About this Director, Distribution Partnerships and Business Development - Tokyo, Japan role at Glance
Glance AI is an AI commerce platform shaping the next wave of e-commerce with inspiration-led shopping, less about searching for what you want and more about discovering who you could be. Operating in 140 countries, Glance AI transforms every screen into a stage for instant, personal, and joyful discovery, where inspiration becomes something you can explore, feel, and shop in the moment.
Its proprietary models, seamlessly integrated with Google’s most advanced AI platforms, Gemini and Imagen on Vertex AI, deliver hyper-realistic, deeply personal shopping experiences across categories such as fashion, beauty, travel, accessories, home décor, pets, and more. Designed to seamlessly integrate into everyday consumer technology, Glance AI reimagines the future of e-commerce with inspiration-led discovery and shopping.
With an open architecture built for effortless adoption across hardware and software ecosystems, Glance AI is creating a platform that can become a staple in everyday consumer technology. It partners with the world’s leading smartphone makers, connected TV manufacturers, telecom providers, and global brands — meeting people where they are: on mobile, smart TVs, and brand websites.
Through Glance AI’s rich first-party data and unparalleled consumer access, it harnesses InMobi’s global scale, insights, and targeting capabilities to create high-impact, performance-driven shopping journeys for brands worldwide. Part of the InMobi Group, a global technology and advertising leader reaching over 2 billion devices and serving more than 30,000 enterprise brands worldwide, Glance AI is backed by Google, Jio Platforms, and Mithril Capital.
About Glance
Glance is building the next frontier of commerce. We are pioneering AI-powered, discovery-led shopping experiences that move beyond traditional search toward inspiration, personalization, and real-time engagement. Our platform brings agentic commerce to life - where consumers don't just search, they discover. Through immersive experiences across mobile, lock screen, and connected TV, Glance enables brands and retailers to reach consumers earlier in their journey and drive measurable business outcomes.
What should you know about joining Glance?
At Glance, we walk the talk — free yourself, dream big, and chase your passion. On joining, you'll have opportunities to make an immediate impact on mission-critical projects, as you work with highly capable and ambitious peer groups. Be rewarded for your autonomy even as you collaborate. Ideate, innovate, and inspire by leveraging bleeding-edge tech to disrupt consumer experiences.
The ideal candidate is a passionate, self-motivated, and detail-oriented leader who is committed to the success of our partners and consumers.
Role summary
The Director of Distribution Partnerships and Business Development owns Glance AI Japan's distribution strategy and the senior partner relationships that deliver it. The focus of this role is on the non-Telco / non-OEM vectors — retail and franchise channels (T-Gaia, electronics chains, convenience stores, mass retail), super-app and widget partners (LINE, Yahoo! JAPAN, SmartNews, PayPay, WidgetClub), and Smart TV-OS platforms (Google TV / Android TV, Fire TV, TCL, Hisense, LG). These are the surfaces where Japan-specific consumer behavior, faster deal cycles, and higher near-term reach combine to create Glance's most leveraged distribution moves.
The Director sits at the strategic table with Tokyo leadership, leads negotiations at the senior-executive level, and is accountable for the user-growth side of the Glance AI Japan P&L.
Key responsibilities — What you will own
- Distribution roadmap and P&L — own the Japan distribution roadmap across all non-Telco / non-OEM surface vectors, spanning Retail & Franchise partnerships, Super App partnerships, and TV partnerships
- Commercial framework design and negotiation — negotiate revenue-share structures, minimum guarantees, and commerce-attribution models with senior partner executives
- Activation targets and unit economics — set and achieve device and user activation targets; build the unit economics that determine which deals are pursued and on what commercial terms
- Deal structuring — structure deals across user acquisition fees, marketing co-fund, device-launch bundles, in-store demo allocations, and exclusivity windows
- Operating cadence and leadership reporting — run the operating cadence with Tokyo leadership through quarterly business reviews, strategic deep dives, and executive escalations; represent Japan distribution to the global BD function
- Represent Glance AI in events industry forums
What we're looking for
- 12+ years in business development, distribution partnerships, or BD-leadership roles in Japan within mobile, internet, advertising, retail/consumer tech, or media
- Demonstrated ownership of a multi-channel partnership P&L, with signed agreements at the senior-executive level across at least one of: large retail chains, super-apps, OEM/device makers, or TV platforms
- Business-level Japanese and English
- Comfort operating from a Tokyo-based country team with significant autonomy
- High tolerance for ambiguity — Glance AI Japan is in early market entry, and several assumptions in the distribution thesis are still being validated
Nice to have
- Senior BD experience at one of: a Japanese super-app or major internet platform (LY Corp, Yahoo! JAPAN, SmartNews, PayPay, Rakuten, CyberAgent), a major retail or franchise operator, a TV-platform OS, an OEM, or a global platform's Japan BD function (Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Netflix Japan)
- Understanding of Japan's consumer surface economics: app store and super-app dynamics, retail co-marketing, points/loyalty rails, and TV-OS commercial models
- Experience launching new consumer surfaces or distribution channels in Japan from zero to scale
- Familiarity with retail activation through nationwide store networks (T-Gaia-scale channels) and convenience-store distribution
Why Glance
- Real category creation, not incremental work. Japan's agentic AI distribution layer doesn't exist yet. You're not optimizing a known channel — you are building the playbook that defines how this category reaches Japanese consumers.
- Structural backing without big-company friction. Glance is part of InMobi Group with proven scale (Glance reaches 400M+ monthly users globally) and infrastructure already built, but JP operates as a startup with founding-team latitude on strategy and deals.
- A first-team seat in Japan. The JP distribution strategy is being written now. The first Director shapes the team, the partner playbook, and the deal architecture that will be replicated across other markets such as US, Germany, UK, Australia, and Korea in the future.
- Leveraged surface area. By focusing on non-Telco / non-OEM channels — retail, super-apps, TV-OS — you are operating where deal cycles are faster and near-term reach is highest. These are Glance's most leveraged moves in Japan.
- Competitive salary and benefits: Base benchmarked against roles at comparable global tech in Tokyo, meaningful equity grant, annual performance bonus tied to distribution outcomes (signed agreements, device and user activation), plus full health, retirement, and standard Japan-market benefits.
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