Employment Counsel, CN&HK

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 2,000 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.

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 the team

Airwallex's Legal, Risk & Compliance (LRC) team plays a critical role in enabling the company to scale responsibly across global markets. Within LRC, the Corporate Legal team provides strategic legal support across a wide range of functions, including employment law, commercial transactions, corporate governance, and data privacy. The Employment Legal sub-team partners closely with People & Talent, business leaders, and external counsel to protect Airwallex's people and culture while ensuring compliance with local employment laws in every market where we operate.

What you'll do

As Employment Counsel, CN, you will be the primary in-house legal advisor on employment law matters across Mainland China and Hong Kong. You will lead complex workplace investigations, manage labour arbitration and dispute matters, and provide practical day-to-day employment advice to HR and business leaders in a fast-moving fintech environment. You will report to the Associate Director, Employment Legal and work closely with senior stakeholders in the Corporate Legal and LRC leadership teams. This role is based in China (Shanghai/Beijing/Shenzhen).

Responsibilities:

• Lead internal investigations into workplace misconduct, including designing investigation plans, conducting interviews, evaluating evidence, and preparing clear, defensible findings and recommendations that can withstand labour arbitration or litigation scrutiny.

• Manage labour arbitration and employment litigation matters end to end in Mainland China, and coordinate Hong Kong employment disputes, including case strategy, evidence preparation, hearings support, negotiations, settlements, and instruction of external counsel.

• Provide day-to-day employment legal advice to HR, People Operations, and business leaders on hiring, probation, performance management, disciplinary actions, terminations, restructurings, compensation and benefits, non-compete and non-solicitation obligations, social insurance, and employee handbook compliance under PRC and Hong Kong employment law.

• Draft, review, and update employment policies, employee handbooks, template employment contracts, and separation documents for China and Hong Kong to ensure compliance with evolving regulations and alignment with Airwallex’s risk appetite.

• Coordinate with and manage external employment law firms on complex, high-risk, or jurisdiction-specific matters, ensuring quality, consistency, and cost efficiency in advice and dispute handling.

• Deliver employment law training and guidance to HR and people managers on investigations, disciplinary processes, terminations, and other key employment topics to build internal capability and proactively reduce legal risk.

Who you are

We're looking for people who meet the minimum requirements for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.

Minimum qualifications:

• 9 to 14 years of employment or labour law experience, with a strong track record advising employers on both Mainland China and Hong Kong employment issues.

• Admitted to practice in the PRC and/or Hong Kong, holding a PRC legal qualification (法律职业资格证) and/or Hong Kong bar / solicitor qualification.

• Demonstrated experience leading workplace misconduct investigations and managing labour arbitration or employment litigation proceedings for employers.

• Strong knowledge of PRC Labour Contract Law, Labour Law, Social Insurance Law, and the Hong Kong Employment Ordinance and related employment legislation.

• Fluent in Mandarin and English (written and spoken), with the ability to communicate complex legal issues clearly to non-lawyers and to draft key documents in both languages.

• Proven ability to work independently with a high degree of ownership, exercise sound legal judgment under time pressure, and provide pragmatic, business-oriented advice in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred qualifications:

• Prior in-house experience at a technology, fintech, payments, or financial services company; in-house experience is considered a strong plus for this role.

• Experience advising on workforce restructurings, mass layoffs, executive exits, or reductions in force across multiple jurisdictions including China and Hong Kong.

• Familiarity with employment implications of equity and incentive compensation plans, cross-border secondments, contractor or outsourced labour arrangements, and “mixed employment” structures.

• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively with a remote manager across time zones, build trust with HR and business stakeholders, and thrive in a high-growth, dynamic, and sometimes ambiguous environment.

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.

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.