About the role
Shopify Plus is one of the fastest-growing EC platforms in Japan. This role leads the entire Japan Customer Success team with a rapidly expanding account base, GMV, and revenue profile. The next phase requires in-market leadership, sharper portfolio strategy, and a CS motion built for how commerce works in Japan. You will coach a team of CSMs, run the operating rhythm, and sit at the center of how Shopify shows up for its most important Japanese merchants. If you want to shape how Shopify wins in one of APAC's most complex and exciting markets, this is the role.
This is a remote role based in Japan and reports to the Director, APAC Commercial Customer Success. Business-level English and native-level Japanese language proficiency are required
Key Responsibilities
Lead, hire, coach, and develop the Japan CSM team with a high bar for performance, craft, accountability, career growth, and business outcomes.
Own team results across revenue growth, retention, GMV growth, product adoption, merchant health, advocacy, satisfaction, and target attainment.
Build and run the Japan CS market plan across segmentation, portfolio strategy, renewal priorities, coverage model, attach goals, operating cadence, and cross-functional execution.
Define Japan-specific book-of-business strategy, including high-potential Unicorn coverage in the SMB-Plus base as the managed book scales.
Lead renewal and retention strategy for Japan merchants, including risk reviews, executive coverage, recovery plans, merchant narratives, and named CS leadership relationships before key renewal moments.
Drive product adoption and launch motions across the existing base, especially Retail / POS, Payments, B2B, cross-border commerce, and future platform launches.
Build executive relationships with strategic merchants across business reviews, escalations, growth planning, renewal strategy, and long-term partnerships.
Own the strategic share of localization, market engagement, and partner orchestration so CSMs can stay focused on direct merchant impact.
Partner with the Japan Country Director, Sales, Technical, Product, Support, Partners, Strategic Accounts, and APAC Commercial CS leadership to turn market priorities into account-level and portfolio-level action.
Use AI, data, and portfolio signals to inspect book health, spot risk, prioritize team focus, report business impact, and recommend process improvements.
Represent Shopify in Japan through strategic merchant relationships, partner engagement, presentations, events, networking, and industry conversations.
Create a team environment built on high trust, high accountability, direct feedback, high standards, and Shopify-first decisions.
Qualifications
Deep experience in Customer Success, ecommerce, account management, commercial leadership, SaaS, or a similar customer-facing role in Japan.
Proven people leadership experience, including hiring, coaching, developing, and performance-managing high-performing teams.
Experience holding a target and owning team attainment across retention, expansion, revenue growth, product adoption, advocacy, customer health, or similar commercial outcomes.
Strong understanding of Japanese commerce: ecommerce, retail, marketplaces, payments, logistics, import / export practices, and how buyers and merchants behave differently in Japan.
Proven success leading complex, relationship-driven renewals that depend on trust, executive coverage, long-term value, and clear merchant narratives.
Experience leading product adoption, launch, or monetization plays into an existing customer base.
Experience working with agencies, technical partners, strategic partners, or regional partner organizations in Japan.
Clear and confident executive communication in Japanese and English, with the ability to operate across local, regional, and global teams.
Native-level Japanese and business-level English proficiency.
Ability to represent a region’s narrative to senior leadership and turn market complexity into clear priorities, decisions, owners, and action plans.
Strong business sense and comfort advising merchants across ecommerce platforms, integrations, tech stacks, and commerce infrastructure. You do not need to code, but you need to understand how the technology works.
Demonstrated results using AI, automation, data, or portfolio analytics to inspect account health, forecast risk, prioritize action, and improve team outcomes.
Strong retail / commercial acumen and experience navigating large, complex organizations, matrixed decision-making, and executive-level decision processes.
High-agency leadership style grounded in trust, accountability, direct feedback, craft, merchant impact, and measurable business outcomes.
Nice to have
Experience with Shopify, Shopify Plus, or enterprise ecommerce as a customer, merchant, partner, operator, or platform leader.
Experience with Retail / POS, B2B, Payments, cross-border commerce, or partner-led commerce motions in Japan.
Existing network across Japanese ecommerce, retail, SaaS, agency, SI, payments, or digital transformation communities.
Understanding of how AI is used inside Japanese companies and the adoption challenges they face.