About this Senior Manager, Distribution Partnerships & 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 the Role
The Senior Manager, Distribution Partnerships and Business Development, is a cross-cutting senior IC operating across the full Glance AI Japan distribution surface — Retail and franchise, super-app and widget, and Smart TV-OS. The role is built for someone who wants both: the strategic surface area of cross-vector exposure, and the satisfaction of carrying their own deals from first contact through to launch. You will sit at the centre of how Glance reaches Japanese consumers — across every surface where distribution happens.
What will you be doing?
- Anchor-deal execution support —Retail, super-app, and TV-OS deals; pick up active negotiations, build proposals, manage diligence, move deals through the funnel
- Direct ownership of partnerships — carry your own portfolio of partner relationships end-to-end, from sourcing through launch
- Commercial analysis — build the deal models that determine which deals are pursued and on what terms
- Partner discovery and prioritization — surface new partner opportunities across the full distribution surface, build prioritization frameworks, and maintain the active pipeline
- Partner-facing senior presence — represent Glance in partner meetings; represent Glance in relevant Industry forums and conferences
- Internal coordination and reporting — work cross-functionally with product, integration engineering, legal, finance, and marketing to move deals through the funnel; escalate blockers with proposed solutions
Key Requirements:
- 7–10 years in business development, distribution partnerships, or commercial roles in Japan within mobile, internet, advertising, retail/consumer tech, or media
- Track record of carrying at least one or two deals end-to-end yourself, from first contact through to launch
- Business-level Japanese and English — able to operate in Japanese partner meetings and translate context for global counterparts in 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; you will need to operate confidently while being open to adjust direction when needed
Preferred Requirements:
- 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 early scale
- MBA, ex-consulting, or ex-investment-banking background
Why Glance AI
- A senior seat with real surface area. You will not be confined to one category or one type of partner. You operate where you can also build a portfolio that is genuinely yours.
- 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 senior IC operating alongside the first Directors helps shape the partner playbook and deal architecture that will be replicated across other markets such as US, Germany, UK, Australia, and Korea in the future.
- Real category creation, not incremental work. Japan's agentic AI distribution layer doesn't exist yet. You are not optimizing a known channel — you are part of building the playbook that defines how this category reaches Japanese consumers for decades to come.
- Competitive salary and benefits: Base benchmarked against comparable global tech in Tokyo, meaningful equity grant, annual performance bonus tied to distribution outcomes, plus full health, retirement, and standard Japan-market benefits.
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