Regulatory Counsel, EMEA

About the role

Airwallex, the AI-native financial operating system used by hundreds of thousands of businesses, is looking for a Regulatory Counsel to join its Regulatory Legal team. You will be based in London or Amsterdam and cover regulatory legal support across EMEA, with a particular focus on the EU/EEA framework. The role advises on complex regulatory issues relating to payments services in Europe, including licensing, passporting, conduct and prudential requirements, and supports cross-border product launches.

Key responsibilities

• Handle regulatory legal issues in EMEA and give strategic advice on existing licences and registrations, passporting, branch structures and potential future licence applications.
• Monitor, report and analyse trends in European payments and financial services regulation (e.g. PSD2/PSD3, EMI regimes, AML/CTF) and anticipate changes affecting the business.
• Partner with Product Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Risk and Financial Crime Compliance to embed regulatory requirements into product design and operations.
• Support Product, Strategy, Management and regional Commercial teams on new market entry, including regulatory mapping, licensing and branch establishment analysis.
• Liaise with senior stakeholders globally and manage external legal counsel and consultants across EMEA.
• Use AI and other tooling to improve the scale and efficiency of the Regulatory Legal team.
• Advise on regulatory compliance obligations, reporting and filings, and support engagement with legislators and regulators in key EMEA markets.

Required profile

• Qualified lawyer with around 6-8 years of post-qualification experience.
• Strong regulatory experience in fintech, reputable law firms and/or financial institutions, focused on EU/EEA financial services, payments, e-money, FX, remittances and/or card issuing.
• Mix of private practice and in-house experience is ideal but not mandatory.
• Demonstrated success advising on regulatory matters and handling submissions, ideally with direct engagement with EU and national regulators.
• Fluent English with strong drafting and negotiation skills; additional European languages are an advantage.

Required skills

• Deep knowledge of the European financial services regulatory environment, especially payments, remittance, FX, issuing and digital financial services.
• Experience supporting expansion into new markets and launching new regulatory licences is advantageous.
• Ability to explain complex legal topics to non-lawyers and to manage multiple priorities and deadlines.
• Experience with RegTech, LegalTech or AI tools is ideal but not mandatory.