JAPAN AI - Product Manager, AI SaaS

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.