Tech Lead

Role details

Location: Tokyo, Japan / Hybrid

Role type: Permanent

Language: Fluent bilingual JP/EN

About the role

The Tech Lead at WAY will lead technical advisory for WAY Ventures. Additionally, the Tech Lead will collaborate with the Head of Investments & Finance to inform WAY’s investment strategy based on deep understanding of technological trends and innovations.

The skills we are looking for in a Tech Lead include:

  • Technical Advisory: Advising Founding Partners on technical specifications and design. You can act as a technical authority for WAY’s Companies, drawing on hands-on experience building software products. Ultimately, Founding Partners are responsible for owning and driving their product development, but you will contribute your expertise as a thought partner and when they hit roadblocks.

  • Technical Excellence: Creating a technical playbook of best practices. You have a firm grasp on the critical challenges of building product in the earliest years. You understand the balance of speed and quality required to iterate on a product whilst navigating Product Market Fit. Additionally, you can identify trends, tools and technologies for building software products and are able to distill them into an agile playbook to guide Companies.

  • UX Design Support: Expediting UX design and delivery in support of Founding Partners. You are able to create quick and effective mock ups of products and websites to facilitate rapid iteration and feedback loops for Founding Partners.

  • Technical Investment Theory: Establishing relevant and informative criteria for WAY’s investments. You have extensive and up-to-date knowledge of global trends in software and can identify key characteristics businesses should be evaluated on to assess investability.

  • Product Assessment: Analyzing investment opportunities through a technical lens. In collaboration with the Head of Investments & Finance, you will build investment cases by determining the viability and desirability of a product in the Japanese market.

  • Network Facilitation: Sourcing expertise for specialty knowledge. You are well connected in the tech and startup community, and able to draw on your network to support Founding Partners with expert knowledge in specific areas.

Who we’re looking for

A Tech Lead at WAY will need:

  • At least 5 years of work experience, with at least 2-3 years in one of the following areas:

    • Software consulting

    • A technical role in an early stage startup or high growth digital business

    • Startup founder or entrepreneur

    • A technical role in venture capital, a venture studio, or a company builder

  • Strong technical expertise with demonstrable fluency in programming languages, e.g. Python, Ruby, Java, etc.

  • Built, launched and scaled software products, experience with SaaS a plus

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

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

  • 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, bilingual JP/EN a plus


Key Characteristics for working at WAY include:

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

  • Energy and execution. You outwork and outdeliver, 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.