Senior Director, AML & Sanctions, Governance & Policy

About the Role Airwallex is seeking a Senior Director, AML & Sanctions, Governance & Policy to shape and scale the global financial crime program. You will define risk appetite, governance, and risk assessment processes, and defend the platform’s integrity before regulators and institutional partners. You will lead a global second-line team and collaborate with cross-functional leaders to enable growth with compliant, scalable controls. What You'll Do

• Lead the evolution and maintenance of Airwallex’s Global Core FCC Policy Framework, ensuring the compliance baseline meets the expectations of global regulators while supporting business growth and regional scalability.
• Lead the definition and oversight of the FCC governance model and risk management framework, including establishment of risk appetite incorporating business strategy, establishing the risk management framework, including risk acceptance & governance structure, and overseeing design and execution of the enterprise risk assessment.
• Define the methodology, thresholds, and data-scoring models used to identify and mitigate financial crime risks globally, partnering with Product, Data Science, and Engineering executives to embed automated compliance controls into the proprietary platform.
• Translate complex compliance data, issues, and audit findings into clear, decision-useful reporting for executive leadership and the Board’s Audit and Risk Committee, establishing clear protocols for material risk escalations.
• Oversee the strategy for regulatory examination defense and disclosure governance, ensuring the team delivers uniform, legally defensible evidence portfolios to global regulators and external clearing partners.
• Drive a unified, risk-aware compliance culture across the organization by establishing the strategic vision for global financial crime training and capability building from engineering to sales teams.
• Support the Global Head of FCC and Chief Regulatory and Compliance Officer in setting and overseeing strategic FCC program priorities and continuous improvement initiatives
• Build and lead a high-performing global second line team of compliance attorneys, quantitative risk modelers, policy writers, and governance managers, supporting Airwallex’s growth with technology-enabled compliance oversight. What We're Looking For
• Bachelor’s degree in Law, Criminology, Public Policy, Finance, Business Administration, International Relations, or a related analytical field.
• CAMS certification or an equivalent globally recognized compliance credential (e.g., ICA International Diploma in AML).
• 12 to 15+ years of experience in AML, Sanctions, and Financial Crime Compliance within financial services, fintech, payments, or banking.
• At least 5+ years leading a global or multi-jurisdictional compliance policy, governance, or risk methodology function at a senior level.
• Proven experience