GM, Japan

Our Mission
Reduce inequity by helping immigrants move money home, and become the leading cross-border fintech for emerging markets.

The Team
-> Founded by Harvard grads / 3rd-time founders --- also founded Segovia (successful exit) and GiveDirectly (>300M revenue, fastest-growing NGO).
-> Top performers from top and varied organizations (e.g., Bain, Bolt, Google, McKinsey, SafeBoda, Uber, Zipline) --- we like moving fast, and we hire people that do as well.
-> Driven by mission, guided by values (see below) – in deed, not just word.
-> Team as global as the mission, >30 languages from 25 countries (i.e., if you’re interested in learning to make Chicken Moambe, we’re the place).

About Us
Taptap Send is backed by top VCs (Spark, Canaan, Reid Hoffman, Breyer Capital, etc.), rapidly growing and a great place for those looking for both impact and a fast-paced tech startup environment.  Read more about the journey in Reid Hoffman’s words or TechCrunch article

Launched in 2019, Taptap is tapping into a transformative shift in global finance: from banks to phones. While this has affected wealthier countries as well, it has been nothing short of a revolution for the emerging markets where the overwhelming majority of population had been unable to access digital finance previously.  Taptap Send allows immigrants to send money home instantly and with no fee*, saving money in the process. With a formal market size of >700B alone, we’ve got a lot more saving to do for our users. Our mission is to reduce inequity by helping immigrants move money home, and become the leading cross-border fintech for emerging markets. And that’s just the beginning...

*We charge fees for transfers on fixed exchange rate corridors (e.g., XOF, XAF).

Our Investors
Spark Capital, Canaan, Reid Hoffman, Breyer Capital (Jim Breyer), Unbound (Shravin Mittal), Wamda (Fadi Ghandour), Firstminute Capital, Slow Ventures (Sam Lessin), Helios Partners (Souleymane Ba), Crossbeam Ventures (Ali Hamed), Nikesh Arora, Samih Toukan, and many other context-specific angels

The Role

The Country Manager, Japan will be the “face” of the company in Japan, responsible for setting up and leading our business operations in the country, with a particular focus on securing the necessary financial services licenses from the Japan Financial Services Agency (JFSA).

The role will involve working closely with legal counsel, regulators, and internal stakeholders to ensure a successful market entry. Beyond licensing, the Country Manager will establish the local office, recruit and manage a local team, and build relationships with banks, payment providers, and ecosystem partners.

What you’ll do

Regulatory & Licensing

• Lead the end-to-end process of applying for and obtaining a Type II Funds Transfer Service License under Japanese regulations.

• Work closely with external legal counsel to prepare a robust license application, and manage the back-and-forth with the JFSA to ensure smooth progress towards approval.

• Build strong working relationships with regulators and industry bodies.

Operations & Market Entry

• Establish the Japan entity, office, and local infrastructure.

• Recruit and manage a local team across compliance and operations.

• Identify and secure partnerships with banks, financial institutions, and other key service providers.

Leadership & Strategy

• Represent the company as the primary senior executive in Japan.

• Provide market insights, regulatory updates, and strategic recommendations to global leadership.

• Ensure alignment of Japanese operations with global company goals and compliance frameworks.

• Drive business development and growth initiatives once operations are launched.

  
  

What you’ll need

• 7 to 15 years experience, with at least 5 years in financial services, fintech, payments or remittances

• Strong understanding of the Japanese regulatory environment for financial institutions, payments, or money transfer businesses.

• Direct experience working with the JFSA or submitting regulatory applications is highly desirable.

• Strong network within the Japanese financial ecosystem (banks, regulators, law firms, partners).

• Entrepreneurial mindset, comfortable with ambiguity and building from scratch.

• Experience building, developing, managing and leading teams.

• You take ownership end-to-end: from strategy to execution, balancing multiple stakeholders with accountability and initiative

• Excellent communication skills in Japanese and English (both required); other languages a plus.

• Ability to travel internationally periodically and ad-hoc to meet team members.

• Bachelors or Advanced degree

Taptap Values

• Impact first.

• Team next.

• Accept reality.

• Propose solutions.

• Win with grit.

• Be proactively candid, with yourself and others.

• Love the particular.

• Own it.

• Create positive energy.

• Maybe, even have fun.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Taptap Send is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications, experience and business need. We strongly encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply

If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to let us know. Any information you provide us in this respect will only be used to accommodate your requirements

Note: we recognize imposter syndrome is real - any candidate that does not perfectly fit every characteristic of this role is still strongly encouraged to apply

Taptap Values 

Impact first

Team next

Accept reality

Propose solutions

Win with grit

Be proactively candid, with yourself and others

Love the particular

Own it

Create positive energy

Maybe, even have fun

Taptap Send is an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. All employment decisions are decided on the basis of qualifications, experience and business need. We strongly encourage applications who are members of underrepresented communities to apply.

If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to let us know. Any information you provide us in this respect will only be used to accommodate your requirements.

Note: we recognize imposter syndrome is real - any candidate that does not perfectly fit every characteristic of this role is still strongly encouraged to apply.