Director, Regulatory Compliance UK (Fintech)

Location: UK - London; the role involves in-person collaboration in the London hub.

Company

Airwallex is an AI-native financial operating system and regulated financial infrastructure provider supporting global payments and financial products across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific.

What you will do

• Lead the UK regulatory compliance team and continuously evolve the compliance management system, policies, registers, and operational controls.
• Act as the principal FCA contact for regulatory inquiries, notifications, audits, thematic reviews, reporting, and authorization matters.
• Advise Product, Commercial, Strategy, and International Expansion teams on compliant cross-border payments, issuing, acquiring, and embedded finance architectures.
• Oversee safeguarding and Consumer Duty compliance in partnership with Finance, Risk, Product, and other functions.
• Monitor regulatory developments, including operational resilience and PSR APP fraud reimbursement schemes, and translate them into technical and operational roadmaps.
• Build and coach the UK compliance advisory and operations team and deliver KRI and regulatory reporting to executives, boards, and audit or risk committees.

Requirements

• 10+ years of regulatory compliance experience in UK fintech, payment services, EMIs or APIs, neo-banking, or modern global financial institutions.
• At least 4+ years managing and developing high-performing compliance teams in high-growth environments.
• Expert knowledge of UK financial regulations, including PSRs, EMRs, FCA Principles for Businesses, and Consumer Duty standards.
• Direct experience managing formal FCA relationships, supervisory inspections, or key FCA authorization filings.
• Ability to interpret complex regulatory requirements and provide creative, commercial, and defensible solutions.
• Strong communication, negotiation, and written advocacy skills for influencing boards, executives, and external regulators.

Nice to have

• Experience holding an FCA-approved person or Senior Management Function role.
• Experience with cross-border multi-currency schemes, merchant acquiring, or credit and lending adjacencies.
• Relevant legal qualification or industry certification, such as the ICA Diploma in Governance, Risk & Compliance.

Culture & Benefits

• High autonomy to build, scale, and influence financial infrastructure.
• Commercial, technology-driven compliance culture focused on ownership, first-principles thinking, and risk accountability.
• Competitive base salary, performance incentives, and meaningful equity.
• Health, wellness, pension, and parental leave coverage.
• Professional development opportunities within a global organization.

Hiring process

• Apply only through careers.airwallex.com or Airwallex’s official LinkedIn page; official communications come from an @airwallex.com address.
• Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms or recruiters.
• Airwallex will not request bank details, sensitive identification numbers, or payment during the application or interview process.