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Airwallex is an AI-native financial operating system serving over 676,000 businesses globally, including McLaren Racing, Qantas, SHEIN, and TikTok. The company operates as the regulated backbone for global payments across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, with 2,300+ employees across 27 offices.
As Enterprise Risk Manager for the UAE, you will establish and evolve Airwallex's enterprise risk management capability in the UAE while contributing to the broader global and regional risk agenda. You'll help ensure risk management supports responsible growth as Airwallex operationalizes its UAE entity and expands its regulated payments offering in the region. Airwallex has secured in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for Stored Value Facilities and Category II Retail Payment Services licenses.
Key responsibilities include:
- Adapting and operationalizing Airwallex's global enterprise risk architecture for the UAE, including risk appetite, risk taxonomy, governance standards, risk limits, escalation protocols, reporting and decision rights
- Partnering with Regulatory Compliance, Legal and UAE leadership to ensure risk governance reflects Central Bank of the UAE expectations for Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services
- Translating risk data, incidents, issues, trends and key risk indicators into clear, decision-useful reporting for UAE management, regional leadership, risk committees and regulators
- Acting as a trusted, independent second-line advisor, providing constructive challenge where initiatives may exceed approved risk appetite or regulatory expectations
- Supporting risk assessment and approval for new products, payment services, customer propositions, markets, partnerships, systems changes and material operating-model changes
- Developing the UAE crisis management and resilience framework, including escalation triggers, governance, executive response mechanisms, business continuity planning and scenario exercises
- Contributing to enterprise-wide risk initiatives including improvements to risk reporting, dashboards, risk tools, automation and data quality
- Supporting consistent risk management standards across Airwallex's regulated entities
- Building strong relationships with local and global stakeholders to foster an effective risk culture
Requirements:
Minimum qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Law, STEM, or another relevant quantitative field
- 5 to 7+ years of experience in risk management, operational risk, enterprise risk, compliance, controls, or audit within financial services, fintech, payments, banking, or another highly regulated environment
- Experience with defense frameworks, including risk appetite statements, risk taxonomies, governance processes, and escalation mechanisms
- Familiarity with the UAE financial services regulatory environment, including practical exposure to the Central Bank of the UAE and requirements relevant to electronic money, Stored Value Facilities or Retail Payment Services
- Demonstrated experience preparing risk papers and communicating effectively with executives, Board or committee audiences, regulators, or auditors, with excellent written and verbal communication skills
- A high-ownership, pragmatic approach, with the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities and significant cross-functional collaboration
Preferred qualifications:
- Fintech and payments experience, including exposure to cross-border payments, merchant acquiring, card scheme environments, local payment methods, or multi-entity regulated groups
- Experience managing risk approvals and governance in a high-velocity product and engineering environment
- Strong data literacy and comfort using dashboards, metrics, and technology-enabled tools
- A clear bias toward automation, AI, and scalable tooling to improve issue management, reporting, and second line efficiency
