[Hiring] Country Manager @WEKA

Role Description

We are seeking an experienced Country Manager for Japan to build and execute our go-to-market strategy in one of Asia's most strategic AI and infrastructure markets. This is a quota-carrying leadership role where you will own revenue growth, establish WEKA's market presence, develop enterprise customer relationships, and build a local channel and reseller ecosystem from the ground up.

Japan represents a significant opportunity for WEKA—particularly within financial services, government and research institutions, and large-scale manufacturing and semiconductor operations where infrastructure investment is substantial and ongoing. You will operate with full autonomy over territory strategy, partner development, and customer acquisition, while collaborating cross-functionally with our global teams and existing regional leadership across Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and China.

This role requires someone who understands the Japanese market deeply, can navigate relationship-based selling with enterprise customers and government organizations, and has the business acumen to establish scalable partnerships in a market where local presence and trust are paramount. We seek leaders with commitment to building a sustainable, long-term presence in Japan, not a quick market entry.

Responsibilities

• Own the Japan country strategy and execution: Develop and execute the comprehensive go-to-market plan, drive new logo acquisition, expand within strategic enterprise accounts, and build pipeline aligned to growth objectives.
• Drive revenue and customer acquisition: Forecast accurately, manage territory performance, identify and prioritize target accounts and vertical markets (AI/ML, HPC, financial services, semiconductor, life sciences, research), and represent WEKA at industry events and customer briefings.
• Build the local partner ecosystem: Establish and develop partnerships with systems integrators, distributors, and regional resellers in-market from the ground up. Identify, recruit, and scale partners who can reach accounts and verticals where direct sales effort alone cannot scale, leveraging both traditional Japanese channel structures and emerging direct enterprise models.
• Establish market presence and brand: Develop relationships with key enterprise customers, executive stakeholders, industry bodies, and government organizations. Position WEKA as a trusted strategic partner for AI and high-performance infrastructure in Japan.
• Cross-functional collaboration: Work with Sales Engineering, Marketing, Product, and global leadership to align on positioning, gather market feedback for product strategy, execute customer success initiatives, and scale the team as the business grows.
• Regional collaboration: Maintain alignment with existing WEKA teams in Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and China on strategic initiatives and shared customer opportunities, while maintaining Japan focus.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of enterprise IT sales experience, preferably in storage, infrastructure, or data platforms. Demonstrated success selling to CIOs, CTOs, and technical executives.
• Country Manager, Regional Leader, or equivalent leadership experience in a defined geography, with a track record of building and scaling business autonomously.
• Channel and partner expertise: Proven experience establishing channel, reseller, and VAR networks in new or underdeveloped markets, or launching go-to-market through local partners without existing infrastructure.
• Infrastructure domain expertise: Strong background selling enterprise infrastructure, storage, high-performance data platforms, or adjacent technologies. Technical acumen across storage, data infrastructure, and networking concepts required.
• Vertical market experience: Background selling into high-performance verticals such as AI/ML, HPC, financial services, semiconductor, life sciences, or research organizations. Experience navigating government procurement processes and selling into regulated industries (financial services, research institutions, telecommunications) is valuable.
• Japan market knowledge: Fluent in both English and Japanese (business level minimum; native or near-native Japanese preferred). Experience operating in or selling into the Japanese market is a significant advantage. Ability to operate in English-speaking corporate environments while engaging customers in Japanese is essential.
• Channel and partnership strategy: Experience building partnerships with systems integrators, distributors, and regional resellers. Understanding of both traditional Japanese channel structures and emerging direct-to-enterprise models required.
• Startup or high-growth experience: Demonstrated success operating in startup or high-growth environments, managing P&L autonomously, and executing territory strategy with minimal corporate overhead.
• Executive presence and communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to represent WEKA credibly with enterprise executives, industry leaders, and government stakeholders. Willingness to travel as needed for customer engagement and market development.

Scope

This is a Japan-focused Country Manager role. WEKA has established independent regional teams in Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and China who operate under their own leadership structures. You will collaborate cross-regionally on strategic initiatives and account strategies where relevant, but will not have management responsibility outside Japan.

The WEKA Way

• We are Accountable: We take full ownership, always—even when things don't go as planned. We lead with integrity, show up with responsibility and ownership, and hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards.
• We are Brave: We question the status quo, push boundaries, and take smart risks when needed. We welcome challenges and embrace debates as opportunities for growth, turning courage into fuel for innovation.
• We are Collaborative: True collaboration isn't only about working together. It's about lifting one another up to succeed collectively. We are team-oriented and communicate with empathy and respect. We challenge each other and conduct positive conflict resolution. We are transparent about our goals and results. Together, we're unstoppable.
• We are Customer Centric: Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We actively listen and prioritize the success of our customers, and every decision we make is driven by how we can better serve, support, and empower them to succeed. When our customers win, we win.

Equal Opportunity

WEKA is an equal-opportunity employer that prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. We provide equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. If you are excited about this position but have concerns that your past work experience doesn't match every qualification listed, we encourage you to apply anyway—you may be exactly the right candidate for this or other roles at WEKA.