Senior Legal Counsel, Data & Privacy

Job description

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 150,000 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 1,800 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe.

Valued at US$6.2 billion and backed by world-leading investors including Visa, Airtree, Blackbird, Sequoia, DST Global, Greenoaks, Salesforce Ventures, Lone Pine, and Square Peg, 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 Legal, Risk & Compliance (LRC) team at Airwallex is a collaborative group of legal minds and risk management experts.

We’re passionate about safeguarding Airwallex’s operations, fostering a culture of compliance and ethical conduct, and ensuring we navigate the global financial landscape with integrity.

We provide expert guidance and support to all areas of the business, proactively identifying, mitigating, and managing legal and financial risks.

What you’ll do

Airwallex is looking for a seasoned data and privacy legal lawyer to join our Data & Privacy team.

You will report to our US-based Director of Data & Privacy and lead responsibility for all data and privacy legal and regulatory matters (including AI-related issues) in APAC.

You will support a complex set of fintech products and an increasing array of AI tools that will challenge your problem solving and critical thinking skills.

In addition, you will support Airwallex’s growing Sales team on data and privacy issues, and help us build for scale.

With various data privacy regimes across Asia (e.g., PDPA, PIPL, APPI) setting regional and global benchmarks for data and privacy, your expertise and guidance will be crucial to our global operation and help drive our global data and privacy strategy.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, and Information Security teams to implement data and AI regulations for APAC
• Develop and execute a comprehensive compliance programs for the applicable regimes
• Work closely with the Product Legal, Regulatory Legal, Commercial Legal and Regulatory Compliance teams on privacy-by-design, privacy impact assessments, and contractual support
• Lead or support privacy counseling and contractual assistance
• Coordinate international data flows for the broader Airwallex business
• Support strategic data initiatives, including data localisation, data storage, and global access controls

Who you are

We’re looking for people who meet the minimum qualifications for this role.

The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.

Minimum qualifications:

• An APAC legal qualification (e.g., Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, or foreign equivalent)
• 8-12 years of experience in an in-house legal department and/or in private practice advising on data and privacy issues related to technical platforms and products
• Extensive experience with major data privacy regimes in APAC (e.g., PDPA, PIPL, APPI), with a solid understanding of other global regimes, particularly GDPR and US privacy law.
  
  
• Fluent in Mandarin and English; strong written and oral communication skills
• Experience collaborating with technical teams (Product, Engineering, InfoSec) on developing technical implementations of data and privacy regulations
• Familiarity with emerging AI regulations and AI technologies
• Experience providing data and privacy advice and support during responses to security incidents
• The ability to explain complex legal concepts to various (often non-legal) audiences, and the ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects and deals
• A collaborative and empathetic mindset, a good sense of humor, and a keen understanding of how to work effectively with colleagues from different teams and backgrounds in different geographies.
  
  

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience advising on data and privacy issues related to financial services
• Experience dealing directly with mainland Chinese regulators, like the Chinese Cybersecurity Administration (CAC)
• Experience at a rapidly scaling fintech or other tech company
• Experience in a globally distributed company

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.

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.

If you are approached by someone claiming to represent Airwallex, please verify with our team.

Required Skill Profession

Corporate Law