Director, Channel Partnerships

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 150,000 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 1,700 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 26 offices around the globe. Valued at US$6.2 billion and backed by world-leading investors including Visa, Airtree, Blackbird, Sequoia, DST Global, Greenoaks, Salesforce Ventures, Lone Pine, and Square Peg, 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.

About the team

Airwallex is seeking a highly strategic and results-oriented Director, Channel Partnerships to lead and scale our channel growth efforts in the US. This is a pivotal leadership role where you will be instrumental in defining, launching, and accelerating our partnership strategy, with an immediate focus on significantly growing our partnerships across verticals.

Your primary objective will be to establish Airwallex as the preferred partner for global expansion for US SME and mid-market companies. You will leverage your deep understanding of various market ecosystems and strong network to identify and establish high-impact partnerships, developing and executing comprehensive partner programs. A key priority will be to open up new partnership pillars, including those with ERPs, Private Equity and Venture Capital companies, technology integrators, and accounting/bookkeeping firms. In the long term, you will be responsible for re-evaluating and continually evolving our overall channel strategy.

This role requires a proven leader who can not only drive direct results but also build, mentor, and grow a team of high-performing Channel Partnership Managers underneath them to support these ambitious goals, while also identifying white space opportunities within the partnership landscape.

What you’ll do

As the Director of Channel Partnerships, you will:

• Define and drive channel strategy: Develop and implement comprehensive channel strategies to drive customer acquisition and revenue growth across various verticals and products, including our FX, card issuing, payments acquiring, and spend management suite

• Cultivate high-impact partnerships: Identify, qualify, negotiate, and close strategic partnerships with key players across a diverse range of ecosystems, with a priority on ERPs, PE/VC firms, and accounting/bookkeeping firms

• Drive immediate revenue impact by building and scaling a high-velocity partner referral engine that delivers a consistent pipeline of qualified customer leads, and collaborating closely with the AE team to ensure their successful conversion

• Design & scale innovative partner programs: Create, launch, and optimize innovative partner programs, including referral models, affiliate structures, co-marketing initiatives (webinars, events, content syndication), and technology integrations, tailored to different partner types and objectives

• Lead strategic channel evolution: Take the lead in strategically assessing and evolving Airwallex's overall channel approach, continuously identifying new verticals, partnership models, and product integration opportunities for long-term growth and competitive advantage

• Build and lead a high-performing team: Recruit, mentor, and empower a team of Channel Partnership Managers with specialized expertise in our priority verticals

• Drive cross-functional alignment: Collaborate extensively with internal teams including Sales, Marketing, Product, Operations, and Legal to ensure seamless partner experiences, optimize go-to-market strategies, and align partnership efforts with company-wide objectives

• Be a market expert: Stay ahead of market trends, competitive landscapes, and emerging opportunities in payments and across various industries to continually refine and enhance our partnership strategy

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:

• 8+ years of progressive experience in channel partnerships, business development, or strategic sales, with at least 3-5 years in a leadership or senior role managing complex partnerships and/or teams

• Demonstrated success in building, launching, and scaling channel partnership programs that have directly contributed to substantial revenue growth across various industries, with a strong understanding of how to adapt strategies for different verticals

• Deep and verifiable knowledge of multiple business ecosystems (e.g., VC/start-up, SaaS, travel), including established players, emerging trends, and key strategic levers

• Existing strong network within the startup, venture capital, or private equity communities, with the ability to leverage and expand this network to new areas

• Proven ability to hire, lead, mentor, and develop high-performing teams, fostering a culture of strategic thinking and execution

• Exceptional negotiation, deal structuring, and strategic relationship management skills at an executive level

• Highly analytical, with a track record of using data to inform strategic decisions and drive operational efficiency

• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, comfortable presenting to and influencing diverse audiences, including C-suite executives

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience in the fintech or payments industry

• Prior experience in a fast-growing startup environment

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.

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.