Sr Director Industry Advisory (Telecommunications)

Location: Tokyo, Japan; hybrid schedule with 3 days per week in the office. Domestic and regional travel is required.

Company

hirify.global develops software products and is associated with Microsoft's Frontier Industry Advisory work on cloud, data, AI, security, and partner capabilities.

What you will do

• Lead AI-led transformation conversations with Japanese telecommunications operators and partners.
• Map and redesign end-to-end telecom business processes using TM Forum eTOM, SID, Open Digital Architecture, and Open APIs.
• Define staged autonomous network roadmaps covering assurance, self-healing, optimization, predictive maintenance, digital twins, and AI agents.
• Originate, shape, and help close large, complex, multi-year transformation deals with executive stakeholders.
• Represent Microsoft in TM Forum and GSMA communities, including Open Gateway and network API initiatives.
• Identify and coordinate forward-deployed engineering engagements that productionize AI and agent solutions.

Requirements

• 15+ years of customer-facing experience with a bachelor's degree, or 13+ years with a master's degree, in telecommunications, consulting, technology, business, engineering, or a related field.
• Experience in consultative sales, advisory, strategy, business development, transformation, or technology leadership for telecom or enterprise technology customers.
• Experience shaping and closing large, complex, multi-year transformation deals, including business cases and multi-party orchestration.
• Working knowledge of telecom business process transformation and TM Forum frameworks.
• Business-level Japanese and professional working proficiency in English are required.
• Ability to travel domestically and regionally from Japan.

Nice to have

• Experience with autonomous networks, AIOps, closed-loop assurance, network digital twins, self-healing, or self-optimizing network programs.
• Active participation in TM Forum or GSMA working groups, Catalyst projects, standards, or publications.
• Experience with GSMA Open Gateway, network API monetization, and Japanese telecommunications operators.
• Experience leading systems integrators, network vendors, and software partners through business model transitions.
• Experience co-building production-grade AI and agent solutions with embedded engineering teams.

Culture & Benefits

• Work directly with strategic telecom customers, partners, and senior executives.
• Collaborate across account teams, engineering, consulting, legal, commercial, finance, and partner organizations.
• Participate in global industry standards and operator communities.
• Work in a hybrid arrangement with regular office presence in Tokyo.