Head of Partnerships, Japan (AI)

Location: Tokyo, Japan; hybrid policy requires staff to be in an Anthropic office at least 25% of the time, with some roles requiring more office time. Must be based in Tokyo.

Company

Anthropic develops reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems intended to be safe and beneficial for users and society.

What you will do

• Hire, develop, retain, and lead a high-performing Japan partner team covering GSIs, regional SIs, and resellers.
• Define and execute the Japan partner strategy, including partner segmentation, coverage, localization of the global partner program, and annual and quarterly business planning.
• Own executive relationships with strategic Japanese partners and negotiate resale, co-development, revenue-sharing, and incentive agreements with Legal, Finance, and Deal Desk.
• Lead joint solutions and industry offerings across manufacturing, financial services, retail, telecommunications, life sciences, and the public sector.
• Own partner-sourced and partner-influenced pipeline, revenue, and attach-rate targets, forecasting, investment allocation, reporting, and systems hygiene.
• Represent Japanese partner and customer requirements across sales, Applied AI, Marketing, Legal, Product, and global engineering teams, while resolving channel conflicts and supporting executive forums and customer success stories.

Requirements

• Substantial enterprise technology experience leading partner, alliance, or channel businesses in Japan.
• People leadership experience over partner or alliance teams, including hiring, developing, and retaining strong performers.
• Direct experience building a partner business in Japan for a US or global technology company, ideally during rapid growth or market entry in a hyperscaler, enterprise SaaS, data, or AI platform environment.
• Proven ownership of country- or regional-level partner-sourced and partner-influenced revenue targets with disciplined forecasting.
• Established executive relationships with major Japanese system integrators and consulting firms.
• Experience negotiating resale agreements, joint solution development, revenue-sharing, and incentive structures.
• Experience operating as a player-coach while personally managing strategic relationships and building a scalable team.
• Ability to shape strategy in ambiguity, convert it into an operating plan, and work with global teams across time zones.
• Business-level fluency in Japanese and English, cultural fluency across Japanese enterprise norms and a fast-moving US company, and residence in Tokyo.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience in a field relevant to the role.

Nice to have

• 15 to 20+ years in enterprise technology leading partner, alliance, or channel businesses in Japan and 5+ years of people leadership over partner or alliance teams.
• Experience with AI, data, or cloud platform partnerships, including partner-built solutions and marketplace motions.
• Experience working on the partner side inside a Japanese SI or distributor.
• Experience localizing a global partner program for Japan and influencing its design.
• Experience working with professional services or Applied AI teams to deliver partner-led customer outcomes.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative environment focused on high-impact AI research and trustworthy, steerable AI.
• Competitive compensation and benefits, optional equity donation matching, generous vacation, and parental leave.
• Flexible working hours and an office environment designed for collaboration.
• Visa sponsorship may be available, with reasonable efforts and immigration lawyer support for eligible offers.
• Inclusive workplace that values diverse perspectives and strong communication.