Original job description
We're an AI consumer software company preparing to launch in Japan through a confirmed distribution partnership with a major Japanese telecom/retail player. The groundwork is done: partnership signed-pending, product in build, GTM plan mapped. We need someone to own the execution and localization layer that gets us to market.
This is a hands-on operator role, not strategy. You'll run the day-to-day machine and be the person who makes sure nothing about our product or marketing reads as foreign, off, or tone-deaf to a Japanese user.
What you'll own
GTM execution: managing our project board, keeping cross-functional workstreams (legal, product, marketing, ops) on schedule, chasing down blockers
Vendor and partner coordination across timezones: translators, localization vendors, in-market contacts
Localization QA: reviewing Japanese product copy, UI text, notifications, and marketing for accuracy, tone, and cultural fit - not just "is this grammatically correct" but "does this land the way a Japanese user expects"
Cultural adaptation of product and marketing decisions: flagging where something built for a North American user needs to change for Japan
Being our internal Japan gut-check as questions come up day to day
Required
Native or near-native Japanese, with genuine cultural fluency: you catch register, politeness, and tone problems a conversational speaker would miss
Fluent English
Real project/ops coordination experience: you've kept complex, multi-stakeholder work on track before
Available during Pacific business hours, comfortable with async coordination into Japan time
Self-directed. This is a small team; nobody will manage your calendar. You'll be the first person in this role - you must be comfortable defining your own process and operating in ambiguity, not waiting for structure to be handed to you.
Nice to have
Experience launching or localizing a product into the Japanese market
Consumer software / app background
Marketing or content localization experience
If you've done the unglamorous work of getting a product actually launched in Japan (the coordination, the QA, the hundred small cultural calls), we want to talk.
Nice to have
3–6 month contract to start, with conversion to permanent if it's working on both sides
Remote, Pacific time zone
Start: ASAP
Final candidates will complete a short paid localization-review exercise.
