Pre Sales Manager (AI)

TL;DR

Pre Sales Manager (AI): Leading the Systems Engineering effort in Japan to drive technical strategy and customer engagement for an AI-powered data platform with an accent on solution architecture and team growth. Focus on driving technical wins in the enterprise and research markets and building a high-performing local SE function.

Location: Hybrid in Tokyo, Japan (travel across Japan as required)

Company

hirify.global is redefining infrastructure for the AI era with a scalable data platform built for the most demanding AI, machine learning, and high-performance data workloads.

What you will do

• Lead, coach, and grow the Systems Engineering team in Japan, establishing a high-performing pre-sales function.
• Own the regional technical strategy, solution architecture, and proof-of-concept (POC) plans for strategic accounts.
• Partner with Sales leadership on regional strategy, pipeline development, and technical forecasting.
• Build deep technical relationships with enterprise customers, hyperscalers, and AI/HPC-focused organizations across Japan.
• Enable the partner and channel ecosystem, ensuring distributors and system integrators can effectively position VAST solutions.
• Serve as the voice of the Japan market to influence product roadmaps and localization priorities.

Requirements

• Substantial pre-sales or Systems Engineering experience in enterprise infrastructure, storage, data platforms, HPC, or AI/ML infrastructure.
• Demonstrated people-leadership experience or a clear readiness to step into a formal management role.
• Strong technical depth across data storage, file/object protocols, Linux, virtualization, and modern AI/data pipelines.
• Proven success driving complex, high-value technical sales cycles in the Japanese enterprise market.
• Native-level Japanese (spoken and written) and Business-level English.
• Must be based in Tokyo, Japan.

Nice to have

• Experience with competitive storage/data platforms such as NetApp, Pure Storage, Dell, or Weka.
• Exposure to GPU-accelerated computing or large-scale HPC environments.
• Experience building or scaling pre-sales teams in a high-growth startup or scale-up setting.