Head of Financial Partnerships Strategy & Operations
San Francisco, CA, USA
About the role
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 200,000 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 2,000 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$8 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, 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. What you’ll do Airwallex is seeking a Head of Partnerships Strategy & Operations to serve as the strategic architect and operational engine behind our global partnership network. This is a high-impact leadership role that sits at the intersection of Strategy, Operations, and Business Development , reporting directly to the VP of Financial & Strategic Partnerships . You will lead a global team responsible for defining our partnership roadmap and ensuring our most critical alliances—ranging from global Tier-1 banks and card schemes to enterprise software and commerce platforms—are governed, measured, and optimized for scale. If you are a builder who thrives on turning complex strategic visions into rigorous operating realities, this is
the role for you.
Responsibilities Partnership Strategy & Deal Architecture Strategic Roadmap: Define the "where, why, and how" of our global partnership strategy across both Financial (FP) and Strategic (SP) verticals. Build vs. Buy vs. Partner: Lead rigorous analyses to support market entry, product expansion, and distribution stack design. Complex Deal Structuring: Act as the primary architect for our most sophisticated negotiations, overseeing economic modeling, risk assessment, and commercial trade-offs (exclusivity, pricing, and SLAs). Operating Excellence & Governance The Partnership "Operating System": Own the global operating model, including governance forums, QBRs, scorecards, and value-tracking mechanisms to ensure partners deliver on their intended ROI. Cross-Functional Orchestration: Serve as the central connective tissue between Partnerships and Product, Engineering, Treasury, Risk, and Legal to accelerate onboarding and implementation. Performance Management: Design and run
the team’s business engine, establishing KPIs that provide executive visibility into pipeline health, partner performance, and execution risks. Executive Leadership & Intelligence C-Suite Advisory: Act as a primary thought partner to the VP of Financial & Strategic Partnerships, drafting Board-ready materials and leading high-priority special projects like org planning and portfolio optimization. Market Intelligence: Serve as the subject-matter expert on the global fintech and embedded finance landscape, maintaining a pulse on competitive dynamics and regulatory shifts. Team Leadership: Direct and develop a high-performing Strategy & Operations team, fostering a culture of analytical rigor and operational speed.
Who you are 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: 10+ years of experience in Strategy, Corporate Development, BizOps, or Partnership Strategy, ideally within a high-growth technology or financial services environment. Strategic & Analytical Rigor: Proven ability to size markets, model deal economics, and distill complex problems into actionable workplans. Operational Track Record: Experience building scalable mechanisms and governance processes from the ground up in a fast-paced environment. People Management: Demonstrated success in leading and developing high-performing strategic teams. Communication Excellence: Ability to influence C-level stakeholders and translate technical/financial complexity into clear, high-level narratives. Academic Foundation: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Economics, Finance, Engineering, or a related field. Preferred
qualifications: Fintech & Payments Expertise: Direct experience working with banks, card schemes, PSPs, or embedded finance infrastructure. Leadership Pedigree: Prior experience as a Strategy Lead, Chief of Staff, or BizOps Leader working closely with VP+ or C-level executives. Top-Tier Consulting: Experience at a premier global consultancy (McKinsey, Bain, or BCG) or in a high-growth "late-stage" technology company is highly advantageous. Commercial Ops: Experience standing up partner operations or commercial excellence functions at a global scale. Applicant Safety Policy: Fraud and Third-Party Recruiters 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. 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.
