(Senior) Director, People, China

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.

What you’ll do

As a key player reporting directly to the Global VP People & Talent, you will play a strategic part in leading our dynamic People team and talented employees throughout China. You will be critical in enabling our ability to grow our operations and build our employee communities alongside our senior leadership to support our high employee engagement.

The global HQ for Airwallex is in Singapore and this role will require the maturity and agility to partner with global senior leadership as well as regional leadership. You and your team will provide end to end functional leadership including implementation of People initiatives that enable the delivery of the group strategy and business plans of our China (Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Guangzhou, Shenzhen) locations for Airwallex.

Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership, consulting and coaching to the China leaders across all areas of People discipline including recruitment, employee relations, performance management, remuneration & benefits, talent management and development, mobility and regulatory compliance

• Assists and/or leads, as appropriate, with the development and administration of programs, policies, procedures and guidelines to help align the workforce with the strategic goals of the company, and the specific goals of the China region.

• Drive workforce planning and talent development for the region. Ensuring programs are in place for all key capabilities within the portfolio and implement strategies, such as hiring and development to meet business needs.

• Build a thriving culture and working environment that engages, inspires teams to achieve the company's vision in-line with our Operating Principles.

• Establish and maintain a highly competent and motivated People team that is effectively interconnected across the region through dedicated People Partners, exceptional Workplace Experience, and efficient People Operations.

• Collaborate and partner with our CoE People & Talent functions to achieve the desired outcomes of the business, considering the diverse needs of your stakeholders and peers.

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:

• Broad experience across the full spectrum of an HR function, including advising and influencing at Senior Executive levels

• Significant experience working across cultures, and geographies. While this role overseas the China operations and employees, there is a significant partnership with global team members and stakeholders

• Excellent leadership skills, high degree of emotional intelligence and resilience.

• Highly developed interpersonal skills – must be able to work with all levels of internal and external organizations and across cultures and countries.

• Proficient at dealing with complexity and maturity in handling confidential matters

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and oral.

Preferred qualifications:

• University degree from top institutions, with min 10 years HR experience and 5+ years leadership experience

• Relevant industry related experience and scope of responsibility.

• Executive presence, strategic thinking, and ownership of tasks to build credibility with senior stakeholders

• Experience leading, coaching and scaling your own team members, as well as partnering with business leaders to help drive effectiveness for theirs

At Airwallex you’ll have the ability to make an impact in a rapidly growing, global fintech. We want you to share in our success, which is why you’ll be offered a competitive salary plus valuable equity within Airwallex. We also like to ensure we create the best environment for our people by providing a collaborative open office space with a fully stocked kitchen. We organize regular team building events and we give our people the freedom to be creative.

To protect you from recruitment scams, please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details, sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport), or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com or our official LinkedIn page.

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.

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.