Airwallex - Director, Sanctions

• 12+ years of dedicated experience in sanctions compliance and financial crime risk management. • Executive leadership experience managing cross-regional teams in a second-line-of-defence or global policy capacity. • Deep expertise in global cross-border payments, multi-currency account structures, foreign exchange, platform or embedded finance, or digital asset ecosystems. • Expert knowledge of global sanctions regimes, including OFAC, the EU, UK OFSI, the UN, MAS, HKMA, and AUSTRAC, as well as trade restrictions, export controls, and sanctions evasion techniques. • Experience providing independent oversight of customer, payment, and counterparty screening operations. • A track record of evaluating, tuning, or deploying modern sanctions technology, including AI/NLP-assisted screening tools, graph databases, and automated alert disposition frameworks. • Experience partnering with Product and Engineering teams to operationalise complex regulatory requirements in automated payment infrastructure. • Hands-on experience leading regulatory examinations, managing voluntary disclosures, and presenting screening architectures to regulators and institutional banking partners. • Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional leaders, defend risk positions to regulators, and present complex sanctions topics clearly to executive leadership. • A bachelor’s degree. • Certified Sanctions Specialist (CGSS), CAMS, or equivalent professional designation. • An advanced degree, such as a Juris Doctor, master’s degree, or degree in a technical or quantitative discipline. • YOU'LL THRIVE HERE IF • You're comfortable owning the roadmap yourself. • You're comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and moving quickly anyway. • You communicate clearly and directly across cultures, and you're thoughtful about how context shifts meaning across borders. • You simplify complexity rather than hiding behind it. • You can advocate hard for a position, then fully support the team's direction once a call is made.