Enterprise Risk Manager - UAE

Role Overview

Enterprise Risk Manager - UAE at Airwallex, based in the United Arab Emirates. You will establish and evolve Airwallex's enterprise risk management capability in the UAE while contributing to the broader global and regional risk agenda, ensuring risk management supports responsible growth as Airwallex operationalises its UAE entity and expands its regulated payments offering in the region.

Company Overview

Airwallex is the AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. More than 676,000 businesses, including McLaren Racing, Qantas, SHEIN, and TikTok, use Airwallex directly or through platform partners to run their financial operations or build and monetize financial products. Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore with more than 2,300 people across 27 offices. The company holds 85+ licenses and operates a financial infrastructure spanning North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

The Global Risk team plays a critical role in enabling the company's growth by building a strong, scalable, and globally consistent approach to risk management. The team works across the business to define risk appetite, develop frameworks and policies, support strategic decision-making, and provide oversight of key risks as Airwallex expands across products, markets, and regulatory environments. You will be part of a highly collaborative group that partners closely with Product, Engineering, Operations, Commercial, Financial Crime Compliance, Regulatory Compliance, and Legal teams.

Airwallex has secured in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for Stored Value Facilities and Category II Retail Payment Services licences, supporting the planned provision of services including multi-currency accounts, global transfers, payment acceptance and corporate cards in the UAE.

Role Purpose

To establish and operationalise Airwallex's enterprise risk management capability in the UAE while supporting the company's responsible growth, ensuring risk governance reflects Central Bank of the UAE expectations and requirements, and enabling the expansion of regulated payments offerings in the region.

Key Responsibilities

Risk Architecture & Governance

• Adapt and operationalise Airwallex's global enterprise risk architecture for the UAE, including risk appetite, risk taxonomy, governance standards, risk limits, escalation protocols, reporting and decision rights.
• Partner with Regulatory Compliance, Legal and UAE leadership to ensure risk governance reflects applicable Central Bank of the UAE expectations and requirements relevant to Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services.
• Support consistent risk management standards across Airwallex's regulated entities and help ensure that local practices are aligned with the Group's enterprise risk framework.

Risk Assessment & Approval

• Support risk assessment and approval for new products, payment services, customer propositions, markets, partnerships, systems changes and material operating-model changes in the UAE.
• Act as a trusted, independent second-line advisor, providing constructive challenge where initiatives may exceed approved risk appetite, regulatory expectations or the maturity of the control environment.

Reporting & Analytics

• Translate risk data, incidents, issues, trends and key risk indicators into clear, decision-useful reporting for UAE management, regional leadership, risk committees and, where appropriate, the Board or regulators.

Crisis Management & Resilience

• Continue to develop the UAE crisis management and resilience framework, including escalation triggers, governance, executive response mechanisms, business continuity planning and severe-but-plausible scenario exercises.

Global Coordination & Culture

• Contribute to enterprise-wide risk initiatives, including improvements to risk reporting, dashboards, risk tools, automation and data quality, while sharing UAE insights with the global risk team.
• Build strong relationships with local and global stakeholders, fostering a pragmatic and effective risk culture across the UAE business.

Qualifications & Experience

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business, Law, STEM, or another relevant quantitative field.

Professional Experience

• 5 to 7+ years of experience in risk management, operational risk, enterprise risk, compliance, controls, or audit within financial services, fintech, payments, banking, or another highly regulated environment.
• Experience with defense frameworks, including risk appetite statements, risk taxonomies, governance processes, and escalation mechanisms.
• Familiarity with the UAE financial services regulatory environment, including practical exposure to the Central Bank of the UAE and requirements relevant to electronic money, Stored Value Facilities or Retail Payment Services.
• Demonstrated experience preparing risk papers and communicating effectively with executives, Board or committee audiences, regulators, or auditors.

Preferred Experience

• Fintech and payments experience, including exposure to cross-border payments, merchant acquiring, card scheme environments, local payment methods, or multi-entity regulated groups.
• Experience managing risk approvals and governance in a high-velocity product and engineering environment, where new features, products, markets, or operating models are launched frequently.

Skills & Competencies

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• High-ownership, pragmatic approach with the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities and significant cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong data literacy and comfort using dashboards, metrics, and technology-enabled tools to support risk oversight and reporting.
• Clear bias toward automation, AI, and scalable tooling to improve issue management, reporting, and second line efficiency, paired with the judgment to balance innovation, business agility, and control effectiveness.

Additional Information

Airwallex is an equal opportunity employer. The company values diversity and considers all applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent, regardless of color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status. Accommodation is available for applicants with disabilities or special needs.