Director, Strategic Partnerships, AI, Americas

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.

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.

The Strategic Partnerships team at Airwallex is a collaborative group of dealmakers and relationship builders, passionate about forging strategic alliances that accelerate Airwallex's growth. We leverage our deep industry knowledge and financial acumen to identify and nurture win-win partnerships with leading companies, fintech innovators, and financial institutions. Together, we share a vision of unlocking opportunities for global businesses, working closely with internal stakeholders to ensure seamless integrations and maximize value for both Airwallex and our partners.

The Director of Strategic Partnerships, AI will play a critical role in driving business growth by identifying, developing, and managing some of the most pivotal and complex partnerships globally for Airwallex, particularly within the AI space. Highly cross-functional, this role will work across key teams, including Legal, Product, Operations, Sales, Marketing, and more, quarterbacking impactful strategic commercial and product integrations to accelerate Airwallex’s growth. Working hand in hand with a group of geographically diverse and seasoned regional/functional experts, your objective will be to forge relationships with companies well positioned to collaborate with us in building/enhancing world-class AI-powered products, while ensuring our respective and joint offerings reach – to the maximum extent possible – customers around the world who can benefit from them. This role will directly report to the VP of Financial & Strategic Partnerships.

This role is based in San Francisco.

Responsibilities:

• Intimately understand the Airwallex financial operating system products and services to ensure that the right partners are selected to support the delivery of our roadmap

• Translate Airwallex’s key objectives into a comprehensive partnerships and outbound strategy, identifying target partners and mutually synergistic use-cases and being able to communicate and convince effectively

• Establish and maintain strong relationships with key AI companies, externally with executives and decision makers, and internally with cross-functional leaders

• Lead product integration scoping and structure/negotiate value exchanges and partnership agreements that are mutually beneficial, ensuring appropriate risk mitigation and securing cross-functional buy-in

• Craft a multitude of deal types and own partner relationships across verticals, structures, and deal stages (pre-deal, implementation and post-deal partner management)

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams and leadership across the company, including Legal, Compliance, Product, Engineering, Strategy, Finance, Operations and the CEO’s office – including in executing deals with new and existing partners, working operationally with partners, and ensuring seamless post-acquisition integration of acquired entities

• Harness a strong executive network for building thought leadership at the intersection of AI and payments

• Represent Airwallex as an executive spokesperson at events and in the media

We're looking for people who meet the minimum requirements for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.

Minimum qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

• At least 10 years of experience working in strategic partnerships, business development, product or related roles

• Executive relationships within and deep industry knowledge of the AI space, ideally globally

• A strong product instinct, with the demonstrated ability to identify opportunities for leveraging partners’ and Airwallex’s existing and future products

• Expertise in crafting and executing on thoughtful partnership and product strategies with technology companies, preferably including AI-focused ones

• Robust analytical skills and data literacy, especially the ability to create and manage investment memos and financial models

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, allowing you to connect with people across functions and cultures, and communicate complex concepts to stakeholders at all levels–including senior executives–internally and externally

• Strong deal process execution and negotiation skills, along with the hustle to progress to completion multiple complex deals in parallel, across regions

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience within a fintech or other type of technology company with a strong focus on development of AI-powered products

• A strong understanding of and fascination with the global financial ecosystem, embedded finance landscape, and globalization of enterprises

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.