AI Program Manager, Productivity Innovation Department, Tokyo

Overview

The SMB Product Development Division is seeking a strategic and execution-focused AI Program Manager to drive our AI transformation. While your primary initial focus will be leading the AI Innovation Hub, this role is designed for a change agent capable of managing a portfolio of AI initiatives.

Your mission is to act as a bridge between technical potential and business value—stimulating high-quality ideas, incubating them into impactful PoCs, and driving the cultural and operational changes required to make AI a natural part of our engineering, product, and design DNA. You will look beyond single projects to build a sustainable engine for innovation and productivity.

Responsibilities and Duties

1. Strategic Program Management & Initiative Leadership

• Lead the AI Innovation Hub: Own the roadmap and execution of our SMB internal incubation program, including "Idea & Demo Days" and structured incubation cycles.
• Drive Multiple AI Initiatives: Beyond the Hub, identify, scope, and lead ad-hoc strategic AI projects (e.g., specific workflow automations, tool rollouts, or pilot programs) that require cross-functional coordination.
• Portfolio Management: Maintain a holistic view of various AI experiments and PoCs across the division to prevent silos, reduce redundancy, and ensure alignment with business goals.

2. Incubation & Experimentation Architecture

• Structure Success: Design and refine the end-to-end incubation process (application, selection, validation, milestones) to ensure teams move effectively from loose concepts to "Demo Day-ready" PoCs.
• Focus on Impact: Collaborate with technical leaders to ensure initiatives are not just "cool tech," but are rooted in solving genuine user problems or achieving measurable internal productivity gains.
• Advisor Orchestration: Recruit and coordinate a pool of experts (Senior Engineers, AI Specialists, PdMs) to mentor teams, providing the right technical and product guidance at the right time.

3. Change Management & Cultural Transformation

• Community Building: Nurture a vibrant, cross-functional AI community. Move beyond simple "engagement" to creating a culture of continuous learning and experimentation.
• Best Practice Enablement: Partner with technical leads to translate complex AI capabilities into accessible playbooks, "getting started" guides, and reusable templates for engineers, PdMs, and designers.
• Event Management: Plan and execute high-impact events (Hackathons, Demo Days, Sharing Sessions) that celebrate success and inspire broad adoption.

4. Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Measure What Matters: Define and track success metrics not just for the program (participation, completion), but for business impact (adoption rates, time saved, productivity improvements).
• Feedback Loops: Actively collect qualitative and quantitative data after every cycle or initiative. Analyze "what worked" and "what didn't" to iterate on the program structure and the division’s overall AI strategy.
• Stakeholder Communication: Keep leadership and cross-functional partners informed on progress, resource requirements, and outcomes.

Required Skills and Experience

Core Program & Change Management

• 5+ years of experience in program management, product operations, innovation management, or technical project management.
• Change Management: Proven track record of driving adoption of new technologies or processes within a large organization. You know how to influence without direct authority.
• Strategic Agility: Ability to switch contexts between high-level strategy (roadmapping, culture building) and tactical execution (event logistics, sprint planning).

Product & Technical Aptitude

• Product Development Context: Deep experience working closely with software development teams (Engineering, Product, Design). You understand the software lifecycle (SDLC) and how AI fits into it.
• AI Operational Fluency: You view AI through a lens of business value, not just technical novelty. While you don't need to understand the engineering complexities of how models work (e.g., hallucinations or privacy architecture), you must be adept at consulting with our technical experts to vet feasibility. Your primary role is to bridge the gap: determining if a solution generates real ROI, validating its utility for the business, and managing the operational rollout to ensure adoption.

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Facilitation: Excellent communication skills, capable of leading workshops, moderating panels, and articulating a clear vision to senior leadership.
• Entrepreneurial Mindset: You are self-driven and proactive. You don't just run existing programs; you identify gaps and propose new solutions to fill them.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience running internal startups, accelerators, or corporate innovation labs.
• Experience measuring productivity metrics (e.g., SPACE framework, DORA metrics) in an engineering context.
• Technical background (CS degree or coding bootcamp) is a plus, but not required if you have strong technical literacy.

Language Requirements

• Business level English
• (Nice to have) Conversational or business level Japanese.

Work Environment

At Money Forward, we provide an environment where we can create world-class services together, and we are looking forward to welcoming you.

Provided PC Specs: We provide PCs equipped with the latest CPUs (MacOS or Windows). Custom-made PCs tailored to business requirements and replacements with the latest OS are also possible.
Systems to Enhance the Development Environment: Peripheral devices necessary for work (such as displays, mice, keyboards) can be purchased as office supplies. Generally, you can choose from standard products (catalog), and if conditions are met, you can apply for non-standard products as well.
Money Forward Library: We have a library system where you can freely borrow books, ranging from technical books to management books. Desired books can be purchased at the company's expense.
Referral Driven: We cover the cost of recruitment meals. There is a referral reward system.
Conference Participation Support: The company partially covers participation in domestic and international conferences, such as RubyKaigi and Google I/O.