Director, Employment Legal
Summary of Relevant Experience
Summary of Experience – Director, Employment Legal @ Airwallex
- In-house employment and ERISA counsel who has served as lead attorney on complex litigation, plan governance, and regulatory compliance matters, managing outside counsel and reporting directly to C-suite executives across multiemployer funds and a Fortune 500 insurer.
- Benefits and labor relations attorney who has drafted employment contracts, plan documents, and compliance frameworks, building standard operating procedures and templates for HR and people operations teams in large, regulated organizations.
- HIPAA and healthcare compliance advisor who has partnered cross-functionally with HR, operations, and executive stakeholders to align data-handling practices with applicable law, mirroring the Data and Privacy collaboration this role requires.
- JD/MBA-credentialed counsel with approximately four years of progressive in-house experience in financial services and healthcare, positioned for senior director-level legal ownership in a fast-scaling global fintech environment.
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Why this is a fit
Your ERISA/employee-benefits and employment law background overlaps with this employment legal director role, but the posting requires 10+ years PQE, litigation management across multiple jurisdictions, and team leadership at a Director level—well above your ~4 years of senior-associate/counsel experience; additionally, the role is hybrid in SF or NYC while your primary locations are DC Metro/MD/VA/Remote-US.
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 250,000 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 2,300 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 27 offices around the globe. Valued at US$11 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 https://www.airwallex.com/us/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 You will be responsible for all group wide litigation and employment matters. You will work closely with stakeholders globally to manage contentious matters and employment related issues i.e People and Talent Acquisition team to establish standard operating procedures and templates and streamline processes. This will be an exciting opportunity to help shape the next phase of Airwallex’s growth. This hybrid role is based in San Francisco or New York City. Responsibilities: - Steer a wide range of contentious and non-contentious employment matters including employee and contractor negotiations, disputes, unfair dismissal claims, employee & workplace investigations, etc. - Lead litigious matters and manage outside counsel involving Airwallex and/or its counterparties. Work closely with stakeholders to devise solutions for Airwallex that minimize risk in a prudent and effective manner. - Trusted advisor to the Global People & Talent team on employee policies, employee related matters, including employee compensation insurance, investigations, termination, conflict of interest. - Maintaining standards of employment contract templates and operating procedures for the Global People & Talent team. These include employment, contractor and people related contracts, including employer of record (EOR) service providers. - Counsel to other Legal Specialist areas (including Data & Privacy, Product teams) - Partner with the Data & Privacy team to ensure advice given to People & Talent and the Group on HR data handling are consistent with appropriate data protection laws and Group policies. - Orchestrating Employee Equity Programs, with assistance from the Company Secretary and Airwallex’s whistleblowing