Director, Sales – Japan

Location: Tokyo, Japan (Hybrid/Remote considered within Japan) Reports To: VP Sales, APJ

The Opportunity

EDB is looking for a Director, Sales – Japan to lead and grow our direct and partner-driven sales business across the Japanese market. This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role responsible for building pipeline, closing enterprise deals, managing a small but growing sales team, and establishing EDB as the trusted Postgres and data platform partner for Japanese enterprises undergoing database modernization and AI transformation.

The ideal candidate is both a strong individual sales leader and an effective people manager — someone who can carry strategic accounts personally while building the team, process, and partner ecosystem needed for long-term growth in Japan.

What You'll Do

• Own the Japan revenue number. Build and execute the go-to-market strategy for EDB in Japan, owning bookings, pipeline generation, and forecast accuracy for the region.
• Lead and grow the team. Hire, coach, and manage a team of Account Executives and/or Sales Engineers as the business scales; set quotas, territories, and performance expectations.
• Drive enterprise and strategic accounts. Personally engage with C-level and senior IT decision-makers at large Japanese enterprises and public sector accounts to position EDB Postgres AI as a strategic alternative to legacy Oracle and proprietary database platforms.
• Build the partner ecosystem. Develop and manage relationships with system integrators, resellers, cloud providers, and local technology partners (e.g., NTT Group, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, hyperscalers) to extend EDB's reach across Japan.
• Localize go-to-market. Adapt global sales plays, pricing, and messaging to fit Japanese business culture, procurement practices, and regulatory/compliance requirements (including data sovereignty considerations relevant to public sector and financial services).
• Collaborate cross-functionally. Work closely with Marketing, Sales Engineering, Customer Success, Legal, and global Sales leadership to align regional execution with EDB's overall corporate strategy.
• Represent EDB in-market. Act as the face of EDB in Japan at industry events, customer briefings, and partner summits; build EDB's brand and reputation in the local Postgres and open-source community.
• Report and forecast. Provide accurate, timely forecasting and pipeline reporting to regional and global leadership using EDB's CRM and sales operations tools.

What You Bring

• 15+ years of enterprise software/technology sales experience, with at least 3–5 years in a sales leadership or sales management role.
• Proven track record of carrying and consistently exceeding a multi-million-dollar enterprise sales quota in Japan.
• Deep understanding of the Japanese enterprise IT buying process, including experience selling to large domestic enterprises and/or public sector organizations.
• Experience selling database, infrastructure, cloud, data management, or open-source software solutions strongly preferred (Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, cloud database services, etc.).
• Existing network and relationships with Japanese system integrators and IT decision-makers is a strong plus.
• Experience building and leading a sales team, including hiring, coaching, and performance management.
• Strong executive presence and consultative selling skills, with the ability to engage both technical and business stakeholders.
• Fluency in Japanese and business-level English required (this role bridges local execution with a global, English-speaking leadership team).
• Familiarity with open-source business models and/or the PostgreSQL ecosystem is a plus, but not required.
• Willingness to travel within Japan and occasionally internationally.