Director of Investments and Finance

Role details

Location: Tokyo, Japan / Hybrid

Role type: Permanent

Language: Fluent EN, bilingual JP preferred

About the role

Our Director of Investments and Finance will lead the business building process from market scanning to validation, through to growth and scaling. 

Supporting our portfolio Companies: You will help establish financial infrastructures and facilitate financial reporting and investor relations. 

Supporting WAY: You will support the company’s financial operation from forecasting to cashflow management and reporting. 

How you will succeed

  • Financial Analysis: Creating strong financial narratives for investment. You are able to conduct due diligence and create financial models to evaluate opportunities.

  • Investment Theory: Setting a standard, optimized criteria for WAY’s investments. You are able to think systemically, and create a well-evidenced portfolio theory to guide WAY’s investment methodology.

  • Market Research: Identifying high value business cases in global markets. You are able to distinguish high potential business models and evaluate them against the Japanese market for market fit and customer resonance.

  • Growth Strategy Optimization: Researching key growth metrics and KPI’s from successful competitors and industry benchmarks. You are able to create a high value set of guidelines and resources to enable best practices from proven models across WAY’s Companies.

  • Financial Management: Monitoring WAY Companies’ performance and financial health. Together with WAY’s partnerships with leading financial services firms, you can evaluate the performance of each Company, ensure timely and accurate financial reporting, and contextualize Company performance in WAY’s broader financial narrative.

  • Strategic Advisory: Supporting Company business strategy and planning. You have excellent business acumen, and ideally a strong grasp of software businesses, to lend to Companies and can facilitate their development of short to long-term business goals.

  • Financial Operations: Facilitating Companies’ financial management. You’re able to support Companies’ financial capacity and build their infrastructure.

  • Investor Relations: Supporting the CEO with analysis and documentation for investors. You are able to produce excellent pitch decks and financial analysis to facilitate dialogues with, locally and internationally, leading investors across WAY’s network ranging from family offices to investment banks and funds.

Your Experience

  • At least 7 years of work experience, with at least 2-3 years in one of the following areas:

    • Venture capital or private equity

    • A CFO role in a growth-stage startup or high-growth digital business

    • Professional services, ie management consulting or investment banking

  • Consulting skill set: active listening, constructive questioning, thoughtful advisory

  • Comfortable working in a fast-paced, high-autonomy, growth environment

  • A high degree of autonomy, able to be strategic and decisive independently

  • Entrepreneurial mindset, able to understand the needs and challenges of business building

  • Strong English ability and a strong preference for bilingual JP/EN

What we offer you:

The opportunity to become an owner and builder. You will have a meaningful impact through innovation. We are a people-first culture. You will work with exceptional people providing the opportunity for a steep learning curve. We offer a competitive compensation package and a wide range of benefits.

Our Values

  • Relentless optimism. You take setbacks in stride and keep pushing through the challenges of building from scratch.

  • Energy and execution. You outwork and out-deliver, contributing to a culture of excellence.

  • Collaboration and respect. You are a team player who works hard for the collective, respects the unique strengths and lived experiences of others, and celebrates victories as shared wins.

  • Being a team player. You work hard so that everyone wins.

  • Growth mindset. You are ready to embrace the unknown rather than be overwhelmed by it. You proactively seek problems and are engineered to build solutions.

  • Grit. You have a deep capacity for focused effort and know how to channel it in the right places.

  • Future focused. You understand where the world is today and want to build businesses that will continue to be relevant in a world 100 years from now.