Senior Employment Counsel - EMEA

Job description

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 https://www.airwallex.com/us/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 ROLE We're seeking a sharp, pragmatic, and globally minded Senior Employment Counsel with deep UK employment law expertise to join our growing legal team. Based in our London office and reporting to our Associate Director, Employment Legal in San Francisco, this role will serve as the primary employment law advisor for our UK and EMEA operations while also supporting employment matters across our global footprint. We're looking for a responsive, clear communicator who can distill complex legal issues quickly and partner effectively with stakeholders across time zones. Both in-house and law firm experience are valued, ideally with a track record of working across multiple jurisdictions in complex, fast-scaling environments. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Serve as the go-to employment counsel for our UK and EMEA teams, advising on the full range of employment issues including hiring, performance management, terminations, compensation, investigations, and employee relations. - Partner with the People team and business leaders to support compliant, scalable employee lifecycle practices across the region. - Conduct and oversee internal workplace investigations. - Collaborate on and lead employment-related litigation and pre-litigation matters. - Develop and scale employment processes through policies, training, templates, and tooling tailored to UK and EMEA requirements. - Monitor legal and regulatory developments across EMEA jurisdictions and assess their business impact. - Support cross-border employment issues, including remote work, international expansion, and mobility. - Work closely with employment counsel colleagues in other regions to ensure consistency and share best practices across the global legal team. WHO YOU ARE - 5–11 years’ post-qualification experience focused primarily on UK employment law, with a mix of in-house and law firm experience strongly preferred. - Qualified solicitor in England and Wales; additional qualifications or experience in other EMEA jurisdictions a plus. - Deep subject-matter expertise in UK employment law (not a generalist), with exposure to employment laws across EMEA. - Proven ability to lead or advise on sensitive employee relations matters and investigations. - A clear, concise communicator who can synthesize issues and provide actionable guidance quickly, with comfort operating across time zones. - Skilled at working independently and navigating ambiguity in a high-growth, global business. - Strong judgment, discretion, and a collaborative approach. - Fluent in English; additional European languages are a plus. 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 http://airwallex.com email address. Please apply only through careers.airwallex.com http://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.