About the Position
The Japan Country Manager is the first person in charge of company's expansion into Japan. This position involves simultaneously performing overall business management and enterprise sales, from establishing the market entry strategy to directly acquiring the first client (anchor reference).
In Japan, securing the first contract is difficult without a reference, but once a major client is secured, the market spreads quickly. We are looking for an executor who will not just be a strategist on a desk, but one who will be active in the field and secure the first contract directly. Based on initial performance, you will build the local organization together.
Key Responsibilities
- Establishing the Japan market entry strategy (GTM) and overseeing overall business operations
- New sales targeting enterprise clients such as shippers, forwarders, and carriers, and direct acquisition of the first anchor client
- Building and managing the sales pipeline, and contract negotiation and closing
- Conveying local market and customer insights in Japan to the headquarters' product and development teams to coordinate localization efforts
- Discovering local partners (logistics associations, forwarder channels, etc.) and networks
- Establishing the local organization and leading recruitment based on initial performance
- Close collaboration with headquarters' management and business performance reporting
Qualifications
- 7+ years of experience in B2B enterprise sales or business development (BD) (or equivalent competence) ; experience and local network in the logistics, forwarding, trade, supply chain management (SCM), or related B2B SaaS industries
- Experience in 0 to 1 setup of an overseas base/subsidiary or experience as a Country Manager
- Experience in directly securing the first reference client among enterprise customers
- Experience working proactively in a fast-growing startup environment
- Sales and business experience in the Japanese market and native-level Japanese business communication skills
- Experience in building relationships and successfully closing deals despite long sales cycles
- Execution capability to directly perform both strategy establishment and field execution
- Communication skills with various stakeholders, including headquarters, customers, and partners
- Ability to report and conduct business communication with headquarters in English or Korean
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Skills Required
- 7+ years of B2B enterprise sales or business development experience
- Experience and local network in logistics, forwarding, trade, supply chain management, or related B2B SaaS
- Experience in 0 to 1 setup of an overseas base/subsidiary or experience as a Country Manager
- Proven experience directly securing the first reference client among enterprise customers
- Experience working proactively in a fast-growing startup environment
- Native-level Japanese business communication skills
- Ability to report and conduct business communication with headquarters in English or Korean
- Experience managing long sales cycles and closing enterprise deals
- Execution capability to perform both strategy establishment and field execution
- Strong communication skills with headquarters, customers, and partners
What We Do
Cygnify offers Talent Acquisition as a Service (TAaaS), providing a fully-managed team of experts, AI tools, and a candidate database on a flexible, month-to-month subscription model.
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