Expansions indicate AI's potential in driving employment opportunities in Singapore
Several fintech companies are accelerating headcount growth in Singapore, with artificial intelligence emerging as a key driver of new employment, according to The Straits Times.
It reported that Airwallex, Revolut, and YouTrip are among the firms expanding their local workforces, driven by a combination of strong business growth and the opportunities that AI-enabled tools have unlocked.
Airwallex, which was founded in Australia, is targeting a local headcount of close to 800 by the end of 2026, with its current headcount already reaching nearly 700 people.
The bulk of open positions are in product, engineering, and design, though the company is also recruiting across operations management, sales and finance, according to The Straits Times.
The expansion comes as Singapore becomes the firm's centre for developing AI-powered products, including agentic wallets that enable AI systems to carry out purchases autonomously within user-defined parameters. The city-state is also where the company is rolling out internal tools designed to sharpen operational efficiency.
"It is an internal and external story that AI has created in terms of what we can build and how we can scale our business," said Richard Yan, Airwallex's vice-president for global people and talent.
The expansion also comes after it recorded a 107% revenue increase in Singapore for 2025, extending a streak of triple-digit annual growth.
Revolut's expansion
Revolut, the London-headquartered payments platform, also nearly doubled its local headcount between 2024 and 2025, growing by 95%.
It now employs 168 people in Singapore and has set a target of surpassing 300 staff within three years. Current vacancies are concentrated in product and design, as well as risk, compliance and audit functions.
Ryan Park, Revolut's Asia-Pacific head of human resources, told The Straits Times that AI has been integrated across the business rather than deployed in isolation, shaping how products are built, customers are served and internal processes are managed.
"Contrary to the perception that AI will reduce the need for people, we are seeing the opposite. AI is increasing our demand for talent," Park said.
He added that by handling repetitive and administrative work, AI allows employees to direct their energy towards tasks that demand greater judgement and expertise, while simultaneously expanding the team's capacity to take on more projects.
YouTrip's expansion
YouTrip, a multi-currency payment platform with 150 employees in Singapore, is pursuing a local headcount growth of at least 10% before the year ends. Recruitment is under way across product, engineering and finance, among other departments.
Caecilia Chu, its chief executive and co-founder, told The Straits Times that productivity gains from AI have been channelled directly into new product development.
"The operational gains from AI across YouTrip have been transformative not by shrinking our team, but by vastly increasing our capacity to innovate and execute," Chu told the news outlet.
AI's job displacement risk
These reports of expansion come in the wake of persisting concerns of nearly half of Singaporeans that AI adoption carries the risk of job displacement, according to recent Robert Walters data.
The National Trades Union Congress also noted that the technology is one of the key factors driving restructuring and retrenchments of white-collar workers in 2025.
While the impact of AI on jobs remains unclear, Singapore's Ministry of Manpower said it is looking at how to better capture the role of AI and automation in retrenchment statistics.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, in his recent National Day Rally sphttps://www.hcamag.com/asia/specialisation/recruitment/singapore-pledges-support-to-workers-hit-by-ai-disruption/587275eech, also assured support for employees whose jobs will be disrupted by AI adoption.
