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 -