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 to see it in full.

Role Overview

Airwallex is seeking highly skilled Sanctions Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to join our second line of defense (2LoD) Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) team. To support our global operations and ensure nuanced, localized oversight, we are looking for dedicated, in-region sanctions specialists across EMEA/UK.

In this role, you will act as the ultimate regional escalation point for L3 sanctions alerts to advise on complicated sanctions matches, drive sanctions investigations and efficacy of sanctions screening, determine potential reporting obligations, and assist in scaling a global sanctions program. This role requires a strategic thinker who can seamlessly translate complex regional regulatory changes into practical, scalable control enhancements across the business and multiple geographies.

Responsibilities

Act as an in-region Sanctions Subject Matter Expert (SME) and serve as the second-line escalation point for highly complex, ambiguous sanctions matches, special investigations, and potential block-and-reject.

Own L3 Sanctions case investigation and decisioning regionally, assessing applicable reporting, disclosure, and recordkeeping obligations.

Provide practical, timely, and risk-based sanctions advice on complex cross-border payment flows, indirect exposure, jurisdictional conflicts, new products and services, customer segments, commercial transactions, and geographic expansion.

Own and maintain regional Sanctions operational procedures and provide effective second-line oversight of sanctions controls implemented by first-line teams, ensuring alignment with the Global Sanctions Policy while incorporating applicable local requirements.

Liaise with global teams to provide actionable feedback on product-specific controls and screening technologies, leveraging in-region expertise and historical L3 escalations to ensure continuous optimization and alignment with the organization’s risk appetite.

Monitor US, regional, and international sanctions and export-control developments, geopolitical events, and regulatory expectations, assessing their impact on customers, products, jurisdictions, lists, systems, procedures, and risk appetite.

Develop and deliver targeted training and ongoing guidance for L2 sanctions reviewers, KYC, Operations, and other stakeholders on sanctions risk, alert adjudication, investigative research, discounting criteria, escalation standards, and documentation requirements.

Lead responses to banking partners and other external stakeholders on sanctions-related inquiries and due diligence reviews.

Qualifications

7-10 years of relevant experience, preferably at a fintech, payments company, or large financial institution specializing in sanctions.

Experience managing sanctions alerts at the L3 level, recommending blocking/freezing transactions, assessing sanctions-related licenses and respective transactional permissibility, and managing reporting.

History of assessing current sanctions frameworks and recommending enhancements to strengthen the program, including designing and scaling sanctions programs.