, and interfacing with regulators. You will analyse new and existing products and provide guidance to ensure that our 2LOD controls are fit for purpose and comply with regulatory obligations and guide the first line business to enable the maturity of both customer-facing and internal back-office processes and product features. Responsibilities: - Support the Airwallex Group’s expansion by managing the regulatory compliance components of licence authorisation processes - Act as a key stakeholder in relation to licence applications, business plan updates and information requests between Airwallex and our regulators - Ensure that our regulatory compliance and integrity risk reporting obligations are maintained in Japan and support and / or manage regulatory requests - Advise the business with respect to regulatory change initiatives with a particular focus on how to effectively manage compliance risk attached to new laws and regulations in the jurisdictions we operate - Develop policies, processes and provide advice in relation to regulatory risk obligations that exist within the first line business - Manage regulatory compliance risk within the Airwallex Risk Management Framework and associated escalation process (inc. the Group Risk Committee) - Advise the business in relation to conduct risk and ethics matters (where appropriate) relating to our financial services licences - Deliver the Compliance Monitoring Program; Conduct targeted and thematic reviews on a wide range of topics to ensure appropriate organisational maturity - Deliver the Airwallex Group’s Compliance Training for employees and conduct ad-hoc training to specific business areas as required - Conduct ‘Proactive Special Ops’ projects to unlock business or operational issues to enable Airwallex to achieve its strategic goals more rapidly WHO YOU ARE We're looking for people who meet the minimum qualifications for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory. Minimum Qualifications: - Bachelor’s degree with a minimum of 6 years of compliance experience in a regulated financial institution, FinTech, legal / consulting firm, or combination of the above - Familiarity with financial regulatory laws, rules, regulations and industry best practices in Japan but also more broadly across the Asia region. - Data proficiency - ability to work with data and leverage it for strategic decision-making - Ability to operate strategically and think creatively to solve complex regulatory compliance challenges - Superior communication skills, with the ability to clearly explain complex topics to a wide range of stakeholders including regulators, executive leadership, and front-line staff - Experience with developing and/or maintaining a compliance program within a financial institution, preferably in respect of payments activity - Exposure to licensing processes, regulatory expansion, and RegTech or technology-driven compliance solutions - Understanding of financial products and related conduct risk, ethics, and controls Preferred Qualification: - Demonstrable experience dealing with the FSA and other financial services regulators acr