--- title: 'Senior Employment Counsel, Americas at Airwallex' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-employment-counsel-americas-airwallex-united-states-san-francisco-ca-jngy3177b71p' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-16' --- # Senior Employment Counsel, Americas at Airwallex - **Company:** [Airwallex](https://feeny.ai/companies/airwallex) - **Location:** United States / San Francisco, CA - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-09-15 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-16 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/airwallex/cf934820-5369-4456-b383-23ae007a6659 ## Job description ## 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 250,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, 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 2,300 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 27 offices around the globe. Valued at US$11 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](https://www.airwallex.com/us/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 Legal & Licensing at Airwallex sits at the heart of the decisions that shape how Airwallex grows. This team backs the visionary builders transforming Airwallex into a generational financial company, sharing the journey of product development and sales alongside our business partners. You’ll help shape a global licensing footprint most fintechs wish they had, while making sure our brand and data architecture stay best-in-class for customers entering the agentic economy and ready for its regulatory demands. The hard part is helping the business move fast on product, revenue, and new-market expansion without compromising the regulatory discipline that protects the moat. ## What you’ll do You'll be the senior employment counsel for Airwallex in the Americas, and a hands-on partner to our People & Talent team on the issues that carry the most risk: terminations, workplace investigations, employee relations, and the policies that govern how 3,000+ people across 20+ markets work. You'll own US employment law directly and coordinate advice across other jurisdictions with our external counsel panel. Because Airwallex operates through licensed entities in most of its markets, you'll also work on questions that a generalist employment lawyer rarely sees: contractor and EOR classification across borders, remote work and mobility exposure, and conduct and remuneration matters in regulated entities. This role suits someone who wants to build the playbooks and templates a scaling employment function runs on, not just answer tickets. This role is based in San Francisco, New York, or Seattle. Responsibilities: - Advise the People & Talent team and business leaders on the full employee lifecycle, including hiring, contracts and variations, performance management, accommodations, leaves, wage and hour compliance, and terminations. - Lead workplace investigations and sensitive employee matters end-to-end, working with the cross-functional People and Legal working group. - Draft, refresh, and own employment-related policies and templates. - Manage employment disputes, agency charges, and litigation, instructing and controlling external counsel and associated legal spend. - Coordinate multi-jurisdiction employment advice across APAC, EMEA and the Americas, including contractor and employer-of-record arrangements, cross-border remote work and mobility risk. - Advise on compensation, benefits, and equity matters in a private company context. ## 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: - J.D. degree (or foreign equivalent) and active membership in at least one US state bar (California, Washington, or New York preferred) - 7+ years of employment law experience at a leading law firm and/or in-house legal department, with demonstrated employment counseling experience beyond litigation alone - Experience advising on and coordinating employment law advice across multiple jurisdictions - Experience leading workplace investigations and managing employment disputes, agency charges, or tribunal matters - The ability to translate complex legal and risk issues into clear, succinct, and actionable guidance for non-legal audiences - High motivation and the ability to operate independently and pivot quickly within a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment Preferred qualifications: - Experience at a fintech, payments company, or other highly regulated business - Experience with contractor classification, employer-of-record populations, or cross-border remote work and permanent establishment risk - A learner's mentality: you are consistently looking to take on new and diverse challenges and expand your knowledge and practice beyond your current areas of expertise - Comfort operating across time zones with a globally distributed team, including colleagues based in APAC and EMEA 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. 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