Head of Startups, US
Airwallex
Date: 7 hours ago
City: Vancouver, BC
Contract type: Full time
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 1,800 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.
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. 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
At Airwallex, our mission is to give founders world-class financial infrastructure from day one, so they can scale without borders. In the US — home to the world’s most dynamic startup ecosystem — our goal is simple: make Airwallex the go-to financial platform for startups, from seed to IPO.
The Startups team is at the heart of this mission. We partner with founders, VCs, accelerators, and community builders to help the next generation of unicorns launch and grow with Airwallex. As Head of Startups (US), you’ll lead this charge — building our ecosystem strategy, driving adoption, and ensuring startups see Airwallex as their default global growth partner.
What You Will Do
Minimum Qualifications
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. If you are approached by someone claiming to represent Airwallex, please verify with our team.
Compensation Range: $160K - $260K
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 1,800 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.
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. 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
At Airwallex, our mission is to give founders world-class financial infrastructure from day one, so they can scale without borders. In the US — home to the world’s most dynamic startup ecosystem — our goal is simple: make Airwallex the go-to financial platform for startups, from seed to IPO.
The Startups team is at the heart of this mission. We partner with founders, VCs, accelerators, and community builders to help the next generation of unicorns launch and grow with Airwallex. As Head of Startups (US), you’ll lead this charge — building our ecosystem strategy, driving adoption, and ensuring startups see Airwallex as their default global growth partner.
What You Will Do
- Lead the US startup strategy: set vision, priorities, and execution for how Airwallex wins in the startup segment.
- Build the ecosystem: develop deep partnerships with top VCs, accelerators, incubators, and startup communities across hubs like San Francisco, New York, Canada
- Design founder-first programs: create and scale credits, onboarding experiences, workshops, demo days, and events tailored for startups.
- Be the face of Airwallex: represent us at conferences, founder summits, and in the media — becoming a trusted voice in the US startup ecosystem.
- Bridge product and market: work with Product & Engineering to ensure our APIs, tools, and onboarding are startup-ready, and feed insights back to shape the roadmap.
- Drive commercial impact: partner with Sales and Customer Success to transition fast-growing startups into long-term global customers.
- Tell our story: collaborate with Marketing & PR to spotlight US founder success and amplify Airwallex’s brand in the ecosystem.
- Measure and optimize: own KPIs for the startup funnel — from acquisition and activation to conversion, retention, and segment revenue.
- Own the end-to-end strategy for the US startup segment.
- Establish and scale strategic partnerships with investors, accelerators, and founder networks.
- Launch and manage scalable startup programs that deliver measurable adoption.
- Act as the voice of the founder inside Airwallex, advocating for their needs across product and GTM.
- Ensure cross-functional alignment between Growth, Product, Sales, and Marketing.
- Track, analyze, and report program performance and ROI to leadership.
Minimum Qualifications
- 8–12+ years of experience in startup ecosystems, venture capital, accelerators, partnerships, or fintech/infra roles.
- Strong network across US startup communities and top-tier investors (YC, Sequoia, a16z, Accel, Techstars, etc.).
- Demonstrated success in building or scaling startup programs or ecosystems.
- Skilled at cross-functional leadership, influencing senior stakeholders, and working across teams.
- Excellent storytelling, presentation, and public speaking skills; credible with founders and investors alike.
- Data-driven and outcome-oriented, with experience setting and achieving growth KPIs.
- Background in fintech, payments, SaaS infrastructure, or developer platforms.
- Experience as a founder, early operator, or VC/accelerator program lead.
- Familiarity with API-based products and developer adoption.
- Track record of engaging with the US startup ecosystem at scale — e.g., leading community programs, speaking at events like TechCrunch Disrupt, SaaStr, or Startup Grind.
- Global perspective: experience helping US startups expand internationally.
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. If you are approached by someone claiming to represent Airwallex, please verify with our team.
Compensation Range: $160K - $260K
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