---
title: 'Director, Regulatory Compliance UK at Airwallex'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-regulatory-compliance-uk-airwallex-london-xnmbvtrdqv33'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-11-11'
---

# Director, Regulatory Compliance UK at Airwallex

- **Company:** [Airwallex](https://feeny.ai/companies/airwallex)
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Posted:** 2026-11-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-11-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/airwallex/ba181f94-1b5c-42d3-a733-32ff51d90d9f

## Job description

## 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.

## About the Role

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. As Director, Regulatory Compliance (UK), you will serve as the senior compliance authority and strategic partner for Airwallex’s rapidly expanding UK presence. Operating as a licensed Electronic Money Institution (EMI) supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Airwallex requires compliance leadership that sees regulatory integrity not as a roadblock, but as a critical commercial enabler and competitive differentiator. In this role, you will lead our UK compliance framework, serve as the primary interface with local regulators and industry bodies, and work cross-functionally across Product, Strategy, Commercial, and Operations to safely launch cutting-edge payment infrastructure.

## What You’ll Do

- Lead UK Regulatory Compliance: Lead a UK-based team of regulatory compliance professionals; own and continuously evolve the UK compliance management system, policies, registers, and operational controls to ensure ongoing compliance with FCA handbooks, PSRs, EMRs, and UK AML/CTF regimes.
- Drive FCA Engagement: Act as the principal point of contact for the FCA, handling regulatory inquiries, notifications, audits, thematic reviews, and routine reporting with transparency and authority.
- Product & Commercial Advisory: Partner early with Product, Commercial, and International Expansion teams to design compliant-by-default cross-border payment, issuing, acquiring, and embedded finance architectures.
- Safeguarding & Governance: Oversee compliance aspects of key UK regulatory regimes including safeguardingand Consumer Duty in close partnership with Finance, Risk, Product, and other teams.
- Regulatory Horizon Scanning: Monitor domestic and international regulatory developments (e.g., Consumer Duty, operational resilience, PSR APP fraud reimbursement schemes) and proactively translate emerging rules into pragmatic technical and operational roadmaps.
- Team Leadership & Culture: Build, coach, and scale a high-caliber UK compliance advisory and operations team while fostering a company-wide culture of risk accountability and ethical rigor.
- Board & Committee Reporting: Prepare and deliver clear, actionable regulatory compliance reporting and key risk indicator (KRI) updates to executive leadership, local operating boards, and audit/risk committees.

## What We’re Looking For

Essentials

- 10+ years of regulatory compliance experience within UK fintech, payment services (EMIs/APIs), neo-banking, or modern global financial institutions.
- Leadership Track Record: At least 4+ years managing and developing high-performing compliance teams in high-growth environments.
- Deep Regulatory Knowledge: Expert grasp of UK financial regulations, including the Payment Services Regulations (PSRs), Electronic Money Regulations (EMRs), FCA Principles for Businesses, and Consumer Duty standards.
- FCA Interface Experience: Direct track record of managing formal regulator relationships, supervisory inspections, or key authorization filings with the FCA.
- Pragmatic Problem-Solving: Ability to interpret complex regulatory requirements through a first-principles lens, providing creative, commercial, and defensible paths forward.
- Executive Presence: Strong communication, negotiation, and written advocacy skills capable of influencing board members, executive partners, and external regulatory bodies.

Nice-to-Haves

- Prior experience holding an approved person / Senior Management Function (SMF) role under the FCA regime.
- Background handling regulatory aspects of cross-border multi-currency schemes, merchant acquiring, or credit/lending adjacencies.
- Relevant legal qualification or industry certifications (e.g., ICA Diploma in Governance, Risk & Compliance).

You’ll Thrive Here If

- You own the outcome: You don't wait for permission to solve structural bottlenecks—give you a complex regulatory challenge, and you chart the solution.
- You’re commercially astute: You understand that compliance is an enabler of sustainable hyper-growth, not an isolated checklist.
- You balance technical precision with plain-English clarity: You can dissect statutory instruments line by line, then distill the essence clearly for engineers, sales leads, and executives.
- You’re not precious about traditional playbooks: You push hard from first principles, challenging legacy banking compliance norms with modernized, technology-driven solutions.
- You value in-person collaboration: You thrive working shoulder-to-shoulder with cross-functional leaders in our London hub.

What Success Looks Like

- Within 3 Months: Complete a comprehensive assessment of our existing UK compliance controls, policies, and FCA commitments; build alignment with key UK commercial leads and partner banks.
- Within 6 Months: Streamline product approval compliance workflows; enhance local risk governance reporting; and lead strategic readiness for any pending UK regulatory changes.
- Within 12 Months: Institutionalize a top-tier UK compliance function that scales seamlessly with transaction volume and new market offerings while maintaining an immaculate standing with the FCA.

## Why Join Airwallex

- Competitive base salary, performance incentives, and meaningful equity.
- High autonomy to build, scale, and influence the core infrastructure powering the global digital economy.
- Comprehensive health, wellness, pension, and parental leave coverage.
- Dynamic, global culture with clear paths for rapid professional development.

## Equal Opportunity

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and evaluate candidates based on merit, competence, and talent, without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status. 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](http://airwallex.com) email address. Please apply only through [careers.airwallex.com](http://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.

## About Airwallex

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Airwallex is a financial technology company building a unified global payments and banking platform that helps businesses manage cross-border payments, treasury, spend, and financial operations through proprietary infrastructure, software, and AI.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series G)
- **Headquarters**: Dual headquarters in Singapore and San Francisco, USA; founded in Melbourne, Australia
- **Founded**: 2015
- **Founders**: Jack Zhang (CEO), Lucy Liu, Max Li, Xijing Dai, and Ron Li

## Core Business
- Primary industry: Financial Services / Payments / Fintech Infrastructure
- Target customers: B2B, primarily serving SMBs, scaling enterprises, digital platforms, and marketplaces globally
- Mission or purpose statement: "Build the future of global banking" — they aim to replace legacy, fragmented banking systems with a borderless, intelligent, real-time financial operating system for modern businesses.

## Products & Services
- **[Business Accounts]**: Multi-currency global accounts to receive, hold, and manage funds in 20+ currencies, with local account details for key markets.
- **[Payments]**: Global payment acceptance via 160+ local payment methods, low-code checkout, and programmatic payout capabilities to 200+ countries.
- **[Spend / Corporate Cards]**: Multi-currency corporate and employee cards with customisable spend controls, designed for global teams.
- **[Expense Management]**: A platform to track, control, and reconcile global business expenses, including employee reimbursements.
- **[Billing & Subscription Management]**: A billing platform for usage-based and subscription pricing models, supporting AI companies and complex revenue workflows.
- **[Platform APIs]**: API-first infrastructure enabling businesses to embed financial services (accounts, payments, FX, card issuing) into their own products.
- **[FX & Treasury]**: Interbank foreign exchange rates and tools to intelligently manage currency risk across markets.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: US$11 billion (latest valuation in 2025, following a fresh investment round).
- **Key Metric**: US$1.8 billion in total funding raised; Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) surpassed US$1 billion by 2025.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Series G investors include prominent global venture capital firms (specific names not listed in source but backed by top-tier VCs); serves over 200,000 businesses including TikTok, Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, and SHEIN.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - US$287 billion in global payments processed (USD).
  - 92% of transfers settled same-day, 50% processed instantly.
  - Over 85 financial licenses and registrations globally.
  - Team of ~2,300 people across 27 offices internationally.
  - Dual-headquarters model (Singapore + San Francisco) adopted in 2025 to support next phase of growth.

## Competitive Advantages
- Proprietary, API-first infrastructure built from scratch (not riding legacy banking rails), enabling faster, cheaper, and more transparent cross-border transactions.
- Unified platform combining banking, payments, spend management, billing, and FX — reducing the need for multiple vendors.
- Deep AI integration across the platform to automate financial operations and provide intelligent insights.
- Extensive regulatory licensing (85+ licenses) across major markets, creating a high barrier to entry.
- Strong network effects: serves both direct businesses and platforms/marketplaces that embed Airwallex into their offerings.

## Strategic Focus
- Continue scaling the platform to support the rapid growth of AI-native companies and usage-based business models (highlighted by the launch of their global billing platform).
- Expand the dual-headquarters presence to tap into the largest tech talent markets (San Francisco and Singapore).
- Invest heavily in AI to build "interconnected, intelligent financial systems where money, data, and decisions move together."
- Deepen product capabilities to automate financial operations end-to-end for global businesses.

## Why Work Here
- High-growth, ambitious environment: described as "the most ambitious work of your career" by the company; founded in 2015 and already processing $287B in payments.
- Global impact and scale: work on infrastructure used by 200,000+ businesses, from startups to enterprises like TikTok and SHEIN.
- Hybrid/office culture: 27 offices globally (Melbourne, Singapore, San Francisco, London, Shanghai, Amsterdam, and more) offering opportunities to work across teams and locations.
- Engineering-driven culture: heavy emphasis on building proprietary technology, AI, and developer-first products.
- Notable perks: opportunity to work on a modern financial stack, exposure to cutting-edge AI/Fintech intersection, and a diverse, international team of "2,200 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech."

## Sources
1. [airwallex.com - Who We Are](https://www.airwallex.com/en-eu/who-we-are)
2. [airwallex.com - Global Platform](https://www.airwallex.com/global)
3. [careers.airwallex.com](https://careers.airwallex.com/)
4. [LinkedIn - Airwallex](https://www.linkedin.com/company/airwallex)
5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com - Airwallex](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/airwallex)

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