Enterprise Risk Manager - UAE

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 to see it in full.

As Enterprise Risk Manager - UAE, you’ll help establish and evolve Airwallex’s enterprise risk management capability in the UAE while contributing to the broader global and regional risk agenda. You’ll operationalise Airwallex’s global enterprise risk architecture locally, covering risk appetite, taxonomy, governance standards, risk limits, escalation protocols, reporting and decision rights. You’ll partner with Regulatory Compliance, Legal, UAE leadership, Product, Engineering and Operations to support responsible growth as Airwallex operationalises its UAE entity and expands its regulated payments offering. You’ll translate risk data, incidents, issues, trends and key risk indicators into clear reporting for UAE management, regional leadership, risk committees and, where appropriate, the Board or regulators, while providing independent second-line challenge on initiatives, products, partnerships and material operating-model changes.

• Own the local implementation of Airwallex’s global enterprise risk architecture, including risk appetite, risk taxonomy, governance standards, risk limits, escalation protocols, reporting and decision rights.

• Partner with Regulatory Compliance, Legal and UAE leadership to align risk governance with applicable Central Bank of the UAE expectations and requirements relevant to Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services.

• Deliver clear, decision-useful reporting by translating risk data, incidents, issues, trends and key risk indicators for UAE management, regional leadership, risk committees and, where appropriate, the Board or regulators.

• Provide independent second-line challenge on initiatives that may exceed approved risk appetite, regulatory expectations or the maturity of the control environment.

• Support risk assessment and approval for new products, payment services, customer propositions, markets, partnerships, systems changes and material operating-model changes in the UAE.

• Strengthen the UAE crisis management and resilience framework, including escalation triggers, governance, executive response mechanisms, business continuity planning and severe-but-plausible scenario exercises.

• Improve enterprise-wide risk reporting, dashboards, risk tools, automation and data quality while sharing UAE insights with the global risk team.

• Build strong relationships with local and global stakeholders and support consistent risk management standards across Airwallex’s regulated entities.

You’ll work from our Abu Dhabi office.

Essentials

• 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 defence 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.

• Experience adapting and operationalising enterprise risk frameworks across regulated entities or jurisdictions.

• Experience supporting crisis management, operational resilience, business continuity planning or severe-but-plausible scenario exercises.

• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to provide constructive challenge and influence decisions across functions.

Preferred

• 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, where new features, products, markets, or operating models are launched frequently.

• Strong data literacy and comfort using dashboards, metrics, and technology-enabled tools to support risk oversight and reporting.

• A clear bias toward automation, AI, and scalable tooling to improve issue management, reporting, and second line efficiency, paired with the judgment to balance innovation, business agility, and control effectiveness.

• Experience engaging with the Central Bank of the UAE or working with requirements relevant to Stored Value Facilities and Category II Retail Payment Services licences.

• You've operated in a compliance-heavy environment and know how to move fast without cutting the corners that matter.

• You're comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and moving quickly anyway.

• You connect dots across functions and hold the big picture without losing grip on the details.

• You say what you mean. You're direct, but you lead with respect.

• You value in-person collaboration and are happy being in the office three days a week.

Regulatory & Compliance is where we build the trust, discipline, and operational resilience required to scale a generational financial platform.

As Airwallex grows across 30+ markets, this team turns regulatory complexity into strategic control. You'll lead compliance, enterprise risk, and regulatory engagement in a way that protects the business while letting it move with conviction. Our ambition goes beyond meeting expectations: we're building a risk posture that acts as a competitive moat, grounded in ownership, proactive regulatory partnerships, and frameworks that scale globally while respecting local nuance.

It's a team for strategic operators with sharp judgment, high standards, and the confidence to execute at pace in a high-stakes environment. You'll thrive here if you can balance rigor with progress and influence across functions.

If you want to architect the benchmark for trust and resilience in global finance, your work here will have a massive impact.

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.

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.