Associate Director, FCC & MLRO, Americas

About Airwallex
Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 200,000 businesses worldwide - including Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more - with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.
Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you're ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.
Attributes We Value
We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking, and you're motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.
You're humble and collaborative; turn zero-to-one ideas into real products, and you "get stuff done" end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you'll tackle complex, high-visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let's build what's next.
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 and financial risks.
What you'll do
As the Associate Director of Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) for the Americas, you will act as the lead for one of our fastest-growing regions, currently comprised of the US, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. You will be responsible for managing the Americas FCC team, ensuring our program is robust, scalable, and compliant with diverse local regulations while aligning with Airwallex's global standards.
This is a dual-focus role: you will enhance and operationalize our program in existing markets while providing critical support as we launch into new jurisdictions and roll out new products. Beyond regional leadership, you will serve as a key member of the global FCC leadership team, helping to drive forward strategic global initiatives such as the Enterprise Wide Risk Assessment (EWRA), defining strategic OKRs, and strengthening the global compliance framework.
This role is based in San Francisco or New York.
Responsibilities:

• Own the execution and enhancement of the Financial Crime Compliance framework across the Americas. You will partner closely with local Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) and country leads to ensure compliance with local laws-including the US Bank Secrecy Act, Canada's PCMLTFA, and regulations in Brazil and Mexico-while maintaining alignment with global policy
• Lead, mentor, and develop the Financial Crime Compliance team across the Americas region, fostering a high-performance culture and ensuring the team is equipped to handle rapid scale
• Manage relationships with key regulators across the region. This includes interfacing with US state and federal regulators, the Bank of Canada/FINTRAC, the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB), and the Bank of Mexico (Banxico). You will coordinate responses to regulatory examinations, independent reviews, and audits
• Partner with the Global Head of FCC to execute against our strategic OKRs and drive forward global initiatives. You will play a key role in strengthening the global program through projects such as enhancing our Management Information (MI) reporting, conducting product/risk coverage assessments, and monitoring performance against our risk appetite
• Partner closely with Product, Strategy, and Commercial teams to support the launch of new products and market entries in the Americas, providing pragmatic advice that balances growth with risk appetite
• Oversee BAU financial crime activities in the region, including high-risk due diligence, transaction monitoring escalations, and the filing of regulatory reports (e.g., SARs) where required
• Lead the coordination of internal and external audits for the region; ensure findings are owned, tracked, and remediated effectively
• Represent Airwallex with critical external stakeholders, including banking and payment partners, ensuring transparent and well-governed engagement on FCC matters

Who you are
We're looking for people who meet the minimum requirements for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.
Minimum qualifications:

• 10+ years of financial crime compliance experience, with significant time spent in a leadership or people management role
• Deep expertise in Americas financial crime regulations (e.g., US BSA/AML, Canadian PCMLTFA) and familiarity with regulatory frameworks in LATAM (Brazil, Mexico)
• Proven track record of managing and developing high-performing compliance teams in a fast-paced environment
• Strong ability to engage and challenge senior internal stakeholders and external partners, with a "compliance as a service" mindset
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of drafting board-level materials and complex regulatory submissions

Preferred qualifications:

• Previous experience in a Big 4 audit or consulting firm is highly desirable
• Background in Fintech, payments, or e-commerce, ideally supporting cross-border products
• Experience dealing with regulators outside of the US (specifically in Canada or LATAM)
• Fluency in Spanish or Portuguese is a strong bonus
• Recognized professional certification (e.g., CAMS, ICA)

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.
#BI-Hybrid