Head of Solutions & Partnerships

Job Description Head of Solutions & Partnerships, Japan AirConsole (a KPIT Technologies company) Tokyo · Hybrid 【Role Overview】 Primary AirConsole representative in Japan. Three interlocking responsibilities: 1. Account ownership: Day-to-day relationship owner for the active OEM engagement, working with the existing project manager who continues to own technical delivery. 2. Partnership development: Lead Japan partnership strategy with additional OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers, from first contact through to contract closure. 3. Technical solution credibility: Earn trust with OEM engineering, product, UX/HMI, connected-services, and infotainment teams. No need to be the deep implementation owner, but must be able to explain AirConsole’s product, integration model, technical requirements, security approach, OTA mechanics, and content strategy in credible customer conversations. 【Responsibilities】 - Existing OEM engagement ・Primary Japan-based point of contact and relationship owner. ・Bridge between customer organization and AirConsole HQ engineering and product teams. ・Stakeholder communication across customer engineering, product, UX/HMI, and emerging commercial contacts. ・Drive transition from initial deployment to production-scale partnership. - New partnership development ・Identify, prioritize, and approach Japanese OEMs (Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki, Sony Honda Mobility, Mitsubishi) and Tier 1 suppliers (Denso, Panasonic Automotive, Aisin, Pioneer, Alpine, Mitsubishi Electric). ・Lead first meetings and technical workshops with OEM connected-services, infotainment, HMI, and software platform teams. ・Present AirConsole's platform: product, integration architecture, security and certification model, OTA mechanics, content strategy. ・Scope POCs and integration projects; translate OEM requirements into inputs for HQ engineering. ・Drive opportunities through the early and mid-stage sales process until they are mature enough for executive negotiation and contract closure support from AirConsole HQ. ・Remain the local relationship owner throughout the opportunity lifecycle. - Market strategy and ecosystem ・Define Japan strategy: market segmentation, opportunity prioritization, content localization, ecosystem mapping. ・Coordinate with KPIT Japan to leverage existing relationships, engineering capacity, and delivery resources. ・Represent AirConsole at Japan Mobility Show, Automotive World Tokyo, CEATEC, and other industry events. 【Reporting Line】 Formal employment and HR reporting: Employer of Record. Functional reporting and day-to-day mandate: AirConsole leadership (Zurich). Close partnership: KPIT Japan executive team and the existing project manager on the active OEM engagement. Working Hours: 42.5 Job Requirements 【Must-Have Requirements】 ・Demonstrated experience as in-country relationship owner for a foreign technology vendor working with a Japanese OEM on a multi-stakeholder, multi-year program. ・Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Informatics, or related technical field. ・10+ years total professional experience. ・4+ years in a customer-facing technical role (Solutions Architect, Pre-Sales Engineer, Field Application Engineer, Technical Account Manager, Technical Product Manager, or similar) in the automotive or automotive software industry. ・Hands-on background in in-vehicle infotainment, connected services, or automotive HMI/UX. ・Native-level Japanese; business-fluent English (CEFR C1 or equivalent). ・Established personal network in the Japanese automotive software ecosystem. ・Comfortable being the first AirConsole-dedicated employee in Japan: self-directed and at ease with ambiguity. 【Nice-to-Have】 ・Background at a foreign technology or automotive software company that successfully entered the Japanese OEM market (HARMAN, Cerence, Elektrobit, NVIDIA Automotive, Qualcomm Automotive, BlackBerry QNX, Unity, Mapbox, HERE Technologies, or similar). ・Background at an automotive software services or systems integration firm with Japan presence (Tata Elxsi, L&T Technology Services, HCL, TCS, Wipro, or similar). ・Working knowledge of Android Automotive OS, QNX, AGL, or comparable IVI platforms. ・Existing relationships at Toyota Connected, Sony Honda Mobility, Nissan connected-car organization, or major Tier 1 software groups. ・Interest or prior exposure in gaming: game engines, mobile or console gaming, game publishing. ・Experience working across Indian and European HQ teams. Benefits: - Hybrid work - Possibility to travel all around Japan for Business Development - Social insurances following local law - Chances to travel to Switzerland to meet the rest of the team - Employee savings plan - Overseas business trip allowance and travel expenses provided