Associate Director, KYC (Fintech)

Location: Primarily remote, aligned to the Birmingham office, with occasional in-office presence in Birmingham or London for team meetings and regulatory engagement.

Company

Airwallex is an AI-native financial operating system and regulated financial infrastructure provider supporting global payments and financial products.

What you will do

• Lead and continuously improve the global KYC strategy, policy framework, and second-line governance across operating jurisdictions.
• Oversee KYC, Enhanced Due Diligence, periodic review controls, and operational activities independently from the second line.
• Develop and maintain KYC policies and procedures, providing interpretive guidance to first-line operations and second-line advisory teams.
• Partner with KYC Operations to improve onboarding, ongoing reviews, management information, quality, consistency, and risk-based decision-making.
• Challenge Customer Risk Acceptance reviews, assess mitigations, and produce decision-ready recommendations for complex and higher-risk customers.
• Advise Commercial and Sales teams and partner with Product, Data, and Engineering to embed regulatory controls, decision frameworks, and AI-enabled improvements into scalable workflows.

Requirements

• 10+ years of relevant AML/KYC experience focused on complex corporate clients, financial institutions, or fintech platforms.
• Experience designing, managing, and governing scalable second-line KYC frameworks, including independent oversight, challenge, and risk-based decision-making across KYC, Enhanced Due Diligence, and periodic review activities.
• 3+ years of experience leading, mentoring, or managing compliance teams.
• Experience supporting regulatory examinations and engagement, and overseeing compliance reviews or walkthroughs for complex corporate, embedded finance, or platform clients.
• Experience reviewing or approving Customer Risk Acceptance documentation, identifying risk, assessing mitigations, and producing clear recommendations.
• Ability to advise senior Commercial and Sales stakeholders on complex deal structures, novel business models, and high-risk customer profiles.
• Ability to partner with Product, Engineering, Data, and Business stakeholders to translate compliance requirements into scalable, automated workflows.
• Strong leadership, communication, and relationship management skills, including the ability to explain complex compliance decisions to senior executives, regulatory authorities, and external partners.
• Bachelor’s degree required.

Nice to have

• Experience leveraging or evaluating AI-enabled tools in compliance or KYC workflows, including responsible implementation, regulatory defensibility, and internal controls.
• Experience in fintech, global cross-border payments, RegTech, management consulting, or digital asset environments.
• CAMS, CFCS, CFE, or equivalent industry certification.
• Quantitative, technical, legal, or data-oriented degree.
• Familiarity with Google Workspace, Slack, Mac environments, modern data tools, and AI-assisted workflow platforms.
• Experience monitoring regulatory, enforcement, and industry developments across cross-border payments, global banking, or digital assets.

Culture & Benefits

• Primarily remote work with occasional office presence in Birmingham or London.
• Work in a compliance-heavy, high-stakes financial environment focused on trust, discipline, and operational resilience.
• Operate across global markets and cultures while balancing regulatory rigor with execution speed.
• Work with cross-functional teams across Product, Data, Engineering, Commercial, Sales, and Regulatory & Compliance.