Head of Marketing, Japan

Who we are

About Stripe

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies—from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups—use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone’s reach while doing the most important work of your career.

About the team

Our Japan Marketing team’s mission is to engage priority audiences through impactful and relevant marketing campaigns and events, to drive growth in adoption of Stripe’s solution offerings. Japan Marketing is a sales-aligned team, partnering closely with the Japan GTM organization, including Sales, Sales Development, Solutions Architects, Partnerships, and others. Our team works across all customer segments, and at each stage of the customer lifecycle journey. As a member of the Japan team, this is a great opportunity to build and have an impact on the Japan business.

What you’ll do

You’ll be part of the Japan team, setting and executing our Japan marketing strategy while working hands-on and developing a trusted relationship with Sales to drive successful user outcomes. The Head of Japan Marketing will lead the field marketing function and deliver high-quality leads, pipeline, and revenue. You will build, lead, and grow a small team of marketing leaders and professionals, and establish how the team responsibly uses AI to sharpen customer insight, accelerate execution, and improve performance. As an early member of the team, you will have an opportunity to build the Japan marketing function at Stripe.

Responsibilities

• Lead marketing for Japan across all customer segments, with strong coordination with Sales leadership; customer segments include enterprise, digital native, software platforms, small businesses, and startups 
• Own key business and revenue metrics across the sales funnel (pipeline) and customer growth and retention. 
• Develop a strong trusted relationship with the Japanese sales team, working closely with the sales leadership and sales development to jointly grow pipeline.
• Partner with Asia Pacific demand generation and product marketing to refine our targeting and segmentation, and to identify, scope, and produce or localize compelling content, marketing assets and programs to drive demand
• Define and execute full funnel Japan marketing plans including digital marketing, demand generation campaigns, sales prospecting programs and ABM, virtual and in-person field events, and third party tradeshows and conferences
• Track, measure, and communicate program results, continually optimize for efficiency and scale, and seek to generate new global best practices through experimental efforts  
• Be creative in finding new ways of advising a diverse range of personas about the value Stripe brings to businesses.
• Set the Japan marketing team’s AI-enabled operating model, identifying high-value use cases across research, segmentation, localization, content development, campaign execution, measurement, and experimentation while maintaining strong judgment on quality, customer context, and responsible use.
• Coach the team to adopt AI effectively, building repeatable workflows and raising the bar for strategic thinking, speed, and execution.

Who you are

We’re looking for someone who meets the minimum requirements to be considered for the role. If you meet these requirements, you are encouraged to apply. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.

Minimum requirements

• 10+ years of relevant B2B marketing experience leading a Japan marketing function across multiple customer segments including specific experience with content localisation and content marketing, event management, partnership marketing, and multi-touch campaigns to generate demand.

• At least 5 years managing teams, with a track record of setting a clear strategy, developing talent, and leading through change
• Proven track record of defining and executing Japan B2B marketing strategies that deliver against funnel metrics and KPIs
• Strong written and verbal communication skills (both Japanese and English), including being able to convey complex topics with simplicity

• Proven leadership capability and effectiveness working collaboratively and cross functionally:
• Experience working closely with Sales teams, including joint planning and execution, driving disciplined lead follow up, and earning trust as a strategic business partner
• Experience working as a Japanese leader partnering with global marketing teams, and leveraging central APAC capabilities and resources to lead growth in field marketing programs and events, executive programs and partner programs.
• Experience scaling through/and or leveraging agency and contractor resources
• Understanding and/or experience with CRM, account-based marketing, email marketing tactics, and marketing technology
• Demonstrated AI fluency in a B2B marketing context: hands-on experience using AI to improve insight, planning, content, execution, or measurement; ability to evaluate output quality and risk; and experience helping a team adopt new tools and workflows

Preferred qualifications

• A startup mentality with a bias to action and the ability to flex in a fast-paced industry and work environment
• Experience marketing cloud services and/or software solutions 
• Superb organization and project management skills and the capacity to manage multiple complex projects at once
• Excellent analytical skills and the ability to craft actionable insights from complex data
• Resourceful, creative and dedicated to achieving operational and creative excellence

• Experience delivering tailored marketing content and experiences for customer segments spanning from early stage startups to the largest enterprise companies
• Understanding of the payments, financial technology, and/or ecommerce industries and partner ecosystems
• Demonstrated success delivering marketing programs with and through consulting and technology partners
• High AI usage competencies.