Senior Regulatory Compliance Manager, HK

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 676,000 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 2,300 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 to see it in full.

About the team

The Regulatory & Compliance team helps Airwallex grow responsibly as a global financial platform. We work at the intersection of law, regulation, risk, and business execution, partnering closely with teams across the company to navigate complexity, enable growth, and protect the trust our customers, partners, and regulators place in us. It’s a team for people who are thoughtful, practical, and energized by solving hard problems in a fast-moving, highly regulated environment.

This role has a specific focus on our business in Hong Kong and the licences that we hold to operate in that region. This role will be a key member of the Global Regulatory Compliance Team, with a reporting line to the Senior Director, Regulatory Compliance, Asia (who is based in Singapore).

What you'll do

As the Senior Regulatory Compliance Manager, Hong Kong you will deliver on the regulatory engagement strategy for Airwallex in the region and manage our existing payment services, securities and asset management and money remittance 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, 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 and primary point-of-contact with our regulators, CED/SFC/HKMA, 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 Hong Kong 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 8 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 Hong Kong but also more broadly across the Asia region. Particularly, the Money Service Operator (MSO) licensing regime, Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) and related SFC guidelines and Payment Systems and Stored Value Facilities Ordinance (PSSVFO) and related guidelines.

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

Excellent written and verbal communication in English, Chinese & Cantonese

Preferred Qualification:

Demonstrable experience dealing with the HKMA, the CED and the SFC in Hong Kong

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.