Senior Manager - Sanctions Regulatory Analysis

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 APAC.

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.

• Demonstrated understanding of in-region sanctions regulations and industry best practices pertaining to economic sanctions; knowledge of US sanctions in addition to in-region expertise is strongly preferred.

• History of executing the operationalization of sanctions controls in collaboration with technological teams, adhering to global policies, in-region procedures, and risk appetite.

• A history of interacting or supporting engagement with external stakeholders such as regulators or financial institution partners on sanctions matters.

• Expert knowledge of the Australian sanctions framework administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Sanctions Office (ASO).

• Strong understanding of New Zealand's sanctions regimes administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), including the Russia Sanctions Act and UN-based regulations.

• Expert knowledge of Asian regulatory regimes and guidelines, specifically those administered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA).

• Nuanced understanding of complex, overlapping geopolitical risks in the region, including the ability to navigate conflicting obligations (e.g., China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM)).

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 email address. Please apply only through 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.