Associate Director, Payments/Scheme Economics

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, 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. 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.

Who you are

We are looking for an Associate Director, Payments/Scheme Economics to own the integrity, visibility and management of Airwallex’s payment costs, starting with card scheme fees and interchange fees across Visa and Mastercard.

Reporting to the Head of Strategic Finance, you will be the subject matter expert on scheme economics, translating complex and rapidly changing network rules into accurate system configurations, financial outcomes and business decisions. You will ensure we understand what every payment should cost, that those costs are accurately reflected across our systems and financials, and that we systematically identify opportunities to improve payment economics as we scale.

Over time, the remit will expand across other card schemes, local payment methods and the broader payments cost base.

What you’ll do

• Own scheme economics and rule interpretation: Maintain deep expertise across scheme fees, interchange and network rules. Interpret scheme bulletins, operating regulations and fee schedules, translating changes into clear financial, product and operational requirements.
• Ensure accurate payment cost configuration: Translate complex scheme rules into fee tables, eligibility criteria and transaction‑level logic. Partner with Product and Engineering to ensure cost calculation, allocation and customer billing accurately reflect current network rules across markets and payment flows.
• Protect payment cost integrity: Establish robust governance, testing and controls across scheme configurations. Reconcile expected costs against actual network charges, identify anomalies and leakage, and drive root‑cause resolution.
• Build granular visibility into payment economics: Develop robust models and analytics across markets, products, payment methods and transaction types, creating a clear view of unit economics, margin drivers and cost movements.
• Drive structural cost and margin optimization: Identify, quantify and execute opportunities to improve economics through transaction qualification, BIN routing, cost configuration, and other levers. Partner with Product, Finance and Commercial teams to prioritize the highest‑value opportunities.
• Shape pricing and commercial decisions: Translate underlying payment economics into recommendations for customer pricing, product design, new market launches and commercial strategy, ensuring growth is supported by sustainable unit economics.
• Build scalable infrastructure and automation: Partner with Product, Engineering, and Data teams to strengthen cost engines, fee allocation logic, dashboards and automated controls. Apply AI and advanced analytics to accelerate rule interpretation, detect anomalies and surface optimization opportunities.
• Own complex scheme economics issues: Serve as the escalation point for scheme pricing, interchange and rule‑related questions, working directly with Visa, Mastercard and other payment partners where required.

What you’ll bring

• 7+ years of relevant experience in payments, acquiring, issuing, card networks, payment infrastructure or related roles, ideally within a global PSP, acquirer, scheme, issuer or fintech.
• Deep knowledge of card payment economics , particularly Visa and Mastercard interchange, scheme fees, transaction qualification and network rules.
• Strong ability to operationalize complex payment rules , translating fee schedules and network requirements into system logic, configurations and controls.
• Experience with payment cost systems and controls , including interchange tables, scheme fee logic, BIN‑based rules, transaction attributes or similar payment configurations.
• Strong analytical and quantitative capabilities , including experience working with transaction‑level data, economic modeling and reconciliation of expected versus actual payment costs.
• Strong commercial judgment , with the ability to connect detailed payment mechanics to pricing, product decisions and margin optimization.
• Exceptional attention to detail and ownership , with the discipline required to manage complex rules where small errors can create meaningful financial impact at scale.
• Strong cross‑functional execution , with the ability to work effectively across Product, Engineering, Finance, Data, Operations and external payment partners.

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.

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