Area Director - Japan

Job Details

• 💼 Commercial team, North Asia
• 📍 Japan
• 🕜 Full-Time Remote / Hybrid in Tokyo 
  
• 🌐 Fluent in English and Japanese; Korean is a plus

What you will do

Own the full commercial outcome for Japan and Korea, with an initial focus of approximately 80% on Japan: winning new ARR through Sales while protecting and growing the existing customer base through Account Management Reporting to the VP, APAC, you’ll be a hands-on commercial leader,  strengthening pipeline and forecast discipline, coaching the team, supporting strategic deals and customer escalations, and building predictable execution across both markets.

You’ll develop and continuously refine the local commercial playbook, surface market, product, integration and partnership opportunities, and turn them into clear recommendations and business cases for regional leadership. You’ll also embed practical AI across the team to accelerate preparation, analysis, reporting and productivity — using technology as a force multiplier while applying the judgement needed to make sound commercial decisions.

Where you will have impact

• Own the commercial outcome. Own new business ARR, churn, retention and account expansion across Japan and Korea, with Japan as the initial priority.
• Build and execute the GTM strategy. Set clear market priorities, drive pipeline coverage and forecast discipline, and continuously refine the local commercial playbook.
• Win strategic business. Stay hands-on with enterprise hotel groups and chains, joining key sales conversations and helping the team unlock complex opportunities.
• Grow and retain our customers. Lead Account Management outcomes across adoption, renewals, churn and expansion, while stepping in when strategic customer issues need senior ownership.
• Build a high-performing team. Hire, onboard, coach and develop Sales and Account Management talent. Raise the bar on performance, ownership and execution.
• Run the business by the numbers. Use commercial and customer data to identify risks, opportunities and investment needs, and maintain reliable quarterly forecasting.
• Work across Lighthouse. Partner with Product, Partnerships, Customer Success, Support, Marketing, Enablement and Operations to improve the full commercial journey from new business through retention and expansion.
• Turn local insight into action. Identify market, product, integration and partnership opportunities and translate them into clear recommendations for regional and global leadership.
• Use AI as a force multiplier. Embed practical AI into forecasting, reporting, business cases and team workflows to make the team faster and more effective.

About our team

You’ll join a global Revenue team of 150+ sales professionals across 24 countries. Our team works across the full Lighthouse product suite, helping hotels, chains, and hospitality groups achieve their commercial goals. It’s a collaborative, high-energy environment with real opportunities for career growth and the chance to learn from experienced leaders as we continue to expand our market share.

What's in it for you

• Flexible time off: Autonomy to manage your work-life balance.
• Career development: Workshops, frameworks, and training to maximize your professional potential.
• Impactful work: Shape products relied on by 85,000+ users worldwide.
• Referral bonuses: Earn rewards for bringing in new talent.

Who you are

• 8+ years of SaaS leadership experience, including both new-business sales and Account Management.
• Commercially sharp and data-driven. You know your numbers — forecasting, pipeline coverage, churn, NRR and expansion ARR,  and use them to drive decisions.
• An experienced enterprise seller. You’ve managed complex customers, buying groups and large hotel groups, chains or similar organisations.
• Strong SaaS and product fluency, with enough technical depth to understand adoption data, account-health signals, integrations, PMS migrations, and incident root causes and to engage credibly with customers and internal specialists
• A strong people leader. You know how to coach and develop both ICs and managers and build a team that takes ownership.
• Strategic but hands-on. You can think long-term about market development while jumping into a sales call, renewal or escalation when needed.
• Experience working cross-functionally across Product, Partnerships, Support, Operations, Marketing, Enablement, and Customer Success in an international or cross-border environment
• An entrepreneurial, proactive, and reliable approach, with the ability to create a roadmap and execute in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment
• AI-native. You actively use AI to improve forecasting, reporting, preparation, business cases and team productivity.
• Native in Japanese and professional fluency in English, with clear, concise communication and the ability to influence stakeholders across an international organisation

We welcome

• Hospitality, hospitality tech, travel tech, OTA or enterprise SaaS experience
• Revenue management, BI, PMS or related hospitality technology experience
• Experience managing multiple countries, including Korea