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Sakana AI is seeking a generalist Project Manager to join the Applied Team. The company believes AI is the most important technology of this century, and this role is critical to building the foundation for Sakana AI to contribute to a broad ecosystem of enterprises and government agencies in Japan and globally.
You will work end-to-end on projects: from structuring customer challenges, designing and proposing AI-driven solutions in collaboration with AI researchers and engineers, to ensuring successful delivery. Your domain focus will be determined by business priorities and your strengths.
Key responsibilities include:
- Identifying and solving difficult business challenges for clients by collaborating with account managers, engineers, and AI researchers, then proposing and executing AI-powered solutions
- Building and maintaining strong relationships with strategic partners across industries, including large enterprises and government agencies, while identifying new business opportunities
- Leading requirements alignment, expectation management, and problem definition with clients; driving strategy on "what to build and how"
- Owning overall project quality, cost, and schedule; ensuring reliable delivery
- Facilitating smooth communication with development team members and technical partners; leading and supporting the team toward project goals
- Feeding insights from individual projects back into company-wide product management and go-to-market strategy
This is a full-time position based in Japan. Business-level Japanese is required; business-level English is a plus.
Note: Sakana AI also recruits specialized Project Managers for specific industries/functions (finance, manufacturing, defense/intelligence, cybersecurity) and Technical Project Managers. Candidates with relevant expertise should review those postings as well.
The company has published a policy on defense business engagement; applicants should review and align with this before applying.
REQUIREMENTS (Must-Have):
- 5+ years of experience in one of the following:
(i) Leading projects for major Japanese enterprises or government agencies at a global top-tier management consulting firm or think tank
(ii) Business development or project/product management at a startup, global tech company, or large enterprise (AI experience preferred)
(iii) Capital raising, M&A, or IPO work at a global investment bank
- Hands-on project management experience on enterprise projects: team building, task/issue management, schedule management, quality management—all executed autonomously
- Deep negotiation experience with clients on requirements, expectations, and problem definition; strong ability to produce high-quality documentation (requirements specs, plans, issue logs, etc.)
- Passion for and basic understanding of generative AI models (LLMs, AI agents): API usage, model characteristics, data assumptions, cost and security considerations; proactive approach to staying current with trends
- Business-level Japanese or higher
Nice-to-Have:
- Experience with upstream project phases (requirements definition, technology selection, architecture design) and PoC/technical validation
- Experience managing requirements, design, and risk for systems using generative AI (AI agents, embeddings, RAG, etc.)
- Team management and mentoring experience on development projects; PMP, Scrum Master, or related certifications
- Agile development experience or ability to work in agile environments
- Business-level English
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in business, economics, engineering, computer science, or related field; CS or machine learning degrees especially valued
