Applications: candidates must already be in Japan. Visa sponsorship: available. Japanese: Fluent. English: Business level. Japan Dev tags: Product, Security, Python, React, Typescript, Docker, Notion.
About JAPAN AI
JAPAN AI, Inc. was established in April 2023 as a group company of Geniee, Inc. (TSE Growth Market) with the mission of dramatically expanding human potential through AI technology. We drive cutting-edge AI R&D both domestically and internationally.
Why We're Hiring
JAPAN AI operates 9 AI products deployed across approximately 200 companies. However, to realize the grand vision of "the brain of the enterprise," we need a Product Manager who goes beyond individual feature development to define "what to build, why, and how" from a whole-product perspective — maximizing the probability of product success from both technical and business angles.
Building "the brain of the enterprise" — where all enterprise SaaS is integrated and AI autonomously executes operations — demands architecture-level decision-making that goes beyond the scope of a traditional PdM: layer separation design for SaaS integrations, Build vs Buy decisions for workflow engines, and non-functional requirement trade-offs in multi-tenant environments.
This is not a traditional PdM role. We are hiring a Product Manager who will serve as a Product Architect — designing the architecture of "the brain of the enterprise" itself and determining the direction of the product.
Mission
"Decide what to build."
Define the "what, why, and how" of the product from both technical and business perspectives, and maximize the probability of AI product success.
Role & Expectations
As a Product Manager, you will lead the architecture design and technology strategy across JAPAN AI's entire product portfolio:
- Systematize product requirements from business goals and customer challenges, and translate them into technical architecture
- Lead the definition of feature boundaries, domain design, and API specifications
- Make Build vs Buy vs Integrate technology selection decisions and guide optimal investment choices
- Make trade-off decisions on non-functional requirements (availability, scalability, security, cost)
- Determine the direction of the product itself through cross-functional collaboration with engineering teams, PdMs, and designers
- Formulate roadmaps for visualizing and systematically resolving technical debt
Why You'll Love This Role
- Determine the direction of the product — Decide not just individual features, but the "what, why, and how" of the entire product. Design the future of JAPAN AI's 9 products.
- At the intersection of technology and business — Own the highest-impact decisions: translating business challenges into technical architecture.
- Frontline of AI product design — Tackle architecture design unique to AI products: RAG, tool-use, guardrails, multi-agent systems, and more.
- Direct dialogue with leadership — Engage directly with executive leadership and client CTOs/technical leads to formulate product strategy.
- Technical debt resolution — Formulate roadmaps for visualizing and systematically resolving technical debt, ensuring the long-term health of the product.
- Rapid-growth environment — In a startup that has grown to 200+ people and 9 products in just 3 years, you will have significant autonomy in product decision-making.
Job Description
- Product Requirements & Architecture Design
- Systematize product requirements from business goals and customer challenges, and translate them into technical architecture
- Define feature boundaries, domain design, data contracts, and API specifications
- Operate RFC-driven design review and decision-making processes
- Design products leveraging LLM / generative AI (RAG, tool-use, guardrails, etc.)
- Technology Selection & Trade-off Decisions
- Build vs Buy vs Integrate technology selection
- Design non-functional requirements (availability, scalability, security, cost) and make quality attribute trade-off decisions
- Formulate roadmaps for visualizing and systematically resolving technical debt
- Cross-functional Collaboration & Roadmap
- Cross-functional collaboration with engineering teams, PdMs, and designers
- Formulate and drive product roadmaps
- Visualize technical debt and plan systematic resolution
Example Scenarios
Scenario 1: New Product Line Launch
Discover strong demand from enterprise clients for "AI agent-powered internal knowledge search." After market research, customer interviews, and technical validation, define product requirements. Lead RAG architecture design, data pipeline technology selection, and MVP scope definition, achieving beta release in 3 months.
Scenario 2: Build vs Buy Architecture Decision
When expanding voice AI capabilities, a decision is needed between in-house development vs external API integration. Conduct comparative analysis across 4 axes — cost, quality, development speed, and customizability — and file an RFC. After design review with the engineering team, decide on a hybrid approach (core functionality in-house, peripheral functionality via external APIs).
Scenario 3: Quality Attribute Trade-off Decision
JAPAN AI AGENT's P95 latency exceeds the target value. Analyze trade-offs between availability, cost, and latency, and propose introducing inference caching and optimizing model routing. Collaborate with the engineering team to implement, improving latency by 30% while keeping cost increase within 5%.
Key Results (KR/Metrics)
- Product roadmap achievement rate
- Rework rate attributable to architecture reviews
- New feature release cycle reduction
- Product quality attributes
Team Structure
Approximately 120 members are part of the development organization.
- The Product Manager collaborates closely with the following teams and stakeholders:
- Agentic Product Engineer — Agent feature development
- Human-AI Collaboration Architect — Agent experience design
- FDE (Field Development Engineer) — Customer requirements and feedback
- Executive leadership — Business strategy and investment decisions
You May Be a Good Fit If You
- 5+ years of practical experience as a Product Manager or Tech Lead
- Practical experience as a software engineer (at a level where you can understand the architecture of an entire product)
- Experience designing products that leverage LLM / generative AI (RAG, tool-use, guardrails, etc.)
- Deep understanding of system design (distributed systems, microservices, event-driven architectures)
- Experience in requirements definition and consensus-building with business stakeholders
- Language requirement (at least one):
- Japanese: Fluent — able to discuss product development without friction
- English: Business level or above
Strong Candidates May Also Have
- 0→1 launch experience for SaaS / B2B products
- Startup work experience
- Cloud architecture design (AWS / GCP / Azure)
- Experience operating RFC-driven design review processes
- Technical communication ability in English
Tech Stack
- Languages: Python (backend), TypeScript / React / Next.js (frontend) / NX
- AI/LLM: LangChain, LangGraph, JAPAN AI STUDIO SDK, RAG, Agent Framework
- Infrastructure: GCP (containers / K8s), Docker, Terraform
- Tools: Slack, Confluence, Linear, Google Workspace, GitHub, Notion
- AI Dev Support: Claude Code MAX Plan, Cursor, ChatGPT, Devin
- Hardware: Mac (Apple Silicon), dual monitors
Learning & Development Support
- AI Tool Usage Support: Company covers the cost of using AI tools such as JAPAN AI SaaS services, Cursor, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.
- Development Tool Support: If a desired development tool is paid, the cost is covered (up to ¥30,000 per year)
- Book Purchase Assistance: Company covers the cost of purchasing books for learning, such as technical books (up to ¥30,000 per half-year)
- Language Learning / Qualification Support: Company covers the cost of Japanese or English learning programs and qualification acquisition
- Refresh Allowance: Company covers the cost of services used for personal refreshment (up to ¥5,000 per month; e.g., gym, movies, etc.)
- Housing Allowance: Housing allowance provided for those living in designated areas (up to ¥30,000 per month)
Hiring Process
- Application Review
- Homework
- Interviews (4–5 rounds)
- Offer
A reference check will be conducted prior to the final interview.