Senior Privacy Counsel - APAC

This is Adyen

Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition.

About the team

The Global DPO Office is expanding its presence across regions, with team members currently based in Amsterdam and New York and plans to grow in APAC. We own Adyen’s global privacy program and AI governance, and support incident response and data governance across the business. This means working across teams and regions to turn privacy and data protection requirements into practical ways of working, while helping Adyen respond effectively when issues arise and navigate new challenges around AI and data.

The work is varied, high-impact, and often complex. We work closely with colleagues across Adyen to solve problems that don’t always have straightforward answers, balancing regulatory requirements with the needs of a fast-growing, global business. We give people the space to take ownership, develop their expertise, and shape how we approach new and evolving challenges together.

The Role

We are looking for a driven and enthusiastic Senior Privacy Counsel to join our Global DPO Office in Singapore and drive our privacy work across the APAC region. Working closely with your colleagues in Amsterdam and New York, you will extend and strengthen our global privacy framework across the diverse and fast-evolving regulatory landscape of the Asia-Pacific region, enabling Adyen to grow in some of our most important commercial markets while making responsible choices.

This is a builder role. Winning in APAC is one of Adyen's top commercial priorities, and you will be central to it - establishing a scalable regional privacy baseline, advising on complex local data processing and localization requirements, and partnering closely with regional product, engineering, commercial, and second-line teams. You must combine strong analytical and communication skills with pragmatic, strategic thinking as you advise internal and external stakeholders, including, at times, local regulators.

What You Will Do

• Act as the senior privacy advisor for Adyen's APAC operations, providing pragmatic, business-aligned guidance to regional product, engineering, commercial, HR, and corporate teams.
• Adapt and extend Adyen's global privacy framework, standards, and policies to meet regional requirements, establishing a consistent and scalable privacy baseline across APAC jurisdictions.
• Advise on and help operationalize privacy compliance across the APAC region, spanning major regimes such as Singapore's PDPA, India's DPDPA, Japan's APPI, Australia's Privacy Act, and Hong Kong's PDPO, as well as navigating cross-border data flows, localization requirements, and the extraterritorial reach of regional privacy laws..
• Advise on cross-border data transfers, data localization, and localized consent flows across the region, in close coordination with regional product and engineering hubs.
• Conduct and review privacy impact assessments, data protection impact assessments, and records of processing activities for APAC-specific initiatives and entities.
• Anticipate and identify data protection obligations and risks, and help address them in a practical, scalable, and privacy-by-design manner.
• Draft, review, and negotiate privacy terms in commercial agreements, vendor arrangements, and data processing agreements relevant to the region.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments across APAC, interpret their impact for Adyen, and translate them into actionable internal policies, procedures, and controls.
• Support privacy incident response and management in the region, coordinating with the wider DPO Office and relevant stakeholders.
• Provide extended regional coverage on AI governance and broader data-related legal advisory, including data governance and retention, across APAC.
• Develop and deliver region-specific privacy training and self-service resources, fostering a strong culture of privacy accountability and awareness across APAC.
• Engage with regional stakeholders and, where appropriate, local regulators and external counsel, building trusted relationships that strengthen Adyen's regional privacy capability.

Who You Are

• You are a qualified lawyer in a Commonwealth jurisdiction.
• You have 7+ years of relevant data privacy experience, including GDPR and a strong command of APAC privacy regimes.
• You have deep, hands-on expertise in two or more APAC privacy frameworks (e.g., PDPA, DPDPA, APPI, PIPA, PDPO, PIPL) and a strong grasp of the wider regional landscape, including cross-border data-transfer and localization requirements.
• You have experience setting up or scaling a privacy program in-house, and you know how to build a baseline that works across many different countries; law firm experience is also valued.
• You are a generalist comfortable across commercial negotiations, compliance frameworks, vendor assessments, incident management, data transfers, data protection impact assessments, and privacy by design.
• You are experienced at cross-functional partnering across engineering, product, legal, compliance, and enterprise risk, and confident engaging with regional stakeholders and, at times, local regulators.
• Experience in payments, financial services, or fintech is strongly preferred, though not essential.
• Knowledge of emerging AI regulation and AI governance frameworks (such as the EU AI Act and IMDA's Model AI Governance Framework) is a plus.
• Relevant certifications such as CIPP/E, CIPP/A, CIPM, or AIGP are an advantage.
• You have the ability to structure and prioritize in a high-volume, fast-paced environment, and to build and drive processes to completion.
• You have strong drafting, communication, and stakeholder-management skills, with a proactive, builder mindset and a strong sense of ownership.
• You are fluent in English, both written and spoken.
• You are available to work from our Singapore office and travel to other offices periodically.

Location & Work Model

This role is based out of our Singapore office. We are an office-first company and value in-person collaboration; we do not offer remote-only roles.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them - voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you're from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen.

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, we encourage you to reconsider and apply. We look forward to your application!

What's next?

A smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is important to us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Don't be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.