Senior Manager, Risk Operations

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 200,000 businesses worldwide - including Brex, Rippling, 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 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 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. 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
The Operations team at Airwallex ensures the smooth and efficient functioning of our services and processes. We focus on optimizing workflows, improving operational efficiency, and delivering exceptional customer support. By streamlining operations and implementing best practices, we help drive the company's growth and maintain high service standards. Our team is dedicated to providing a seamless experience for our customers and supporting Airwallex's mission to empower businesses globally.
What you'll do
As the Senior Manager, Issuing Risk Operations, you will lead the team responsible for safeguarding Airwallex's global card issuing ecosystem. You are not just a supervisor; you are a strategic leader who translates high-level company goals into operational excellence.
You are a master of stakeholder management, capable of balancing risk mitigation with commercial growth. Reporting to the Director of Global Issuing Risk Operations, you will own the OKRs for the US Issuing Risk team, ensuring that regional fraud rates, operational efficiency, and AI-integration targets are met. While your primary accountability is regional, you will play a pivotal role in influencing the global product roadmap and driving structural changes that benefit Airwallex's worldwide operations.
This hybrid role is based in San Francisco, CA.
Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and scale a team of Risk Operations professionals. You will be responsible for their career development, performance management, and alignment with Airwallex's global mission.
• While leading the team, you remain deeply technical and "in the weeds." You will personally dive into complex case investigations and perform deep-dive data analysis to identify root causes, ensuring your strategic decisions are grounded in the day-to-day reality of our risk environment.
• Act as the ultimate decision-maker for high-stakes risk escalations, providing clarity and direction when faced with ambiguity or conflicting priorities.
• Serve as the primary liaison between regional Risk Ops and Product, Engineering, Legal, and Regional General Managers. You will influence the product roadmap to ensure risk infrastructure keeps pace with business expansion.
• Architect the strategy for integrating AI/LLMs into the risk workflow. You will move the team from manual oversight to an "automated-first" mentality, leveraging technology to handle scale.

• Ensure that rule deployments are backed by rigorous data analysis and that the strategy evolves to counter sophisticated card fraud.

• Define, track, and deliver on key performance metrics and OKRs. You will take full accountability for fraud loss ratios, false positive rates, and operational throughput.

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:

• Proven track record of managing and developing high-performing teams within Card Payment Risk, Fraud Operations, or Issuing Dispute management.
• Advanced-level proficiency in SQL/Databricks and BI tools. You don't just look at dashboards; you use data to build the narrative for strategic changes.
• Exceptional ability to navigate a matrixed global organization, building consensus across diverse teams and time zones.
• Experience owning KPIs and delivering results in a high-pressure environment.
• A strong advocate for the use of AI/LLMs and automation to solve operational bottlenecks at scale.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the global card payments risk landscape, including scheme rules, regional regulatory requirements, and emerging fraud trends.

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.
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