Director, Product Legal (EmFi & Payments)

Location: San Francisco or New York; office attendance required on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays

Base salary: $240,000–$330,000 per year, plus potential equity and commission.

Company

Airwallex provides regulated financial infrastructure and payment products for global businesses, including embedded finance, lending, issuing, and payments platforms.

What you will do

• Lead the Product Legal team supporting Embedded Finance, Lending, Issuing, and Payments for Platforms, managing two direct reports.
• Structure novel Embedded Finance and Lending models for enterprise customers with Product, Engineering, Sales, Risk, Compliance, and banking partners.
• Advise on U.S. and international payments and financial services regulation, including money transmission, AML/BSA, Reg E, UDAAP, card network rules, and state licensing.
• Support products from ideation and PRD review through regulatory structuring, contract drafting, and go-to-market readiness.
• Draft and negotiate agreements with banks, payment processors, card networks, and other financial partners.
• Build legal playbooks, approved-use-case repositories, and scalable frameworks for product launches across multiple markets.

Requirements

• JD or equivalent law degree and active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• 10+ years of legal experience in payments, fintech, financial services, or a closely related regulated industry, including substantial in-house experience.
• Deep expertise in U.S. payments and financial services regulation, including money transmission, AML/BSA, Reg E, UDAAP, card network rules, state licensing, and bank-partner or BaaS requirements.
• Experience advising Product and Engineering teams from product ideation through launch in a fintech or financial services environment.
• Experience structuring and negotiating agreements with banks, payment processors, card networks, or other financial partners.
• Experience leading, mentoring, or developing lawyers or other legal professionals while remaining hands-on in product counseling.

Nice to have

• Top-tier law firm experience combined with in-house experience at a fintech, payments, or technology company.
• Experience with multi-jurisdictional launches, PSD2, e-money frameworks, Visa or Mastercard rules, issuing, consumer financial products, regulatory exams, or bank-partner audits.
• Experience building legal playbooks, scalable frameworks, or internal knowledge resources.
• Experience with legal technology or AI tools for improving legal workflows.

Culture & Benefits

• Work in a cross-functional, commercially minded legal organization supporting product, sales, engineering, risk, and compliance teams.
• Operate with high ownership, direct communication, and fast decision-making amid evolving regulations and incomplete information.
• U.S.-based employees receive medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan, disability and life insurance, and well-being benefits.
• U.S.-based employees receive 20 paid vacation days and 12 paid company holidays annually.