Customer Success Manager

Description

Orca AI advances the maritime industry by providing intelligent navigation solutions that prevent collisions and save lives. Our platform empowers Captains and Officers on the bridge with an accurate, real-time understanding of their surroundings, while also enabling shore-side teams to improve operational oversight, safety management, and fleet performance through FleetView, Orca AI’s office-facing platform.

Powered by AI and computer vision, Orca AI is defining a new standard for maritime navigation, helping customers drive measurable outcomes both onboard and across their broader fleet operations.

We are looking for an experienced Customer Success Manager to lead and grow our customer relationships in Japan. This person will serve as Orca AI’s primary Customer Success presence in the Japanese market and will own the customer relationship throughout the post-sale lifecycle - from implementation and onboarding through adoption, value realization, retention, renewal, and expansion.

At the heart of this role is building trusted, long-term customer relationships and ensuring customers successfully implement, understand, and realize the value of Orca AI’s technology. The CSM will work closely with customers to understand their business and operational needs, identify the most relevant use cases, support product implementation and adoption, and ensure Orca AI becomes a valuable part of their day-to-day operations.

Success in this role also requires the ability to operate effectively between two business cultures. The CSM will act as a bridge between our Japanese customers and Orca AI’s international teams, bringing a strong understanding of Japanese business culture while being comfortable operating within a fast-moving, global technology startup.

We are looking for someone who is locally credible, internationally oriented, commercially minded, and deeply customer focused.

• This role reports to the Director of Customer Success.
• The position must be based in Japan, with regular in-person customer engagement.
• The role requires close collaboration with Orca AI teams outside Japan across multiple functions and time zones.
• Domestic travel within Japan and occasional international travel will be required.

Responsibilities

• Own and grow strategic, long-term customer relationships in Japan, serving as a trusted business partner responsible for customer engagement, satisfaction, retention, and growth.
• Develop a deep understanding of each customer’s business, operational environment, priorities, and challenges, and connect these needs with relevant Orca AI capabilities and use cases.
• Own the post-sale customer journey, working closely with customers and internal teams to ensure successful implementation, onboarding, training, adoption, and ongoing value realization.
• Educate and advise customers on Orca AI’s products and use cases, helping them integrate the technology into their workflows and maximize its value across their organization.
• Build strong relationships across customer organizations, from day-to-day users and operational teams to senior executives and decision makers, proactively identifying and addressing needs, risks, and adoption challenges.
• Serve as a cultural and business bridge between Japanese customers and Orca AI’s global teams, ensuring customer needs, expectations, and business context are clearly understood internally, while adapting Orca AI’s communication and ways of working effectively to the Japanese market.
• Act as the voice of the customer internally, partnering with Product, Sales, Operations, Support, and other teams to represent customer needs and ensure effective follow-through.
• Apply an analytical mindset to customer management, using product usage, customer feedback, and operational information to identify risks, opportunities, and areas where additional value can be created.
• Partner with Sales to support renewals, upsell, cross-sell, and broader fleet expansion opportunities while maintaining a customer-first approach.
• Contribute to the continued development of Orca AI’s Customer Success approach in Japan, helping adapt global processes and best practices to the needs of the local market.

Requirements

• 4+ years of Customer Success experience within an international technology company or startup, managing B2B customers and owning customer relationships throughout the post-sale lifecycle.
• Previous experience working in an international, non-Japanese technology company or startup - must, with demonstrated ability to work effectively with global teams outside Japan.
• Native-level Japanese, with excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to build credibility with stakeholders at all levels of Japanese organizations.
• Excellent professional English - must.
• Strong understanding of Japanese business culture, customer expectations, communication styles, and decision-making processes, combined with the ability to navigate the working culture of a global technology startup.
• Proven ability to act as a bridge between Japanese customers and international teams, translating not only language but also business context, expectations, priorities, and ways of working.
• Experience managing complex B2B customer relationships involving multiple stakeholders, including senior executives and decision makers.
• Strong customer orientation, interpersonal skills, and ability to build trust and credibility over time.
• Strong technical aptitude and ability to learn complex technology products, understand customer use cases, and explain product capabilities clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to use customer, product, and operational information to identify risks and opportunities and support effective decision making.
• Strong commercial awareness and understanding of how successful adoption and value realization contribute to retention, renewal, and account growth.
• High degree of ownership, independence, and accountability, with the ability to represent Orca AI locally while working as part of a distributed global team.
• Excellent organizational and project-management skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple customers, stakeholders, and internal teams simultaneously.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic, and evolving international startup environment.
• Bachelor’s degree.

Nice to Have

• Background or professional experience in the maritime industry.
• Experience managing strategic or enterprise-level customers in Japan.
• Experience working for a global technology company that was building or scaling its presence in the Japanese market.
• Experience working with operational technology, hardware-and-software solutions, AI, computer vision, or other technically complex products.

Commercial experience supporting renewals, expansions, upsell, cross-sell, or broader enterprise rollouts.