Robotaxi Customer Program Manager (Automotive AI)

Location: Tokyo, Japan; hybrid working with in-person collaboration in office spaces and remote work. The role includes travel as needed and may involve hands-on work in vehicle workshops and labs.

Company

hirify.global is building an end-to-end AI platform for autonomous driving that enables vehicles to learn from real-world experience and supports automation from L2+ through L4 for global OEM partners.

What you will do

• Lead customer-facing robotaxi programs for hirify.global’s Japan-based OEM and partner activity, currently focused on work involving Nissan.
• Define and manage project plans, objectives, milestones, risks, changes, tasks, and stakeholder communication.
• Engage Japanese OEM customers to understand technical requirements and translate their needs into actionable requirements for Product, TPM, R&D, and engineering teams.
• Align customer requirements with internal development planning and execution, ensuring delivery on schedule.
• Run external and internal reporting, meetings, and communication in Japanese and English.
• Filter and structure customer requests and provide first-level customer support.

Requirements

• Fluent Japanese and English, with the ability to lead high-stakes external discussions in both languages.
• Strong program management experience, ideally more than 5 years or at senior individual contributor level, in complex automotive software development.
• Direct experience working with Japanese OEMs, automotive companies, or tier-1 suppliers.
• Proven customer-facing stakeholder management experience, beyond internal program delivery.
• Strong ownership and the ability to operate effectively in ambiguity.
• Robust technical expertise, comprehensive knowledge of the automotive industry and software development, and some robotics, autonomy, or AI-related experience.
• Proficiency with program management tools such as Jira and exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams and willingness to travel as needed.

Nice to have

• Knowledge of current AI advancements, including Generative AI, AV 2.0, and Large Language Models.
• Hands-on software development experience with Python, C++, Rust, or other languages.
• Master’s degree in Engineering or Computer Science.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid working with core hours, office collaboration, and remote flexibility.
• Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable.
• Market-benchmarked salaries, meaningful equity, and location-dependent benefits.
• Learning and development budgets for training, conferences, and growth.
• Benefits may include health and dental insurance, enhanced parental leave, retirement or pension provisions, therapy access, wellbeing partnerships, and team socials.
• High-ownership environment with autonomy in a fast-moving and ambiguous setting.

Hiring process

• Initial recruiter call lasting 30 minutes.
• Competency interviews with the hiring team lasting one hour in total.
• Three hours of deep-dive technical interviews covering automotive product, program management, cross-functional collaboration, and a customer-program presentation, followed by a one-hour final mission and values interview.