Regulatory Counsel, Americas

About the role

Airwallex, the AI-native financial operating system used by more than 675,000 businesses, is hiring a Regulatory Counsel for the Americas. The role advises on regulatory issues relating to payments and financial services, including licensing, money transmission and cross-border product offerings, and supports licensing, registration and ongoing compliance obligations in relevant Americas markets. It is a hybrid position based in San Francisco or New York.

Key responsibilities

• Support regulatory legal matters across the Americas, including advice on existing licenses and registrations and potential future applications.
• Research and summarize developments in payments and financial services regulation and their impact on the business.
• Partner with Product Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk and Financial Crime Compliance teams on money transmission, stored value, FX, remittance and card issuing matters.
• Support Product, Strategy, Management and Commercial teams on new market entry, license expansion and regulatory mapping.
• Analyze how funds move through payment structures and identify applicable licensing requirements, escalating complex issues when needed.
• Provide practical legal guidance and risk assessments to stakeholders, supported by senior counsel and external advisers.
• Manage external legal counsel and consultants, including instructions, review of advice and tracking of deliverables and costs.
• Assist with regulatory filings, submissions and responses in relevant jurisdictions.
• Monitor regulatory developments and help turn them into practical guidance and procedures.
• Leverage AI and other tooling to improve the Regulatory Legal team's efficiency, and contribute to government-relations and policy work.

Required profile

• Qualified lawyer with 5 years of relevant post-qualification experience.
• Regulatory, financial-services or fintech experience gained in-house, in private practice or at a financial institution.
• Exposure to payments, money transmission, e-money, FX, remittances, card issuing or digital financial services.
• Working understanding of the US financial-services regulatory environment, with interest in state money-transmitter licensing.
• Ability to research complex legal questions and explain legal topics to non-lawyers.
• Strong collaboration, stakeholder-management and communication skills, and comfort working through ambiguity in a global team.

Preferred: experience with state money-transmitter licensing, consumer or commercial financial products (e.g. Reg E, UDAAP, TILA), new-market expansion, direct regulator interaction, Canadian payments regulation (RPAA, FINTRAC), and RegTech, LegalTech or AI tools.