Director, Product Legal (EmFi & Payments)

The role

You will lead the product-legal team supporting Embedded Finance, Lending, Issuing, and Payments for Platforms. You will provide legal guidance on U.S. and international financial services laws and structure models for strategic customers.

What you will do

• Lead the product-legal team supporting Embedded Finance, Lending, Issuing, and Payments for Platforms
• Manage two direct reports
• Structure novel Embedded Finance and Lending models for strategic enterprise customers
• Provide risk-weighted guidance on U.S. and international payments and financial services laws
• Advise Product and Engineering from ideation through PRD review and go-to-market readiness
• Draft, review, and negotiate financial partnership agreements and platform terms and conditions
• Build scalable legal playbooks and reference materials
• Coordinate with various legal, risk, and regulatory departments on product launches and exams
• Serve as the U.S.-based point person for Embedded Finance and own the Lending portfolio
• Support customer-facing legal-to-legal discussions

Required qualifications

• JD or equivalent law degree
• Active bar membership in at least one U.S. jurisdiction
• 10+ years of legal experience in payments, fintech, financial services, or a closely related regulated industry
• Substantial in-house experience
• Deep expertise in U.S. payments and financial services regulation
• Experience serving as an embedded legal partner to Product and Engineering teams
• Track record of structuring and negotiating complex agreements with financial partners
• Strong drafting skills for financial partnership agreements and product documentation
• Ability to translate complex technical and regulatory matters into practical advice
• Experience leading, mentoring, or developing lawyers or other legal professionals

Nice to have

• Experience at a top-tier law firm combined with in-house experience at a fintech, payments company, or technology company
• Experience with multi-jurisdictional product launches, including European payments regulation
• Experience with Visa or Mastercard rules, issuing programs, consumer financial products, regulatory exams, or bank-partner audits
• Track record of building legal playbooks, scalable frameworks, or internal knowledge resources
• Experience supporting embedded finance, Payments for Platforms, Lending, or Issuing products
• Comfort using legal technology or AI tools

About the company

Airwallex is an AI-native financial operating system for a real-time, intelligent economy. It provides financial infrastructure for global commerce and is co-headquartered in San Francisco and Singapore.