Ads Marketing Manager, Japan

OpenAI is pioneering AI research and deployment, building products that bring advanced AI capabilities to the world. The Ads Marketing team is establishing how businesses discover and succeed with OpenAI's advertising platform as AI reshapes how people find information and make decisions. You'll join this team in Tokyo to build the advertising business in Japan from the ground up.

This is a zero-to-one opportunity. You'll own the strategy and revenue outcomes for small and medium-sized advertisers across the entire customer lifecycle: acquisition, activation, retention, and expansion. Your role combines hands-on execution with strategic thinking—translating deep knowledge of the Japanese advertising market into programs that help SMBs launch, see value, and grow their ad spend.

Your core responsibilities

• Set and own SMB revenue and growth goals in Japan, converting market opportunities into focused strategy and measurable marketing programs with clear outcomes.

• Design onboarding, activation, and lifecycle programs that help small and medium businesses succeed from day one and expand their investment.

• Identify high-potential customer segments and verticals through market analysis, customer research, and systematic testing.

• Build and scale a network of SMB-focused agencies and partners through education, co-marketing initiatives, and enablement programs.

• Create awareness through locally resonant case studies, educational content, webinars, and events, distributed via influencer channels, owned platforms, and paid campaigns.

• Work closely with Sales to align marketing efforts with customer opportunities and strengthen handoffs between self-serve and sales-assisted paths.

• Support large-advertiser engagement alongside Sales and global marketing through coordinated events and market activations.

• Adapt global campaigns and capabilities to fit Japan's specific needs while maintaining alignment with broader company initiatives.

• Test new approaches, measure impact on advertiser acquisition and retention, and scale what works.

• Feed customer and agency insights back to Product and engineering teams to shape the advertiser experience.

What you bring

• Track record in digital advertising, growth marketing, or advertiser marketing with proven ability to deliver measurable business growth.

• Strong grasp of Japan's advertising landscape, including SMB needs, agency ecosystems, and local customer behavior.

• Experience building programs from scratch, making decisions with incomplete information, and executing across strategy and tactics.

• Knowledge of self-serve advertising platforms and performance marketing, with demonstrated success improving acquisition, activation, retention, or expansion.

• Experience managing agency relationships and partner networks to reach and educate advertisers.

• Comfort with data: you connect customer insights, funnel metrics, and test results to revenue decisions.

• Proven ability to collaborate across Sales, Product, and global or regional marketing teams.

• Fluent in Japanese and English, able to engage local customers and coordinate across global teams.

Nice to have

• Background at advertising technology platforms like Google, Meta, or similar.

• Experience launching global programs in Japan and using local knowledge to strengthen the overall approach.

• Track record delivering advertiser-focused events and activations alongside scaled SMB growth programs.