We recruit country managers, sales directors, partner leaders and solution consultants for foreign business application and enterprise SaaS vendors in Japan, from ERP, finance and supply chain planning to HR, CRM and low-code platforms.
The market
Three forces drive demand. Japanese enterprises are replacing core systems built or customised decades ago, and the end of support for older platforms keeps that cycle moving. Changes to accounting, tax and reporting rules regularly force companies to update the systems behind them. AI is now built into HR, finance, supply chain and other applications, which gives customers a further reason to move to current products.
Buyers and channel
Japanese enterprises have long customised their applications heavily, so selling SaaS often means persuading a customer to adapt its processes to the standard product. SIers and consulting firms run most implementations. Their capacity and certification on a vendor's product often set the pace of growth more than sales capacity does. Foreign vendors also compete with established Japanese software companies in several categories.
The talent
The strongest sellers understand both the application domain and how a Japanese enterprise changes the way it works. Solution consultants who know the business process as well as the product, such as accounting, supply chain or HR, are scarce. Customer success matters more in this sector than in most, because subscription revenue depends on adoption after go-live.
The hires we make
- We recruit country managers and sales directors who have sold business applications to large Japanese enterprises, including multi-year transformation programmes.
- We recruit partner leaders who build implementation capacity with SIers and consulting firms.
- We recruit solution consultants and customer success staff who know the business process as well as the product.
Frequently asked questions
Why do application vendors in Japan depend on implementation partners?
SIers and consulting firms deliver most implementations, so a vendor's growth is limited by how many partner consultants are trained on its product.
What makes a strong enterprise application hire in Japan?
Domain knowledge matters as much as product knowledge. The best candidates understand the business process the application supports and how a Japanese enterprise changes it.