Senior Employment Counsel, Americas

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by a unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 250,000 businesses worldwide—including Brex, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN, and many more—with fully integrated solutions to manage business accounts, payments, spend management, treasury, and embedded finance at a global scale. Founded in Melbourne, we now have a team of over 2,300 innovators across 27 offices globally. Valued at US$11 billion and backed by leading investors such as T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, and Sequoia, Airwallex is building the global payments and financial platform of the future.

About the role

You’ll be the senior employment counsel for Airwallex in the Americas, partnering hands-on with our People & Talent team on high-risk issues: terminations, workplace investigations, employee relations, and the policies governing how 3,000+ employees across 20+ markets work. You’ll own U.S. employment law directly and coordinate advice across other jurisdictions with our external counsel panel. This role also tackles unique challenges like contractor and EOR classification, remote work and mobility exposure, and conduct matters in regulated entities. Based in San Francisco, New York, or Seattle, this role is ideal for someone who wants to build the playbooks and templates a scaling employment function relies on—not just answer tickets.

Responsibilities

• Advise the People & Talent team and business leaders on the full employee lifecycle, including hiring, contracts, performance management, accommodations, leaves, wage and hour compliance, and terminations.
• Lead workplace investigations and sensitive employee matters end-to-end, collaborating with the cross-functional People and Legal working group.
• Draft, refresh, and own employment-related policies and templates.
• Manage employment disputes, agency charges, and litigation, instructing and controlling external counsel and associated legal spend.
• Coordinate multi-jurisdiction employment advice across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas, including contractor and employer-of-record arrangements, cross-border remote work, and mobility risk.
• Advise on compensation, benefits, and equity matters in a private company context.

Requirements

• J.D. degree (or foreign equivalent) and active membership in at least one U.S. state bar (California, Washington, or New York preferred).
• 7+ years of employment law experience at a leading law firm and/or in-house legal department, with demonstrated employment counseling experience beyond litigation alone.
• Experience advising on and coordinating employment law across multiple jurisdictions.
• Experience leading workplace investigations and managing employment disputes, agency charges, or tribunal matters.
• Ability to translate complex legal and risk issues into clear, actionable guidance for non-legal audiences.
• High motivation and ability to operate independently and pivot quickly in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience at a fintech, payments company, or other highly regulated business.
• Experience with contractor classification, employer-of-record populations, or cross-border remote work and permanent establishment risk.
• A learner’s mentality: consistently seeking new challenges and expanding knowledge beyond current expertise.
• Comfort operating across time zones with a globally distributed team, including colleagues in APAC and EMEA.

Pay

Compensation range: $160,000 – $270,000.