Account Executive, Startups

About the Team

The Startups team at Airwallex partners with the most promising venture-backed companies across Asia to provide seamless access to our global financial infrastructure - empowering them to scale without borders. We sit at the intersection of fintech product, venture capital networks, and founder communities, taking a hands-on, consultative approach to helping startups professionalise their cross-border financial operations from their earliest institutional funding round through to growth stage and beyond.

Our motion is equal parts commercial and ecosystem. We build deep relationships with top-tier VCs, co-host events with accelerators and ecosystem partners, and embed ourselves in the startup communities across Singapore and the broader region. We are a tight, high-conviction team seeking to seed and to grow lasting relationships with the companies that will define the next decade of innovation in Asia.

What You'll Do

As an Account Executive on the Startups team, you will own the full sales cycle - from sourcing and prospecting through to close, onboarding, and ongoing account growth. You will work closely with venture capital partners, ecosystem organisations, and founders directly to build pipeline, convert high-value startup customers, and grow their usage of the Airwallex platform over time.

This is a role for someone passionate about the startup world, energised by founder conversations, and looking to be known in the ecosystem as a trusted partner who helps startups get their financial plumbing right.

Responsibilities

Full-Cycle Sales & Consultative Selling

• Own the end-to-end sales process for startup prospects - from initial outreach and discovery through to commercial negotiation, onboarding, and go-live.

• Lead consultative, needs-based conversations with founders, finance managers, and CFOs to uncover cross-border pain points and map Airwallex solutions to their specific stage, vertical, and expansion plans.

• Develop a strong command of our product and common startup financial operations challenges - including multi-currency treasury, FX cost management, corporate card and spend management, entity setup across jurisdictions, and global payouts - and position Airwallex as the platform that consolidates and simplifies these workflows.

• Build and present tailored business cases that go beyond feature comparison, helping prospects understand the downstream implications of their current setup and the strategic value of upgrading their financial infrastructure early.

Backbook Ownership & Account Growth

• Retain and grow a named portfolio of existing startup customers, ensuring they remain active, satisfied, and expanding their usage of the platform.

• Monitor customer activity levels, flag churn risks early, and proactively identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities - particularly around product adoption (e.g. spend management, billing/PA, yield).

• Serve as the primary relationship holder for your portfolio, maintaining regular touchpoints with founders and finance teams and acting as their internal advocate.

• Identify and action graduation opportunities - surfacing high-growth accounts to enterprise or theme teams when deal complexity or GP potential warrants a co-sell or handover.

VC Partnerships & Warm Introductions

• Work closely with our Venture Partnerships function to convert VC relationships into qualified, warm introductions to portfolio companies.

• Develop familiarity with the portfolio companies of our priority VC partners and maintain a clear view of which companies represent the strongest product-market fit for Airwallex.

• Follow through on VC-referred leads with speed and quality, ensuring that the experience reflects well on both Airwallex and the referring partner.

• Contribute insights back to the Venture Partnerships team on what's resonating with portfolio companies, what objections arise, and where we can sharpen our value proposition to VCs.

Community, Events & Ecosystem Engagement

• Actively participate in startup community events, founder networking sessions, VC-hosted gatherings, and ecosystem activations.

• Represent Airwallex at external events with credibility and enthusiasm, engaging founders in genuine conversation and building relationships that extend beyond a single transaction.

• Attend and engage with industry meetups, accelerator demo days, and partner events.

• Contribute to the team's community presence through activities such as social media engagement, content sharing, and being a visible and helpful presence in the startup ecosystem.

Who You Are

Minimum Qualifications

• 5 years of sales experience in a B2B SaaS, fintech, or payments environment, with a track record of meeting or exceeding targets.
• Experience selling into venture-backed startups or working within the startup/VC ecosystem (e.g. at an accelerator, VC firm, or startup-focused vendor).
• Demonstrated ability to run a full sales cycle independently - from self-sourced prospecting through to negotiation and close.
• Strong consultative selling instincts - you lead with curiosity, ask sharp discovery questions, and build value through understanding rather than pitching features.
• Genuine affinity and experience in the startup ecosystem - you follow the funding news, know who the key VCs are in Singapore and the region, attend founder events because you want to (not just because you're told to), and are naturally drawn to the energy and pace of early- and growth-stage companies.
• Comfort with cross-border financial operations concepts - you don't need to be a treasury expert, but you should be able to hold a credible conversation about FX, multi-currency accounts, global payouts, and corporate card management with a startup CFO or finance manager.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills - you're articulate, professional, and equally comfortable presenting to a room of founders as you are doing a 1:1 deep-dive with a finance lead over coffee.
• Proficiency with CRM systems (e.g. Salesforce) and structured pipeline management.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with the Singapore and Southeast Asia startup landscape - key VCs, accelerators, co-working communities, and the general rhythm of the ecosystem.

• Background in fintech, payments, or financial services with an understanding of products such as global accounts, payment acceptance, FX, card issuing, or spend management.

• Experience managing a backbook or portfolio of accounts alongside new business responsibilities, with demonstrated ability to retain and grow existing customers.

• A visible personal presence in the startup community - whether through event attendance, LinkedIn activity, community involvement, or existing relationships with founders and investors.

• Entrepreneurial mindset - prior founder experience or side-project background is a genuine plus, as it deepens your empathy for the customers we serve.