Senior Account Executive

As a Senior Account Executive for Japan, you will be the primary driver of Mattermost’s growth in one of our most strategic markets. We are seeking a high-caliber sales professional with over 
10 years of experience in enterprise and channel sales.
In this role, you will utilize your extensive network and expertise to effectively navigate complex distribution channels and enhance relationships with prominent Japanese partners. A key focus of this position is to expand our presence within highly regulated and mission-critical industries, including Defense, Police, and Public Sector organizations, as well as the Policy/Law Enforcement, Financial & Insurance, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences, Manufacturing & High-Tech, Telecommunications, and Critical Infrastructure (including Energy/Utilities) sectors. Your efforts will ensure that these organizations achieve the highest standards of secure collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Partner Ecosystem Management

• Leverage over 10 years of channel sales experience to deepen relationships with major Japanese SIers and distributors.
• Develop and execute joint business plans to increase market share across specialized verticals.
• Conduct partner enablement to equip teams to identify Mattermost opportunities within the Defense and Public Sector.

Mission-Critical Industry Execution

• Lead sales motions targeting Defense, Police, and Public Sector organizations, drawing on previous leadership experience as Director of Public Sector Sales.
• Execute strategic account plans for Financial & Insurance sectors, building on a track record with major institutions.
• Drive expansion within Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences industries, leveraging deep experience with clients.
• Penetrate Manufacturing & High-Tech verticals, utilizing established relationships with leaders.
• Accelerate growth in Telecommunications & Critical Infrastructure (including Energy/Utilities), targeting major accounts.
• Navigate unique procurement cycles, regulatory requirements, and government bidding processes for Public Sector/Police accounts.
• Apply value-based selling methodologies to close complex, large-scale deals reaching multi-million-dollar milestones.

Market Expansion & Startup Leadership

• Leverage a proven track record of launching and re-launching foreign IT startups in Japan to build sales processes and lead qualification methods from scratch.

Account Strategy & Value Realization

• Own the renewal and expansion process for strategic accounts, proactively mitigating risk by demonstrating long-term ROI and security value.
• Identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities through engagement with customers and usage insights.
• Build internal business cases to support the expansion of Mattermost across diverse business units in large conglomerates and government agencies.

Required Skills & Experience

• Extensive Experience: 10+ years of proven success in enterprise and channel sales within the Commercial and Defense sectors.
• Industry Expertise: Proven track record of managing and closing complex deals within highly regulated and mission-critical industries, including Defense, Police, and Public Sector organizations, as well as the Policy/Law Enforcement, Financial & Insurance, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences, Manufacturing & High-Tech, Telecommunications, and Critical Infrastructure (including Energy/Utilities) sectors. 
• Large-Scale Deals: Experience handling cumulative sales wins in highly regulated enterprise accounts.
• Startup & Market Entry Acumen: Experience as a founding or re-launch member of global IT companies entering the Japanese market, building sales processes from the ground up.
• Language: Native-level fluency in Japanese and written English proficiency to maintain Salesforce, forecast accuracy in global systems.

Why Mattermost?

Mattermost is an open-core technology company building secure collaboration solutions for organizations in high-trust environments. We enable secure messaging and workflow automation across the world’s most sensitive deployments—from air-gapped defense systems to private clouds. In this role, you are the technical face of Mattermost in Japan, driving our expansion into one of our most critical growth regions