Strategy & Operations Lead - Japan

The role

The Strategy & Operations Lead will lead and scale operational excellence across Japan. This person will translate global strategy into regional execution and build scalable operating systems to deliver against business goals.

What you will do

• Defining and implementing the Japan operating strategy in alignment with APAC and global objectives.
• Driving execution across key markets while adapting to local needs and regulations.
• Partnering with global leadership to prioritize initiatives and allocate resources.
• Establishing KPIs, reporting frameworks, and operating cadences.
• Building and optimizing scalable processes across business lines.
• Identifying operational gaps and implementing continuous improvement initiatives.
• Supporting market entry strategies and operational readiness for Japan.
• Enabling strategic partnerships through operational frameworks.
• Building and mentoring a high-performing regional operations team.
• Collaborating across functions to drive accountability and deliver regional goals.

Required qualifications

• Significant experience leading regional or international operations in a fast-scaling, complex business environment.
• Strong strategic and operational judgment.
• Experience operating across multiple markets, functions, and business lines.
• Track record of building scalable operating systems, processes, metrics, and reporting frameworks.
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills and ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Excellent business judgment with a bias toward action.
• Experience supporting market expansion, operational readiness, and/or regional growth initiatives.
• Strong people leadership skills including experience building and developing high-performing teams.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and creating structure in fast-moving environments.
• High integrity, low ego, and a collaborative leadership style.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Nice to have

• Experience operating within Japan

About the company

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. They seek to safely deploy AI to the world through their products.