Position Title: Strategic Partnerships Development Manager
Location: Tokyo, Japan
About Us
Founded in 2014, Circles is a global technology company reimagining the telco industry with its innovative SaaS platform, empowering telco operators worldwide to effortlessly launch innovative digital brands or refresh existing ones, accelerating their transformation into techcos.
Today, Circles partners with leading telco operators across multiple countries and continents, including KDDI Corporation, Etisalat Group (e&), AT&T, and Telkomsel, creating blueprints for future telco and digital experiences enjoyed by millions of consumers globally.
Besides its SaaS business, Circles operates three other distinct businesses:
- Circles.Life: A wholly-owned digital lifestyle telco brand based in Singapore, Circles.Life is powered by Circles’ SaaS platform and pioneering go-to-market strategies. It is the digital market leader in Singapore and has won numerous awards for marketing, customer service, and innovative product offerings beyond connectivity.
- Circles Aspire: A global provider of Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) solutions. Its cloud-based Experience Cloud platform enables enterprises, service providers and developers to deliver and scale mobile, messaging, IoT, and connectivity services worldwide.
- Jetpac: Specializing in travel tech solutions, Jetpac provides seamless eSIM roaming for over 200 destinations and innovative travel lifestyle products, redefining connectivity for digital travelers. Jetpac was awarded Travel eSIM of the Year.
Circles is backed by renowned global investors, including Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia), Warburg Pincus, Founders Fund, and EDBI (the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board), with a track record of backing industry challengers.
Team: Business Development
About the Role
povo, a digital mobile brand by KDDI, is seeking a dynamic Senior Strategic Partnerships Development Manager to spearhead partnership initiatives and drive deal execution across two key growth platforms:
- povo SDK (Software Development Kit) – enables partners to integrate and leverage KDDI’s mobile capabilities
- Innovation Engine (IE) – a platform for launching and bundling diverse digital partner services into a unified marketplace offering
Reporting to the Head of Business Development, you will play a critical role in scaling user acquisition, generating new revenue streams, and enhancing user engagement through strategic alliances focused on both SDK and IE platforms. More than just deal execution, this role involves understanding the market through our partners to help shape povo's future offerings.
This role focuses on building and managing a robust partner ecosystem. You will be responsible for the full partnership lifecycle, from identifying prospects and negotiating strategic deals to launching partner-driven features and driving monetization. Success requires seamless cross-functional collaboration with our internal BD, Product, and Marketing teams, as well as counterparts within KDDI. If you thrive in a fast-paced digital environment and are passionate about forging impactful partnerships that shape product strategy, this is the role for you.
What You Will Be Doing
- Pipeline Development & Deal Execution:
- Identify, prospect, and cultivate a strong pipeline of strategic partners aligned with povo's SDK and Innovation Engine (IE) objectives.
- Lead the end-to-end deal process: structure proposals, negotiate commercial and technical terms, and execute partnership agreements efficiently.
- Develop clear strategic scenarios and compelling business cases for potential partnerships, ensuring alignment with stakeholders and minimizing unnecessary revisions.
- Value Proposition & Feature Co-Development:
- Identify and analyze partner needs, pain points, and market insights to help co-develop new value propositions and features for povo, providing strategic input derived from partner feedback to Product and wider business strategy.
- Partner-Driven Feature Expansion & Monetization:
- Collaborate closely with Product and Engineering teams to define and launch partner-driven features, particularly for integration via the SDK or within the Innovation Engine.
- Contribute to the development and execution of monetization strategies related to partner integrations and features.
- Partnership Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration:
- Manage relationships with key partners to ensure successful onboarding, integration (especially onto the IE platform or using the SDK), and ongoing collaboration.
- Work closely with Marketing teams (internal and KDL) to support the execution of partner-related marketing campaigns and initiatives.
- Act as a key liaison between partners and internal teams (Product, Marketing, Engineering) to ensure smooth operations and goal alignment.
- Performance Monitoring & Reporting:
- Track, analyze, and report on key partnership performance metrics, focusing on tangible outputs like user acquisition and revenue generation
What We’re Looking For
Required Qualifications:
- 3+ years of experience in Business Development, Strategic Partnerships.
- Proven track record of successfully negotiating and executing partnership deals, managing the full lifecycle from prospecting to launch.
- Experience working effectively in cross-functional teams, particularly with Product, Marketing, and/or Engineering.
- Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and relationship management skills.
- Demonstrated ability to thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth digital business environment.
- Business-level fluency in both Japanese and English (written and spoken).
Preferred Qualifications:
- 5-7+ years of relevant experience.
- Background strongly preferred in the Tech industry.
- B2C mobile-app experience, including user acquisition, engagement, and retention metrics.
- Experience in or strong understanding of Partnership/Marketing principles and campaign execution is a plus.
- Specific experience structuring and negotiating deals involving SDKs, APIs, digital marketplaces, or platform integrations.
- Strong analytical skills with a data-driven approach to evaluating opportunities and building business cases.
Circles is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, disability or age.
To all recruitment agencies: Circles will only acknowledge resumes shared by recruitment agencies if selected in our preferred supplier partnership program.
Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, Circles, employees or any other company location. Circles will not be held accountable for any fees related to unsolicited resumes not uploaded via our ATS.
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What We Do
Founded in 2014, Circles is a global technology company reimagining the telco industry with its SaaS platform - Circles X, empowering telco operators launch and operate successful digital brands. Today, Circles is partnering operators in 14 countries with the mission to deliver delightful digital experiences to millions of people through our businesses. With Circles.Life, our digital lifestyle brand, we empower and delight customers across the world by offering digital experiences that go beyond traditional telco services. With Circles X, our digital telco technology empowers operators to launch digital telco brands from anywhere in the world. Built for operators by an operator, Circles X powers both Circles.Life and our partner operators’ digital telco brands. Circles is backed by global investors such as Sequoia, Warburg Pincus, EDBI and Founders Fund – renowned institutions with a track record of backing industry-shaking innovators. To learn more, visit www.circles.co.
