Product Management Director

Job Description

To achieve Woven Planet’s mission, we must deliver Arene, a vehicle operating system and the tools to build, deploy, and test vehicle software. In support of this, we need a veteran product leader with automotive experience to define product strategy for Arene from inception to delivery while working directly with engineering teams and customers. This is a growing team working on an early-stage product so the ideal candidate will be ready to roll up their sleeves and act as a “player-coach” working directly with some engineering teams as their Product Manager with some of their time and mentoring and growing a Product team with the rest of their time.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with engineers and partners to deliver software at automotive-grade quality while helping to drive usage of Arene with customers
• Lead a team of product managers working with engineering teams across the org
• Interface regularly with customers, ensuring that their needs are met, from broad requirements all the way down to detailed implementation
• Take high-level customer/product goals, identify the requirements, integration points with other teams/customers, and shepherd the work from planning through delivery
• Track schedules created by engineering, identify risks, and clearly communicate them to stakeholders and executives
• Ensure continuity of geographically dispersed teams and stakeholders
• Balance competing factors (risk mitigation and issue resolution, dependency management, fastest vs best solution, ROI, etc)
• Provide inspirational leadership with active listening, empathy, inclusivity, and modeling company values to maximize the performance of teams and individuals

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience leading teams on successful technology products
• Significant experience delivering automotive-grade software solutions Process-oriented mindset and demonstrated ability to balance meticulous attention to detail with swift execution
• Ability to multi-task and handle multiple products, customers, and engineering teams at one time
• Experience in communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences
• Demonstrated effectiveness in connecting business context and customer impact to engineering tasks
• Prior experience working directly with engineering teams
• Effective English communication skills
• Experience working with automotive OEMs and/or tier-1 suppliers
• Thrive in ambiguity and embrace the challenge of creating metrics, designing product roadmaps, problem-solving, and influencing a diverse set of stakeholders toward a common goal

Be sure to mention if you have any of the following optional, but relevant experience:

Ability to read or speak Japanese or familiarity with Japanese (business) cultural norms

About the Company

Woven Planet is building mobility for a safer, happier and sustainable world. A subsidiary of Toyota, Woven Planet innovates and invests in new technologies, software, and business models that transform how we live, work and move. With a focus on automated driving, smart cities, robotics and more, we build on Toyota's legacy of trust and safety to deliver mobility solutions for all.

Competitive Salary

Based on skills and experience

Work Hours

Flexible working time with NO core-hours

Paid Holiday

20 days per year (prorated)

Sick Leave

6 days per year (prorated)

Holiday

Sat & Sun, Japanese National Holidays, and other days defined by the company

Japanese Social Security

All applicable (Health Insurance, Pension, Workers’ Comp, and Unemployment Insurance, Long-term care insurance)

Other Benefits 

Employee Benefits

In-house Training Program (software study/language study)