Business Development Manager - Japanese Speaker

what3words is revolutionising the way the world talks about location. Street addresses aren’t accurate enough to specify specific entrances, and they don’t exist for parks, rural areas and many parts of the world. This makes it hard to find places and causes problems and inefficiencies on a global scale.

That’s why we created what3words. We have divided the globe into 3 metre squares, and given each one a unique combination of three words: a what3words address. It’s an easy way to find and share precise locations.

what3words is being used in 193 countries, and our monthly active users continue to grow at an impressive pace. Our tech is used by thousands of emergency services, delivery companies, eCommerce businesses, ride-hailing apps and NGOs, and is integrated into the navigation systems of millions of cars around the world.

The Role:

This role is based in Vietnam from our centrally located Ho Chi Minh City office (District 1) and is open to any Japanese speaker. You’ll be part of our growing HCMC team of 15 people working across Business Development, Product, Tech, Marketing and Growth.

We’re looking for a smart, energetic and ambitious Business Development Manager to join our Business Development team, where you will be a crucial part of our outbound sales team tasked with selling to businesses in Japan that can use what3words’ technology. This will include managing your own sales pipeline in a broad range of sectors including e-commerce, delivery, travel, tourism and emergency services. You will work closely with and report directly to our Head of APAC.

As part of your role, you will work closely with our Head of APAC to sell what3words into large enterprises such as automotive companies in Japan, as well as managing relationships with existing partners like Subaru and Mitsubishi. This is a unique opportunity to work on large strategic accounts and develop valuable enterprise sales skills, including regular business trips to Japan.

Your global Business Development team is a group of talented people from all over the world on an unprecedented journey. Every day brings new challenges and we are always learning. You will be proud to see your individual and team contributions making a real difference as we make what3words a leading addressing standard in Japan and around the world.

If you are a recent graduate or professional who is looking to join a rapidly growing business in its scale-up phase that values entrepreneurial thinking and creative decision-making, this is your unique opportunity. 

Your responsibilities will include:

• Execute on sales targets in Japan across our core verticals

  • Independently own your own pipeline, qualify and close a large number of small and medium-sized deals

  • Work closely with the Head of APAC to support in closing large game-changing deals in Japan, including nurturing relationships with key stakeholders - Leverage your existing network, in-person meetings and a mix of traditional sales tools, emails and LinkedIn to connect with businesses and close deals

• Create and present your own sales decks  to lead one-to-one sales calls and meetings with businesses that can integrate what3words’ technology

• Proactively manage key relationships with existing partners in Japan with the view to maintaining and expanding our business with them, regularly acting as conduit between them and other client-facing departments in the business like marketing

• Be the key Japanese language and culture expert within what3words, working closely with other departments in the company like marketing and product, providing language support and advice on positioning what3words in Japan

• Identify and attend key industry events to represent what3words and network with potential customers 

• Regular business trips to Japan as required for in-person meetings

• Working hours will be 9am - 6pm ICT but you may at times need to be flexible to accommodate global BD team meetings where possible 

You will have:

• Fluent English; the ability to communicate effectively with English-speaking clients or internal colleagues

• Fluent Japanese; the ability to communicate effectively with Japanese-speaking clients, with excellent Japanese writing

• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral; you can clearly communicate the what3words proposition and are highly persuasive when interacting with prospective customers and partners 

• An outgoing nature; you enjoy networking, building relationships and being in a customer-facing role

• Strong relationship-building interpersonal skills 

• Strong ability to work autonomously 

• A highly organised approach to your work - you will need to effectively manage your time across outbounding, meeting clients, progressing deals with excellent pipeline management 

• The ability to quickly comprehend the what3words technology and be highly motivated by our ambition to become a global addressing standard

• Excellent local knowledge of the Japanese market

You will be:

• Tech-savvy, with the ability to explain technical detail in easy-to-understand language

• Able to produce resources of a very high standard (e.g. slide decks), quickly

• We give thorough training and sales onboarding to set you up for success - but we love proactive learners who take initiative

• Flexible and comfortable with dealing with ambiguity as we build our strategy as we go, learn from our mistakes and double down on what works

• Ambitious and interested in building a long-term career with us

• A team-player, motivated by working with a close-knit team and supporting colleagues in their work to drive the business forward

• Organised, able to juggle a large workload and prioritise effectively and a mindset to automate and simplify processes where possible

Bonus points if you:

• Speak other languages

• Have prior sales experience or a strong business network in Japan

Equality, diversity and inclusion at what3words

Our mission is to help everyone talk about everywhere, and we believe diverse perspectives make for a better company and better products too. We strongly encourage applications from underrepresented groups and are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in our hiring processes and company culture

Benefits

We offer the following benefits to all permanent employees of what3words:

• Flexible working

• Competitive salary

• 6 week remote working (work from anywhere) policy

• 25 days holiday: plus the option to buy more!

• Share options

• Private health insurance

• Wellbeing Days

• Generous parental leave policies

• Family friendly policies

• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

• Lunch & learn sessions

• Team social budget