CEO, UniCard

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 2,200 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.

About UniCard

UniCard is a Hong Kong-licensed stored value facility and a wholly owned subsidiary of Airwallex.

We are building a new category of consumer financial platform for Hong Kong. Initially, UniCard will launch a multi-currency wallet and card experience focused on helping consumers manage domestic and cross-border spending more intelligently, with market-leading FX capabilities, merchant rewards, and seamless digital experiences.

Over time, UniCard's ambition extends beyond being a wallet. We believe the next generation of commerce will be increasingly AI-driven and agentic. UniCard aims to build the trusted consumer financial infrastructure that enables individuals and intelligent agents to transact securely, seamlessly, and globally on their behalf.

This is a rare opportunity to build a regulated consumer fintech from the ground up while leveraging the technology, infrastructure, and global reach of Airwallex.

The Role

We are seeking an exceptional Chief Executive Officer to lead UniCard through its next phase of growth.

The CEO will be responsible for establishing UniCard as one of Hong Kong's most trusted and innovative consumer financial platforms. They will serve as the primary executive accountable for regulatory engagement, strategic direction, organizational build-out, risk management, and commercial execution.

This individual must be capable of operating credibly with regulators, boards, financial institutions, and senior government stakeholders, while also possessing the ambition and operating capability required to build a scaled consumer financial platform from the ground up.

The most critical requirement for this role is the ability to establish and maintain a highly trusted relationship with HKMA to position UniCard as a well-governed, responsibly managed regulated institution.

The CEO will report to the Board of UniCard and work closely with Airwallex's senior leadership while maintaining UniCard as a distinct regulated entity.

Key Responsibilities

Regulatory Leadership

• Build and maintain a trusted, transparent, and constructive relationship with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA)

• Serve as the primary executive representative of UniCard with regulators, policymakers, and industry bodies

• Establish a culture of regulatory excellence, risk management, governance, and compliance

• Lead UniCard through future regulatory approvals, product launches, and strategic initiatives

Business Building

• Define and execute UniCard's long-term vision and strategy

• Launch and scale UniCard's consumer wallet platform in Hong Kong

• Build a high-performing executive leadership team and organizational culture

• Drive customer growth, product adoption, and commercial performance

• Develop strategic partnerships across financial services, payments, commerce, travel, technology, and digital ecosystems

Consumer Innovation

• Position UniCard at the forefront of next-generation financial experiences

• Shape the evolution from wallet and payments products toward agentic commerce and AI-enabled financial services

• Champion customer-centric innovation while maintaining regulatory integrity and trust

• Identify emerging opportunities in digital identity, AI agents, programmable payments, and future payment ecosystems

Stakeholder Management

• Manage Board relationships and governance processes

• Engage with investors, partners, banks, card schemes, and ecosystem participants

• Represent UniCard publicly with credibility and authority

• Build UniCard's reputation as a trusted participant in Hong Kong's financial system

Ideal Candidate Profile

The successful candidate will likely come from one or more of the following backgrounds:

• Senior executive from a regulated financial institution

• CEO, Managing Director, or General Manager of a payments, wallet, banking, or fintech business

• Former senior regulator or policymaker with deep financial services executive experience

• Senior executive from a major Hong Kong bank, digital bank, payment company, or financial infrastructure provider

Most importantly, the candidate should possess strong credibility and standing with the HKMA and broader Hong Kong financial ecosystem.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 24 months, the CEO will:

• Lead execution of Unicard’s consumer wallet infrastructure build

• Successfully launch and scale UniCard's consumer wallet proposition

• Establish UniCard as a trusted and well-regarded regulated institution

• Build a strong working relationship with HKMA and key stakeholders

• Recruit and develop a world-class leadership team

• Position UniCard as the leading platform for next-generation consumer financial experiences in Hong Kong

• Create the foundations for UniCard to become the trusted wallet layer for future agentic commerce

Preferred

• Experience building or scaling consumer fintech products

• Experience in payments, wallets, cards, banking, or digital financial services

• Familiarity with AI, digital commerce, and emerging payment technologies

• Existing relationships across Hong Kong's regulatory, banking, and fintech ecosystems

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.