Product Manager, Arene

Team: Arene

Location: Tokyo

Commitment: Employee

Workplace Type: hybrid

TEAM

Arene’s mission is to help Toyota improve vehicles every day by creating the platforms and technology for software-defined vehicles. Arene provides a software platform that enables Toyota and its partners to develop, deploy, and continuously improve in-vehicle software more quickly, safely, and flexibly.
You will join the Arene Product Management team in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, working closely with engineering, design, commercialization, and partner teams across both Arene and Toyota Motor Corporation.

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are looking for a product manager who can turn a complex technical platform into clear product bets that create measurable value for customers, users, and the business. You are comfortable operating in an evolving organization, connecting customer and market insight to a focused roadmap, and working side-by-side with technical leaders to ship and iterate on real products.
You combine strong product fundamentals (problem framing, discovery, definition, prioritization) with the ability to work in a deeply technical, safety-critical automotive context. You communicate clearly with both executives and engineers, and you can create the documents, meetings, and rituals that keep cross-functional teams aligned without owning every detail yourself.

RESPONSIBILITIES

As Product Manager for Arene, you will be accountable for six core areas across the product lifecycle, plus cross-functional alignment.
Discovery – Customer, User, Market, and Competitive Insight
• Maintain a current, evidence-based understanding of customer needs, user needs, and market dynamics for your product area
• Synthesize input from UX research, commercialization, partnerships, and field teams into clear problem definitions and opportunity areas
• Partner with technical benchmarking, competitive intelligence, and data teams to understand Arene’s position in the market and opportunities to differentiate
Definition – What to Build and Why
• Own the content of the roadmap, Features, and Epics for your product area: problem statement, use cases, acceptance criteria, business value, and success metrics
• Partner with the Product Planner, who owns the roadmap and release processes, to bring clear, prioritized, and well-framed proposals into intake and planning
• Collaborate with the technical lead, systems/architecture, UX, and project management to ensure definitions are feasible and appropriately scoped
• Make thoughtful trade-offs, documenting what is not included and why when scope must flex
Delivery – From Plan to Working Software
• Before build begins, commit to a feasible scope in collaboration with engineering, Product Owner, and project management
• Once development starts, resolve product decisions quickly so teams are not blocked and delivery risk is visible and managed
• Support the Project Manager and Product Owner with clear intent, timely decisions, and scope adjustments when constraints emerge; you do not manage the project plan yourself
Release – Getting to Customers and Users
• Make the go/no-go recommendation for features in your product area, ensuring they meet agreed acceptance criteria and are ready for customers
• Work within the Arene Release Process with the Release Manager; ensure customer- and user-facing teams (Engagement, Solutions, Design, Technical Writing) have what they need for a successful launch
Post-Release Iteration – Learning and Deciding What’s Next
• Track success metrics you defined during Definition and partner with Arene Data and field teams to interpret results
• Gather structured feedback from customers and users, directly or via services teams, and decide whether to iterate, scale, or sunset features in your product area
Cross-Phase – Cross-Functional Alignment and Communication
• Identify the right cross-functional stakeholders (engineering, UX, commercialization, partnerships, quality, safety, etc.) and provide the space where alignment happens (documents, reviews, recurring meetings)
• Operate using a PUSH, not PULL principle: you create clear forums and expectations; teams are expected to bring updates and concerns proactively
• Maintain high-quality internal documentation so that decisions, trade-offs, and context are discoverable and durable

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Experience with the practices below is strongly valued; we do not expect perfection in all areas on day one and support growth within the team.
• 10+ years of experience in product management or closely related roles (e.g., platform PM, technical program management, solutions/product owner) in software or complex technical products
• Experience working with platforms, developer tools, or infrastructure products, ideally in automotive, mobility, or other safety-critical domains
• Demonstrated ability to define and ship products end-to-end: discovery, definition, delivery, launch, and post-release iteration
• Strong skills in product definition and roadmapping – turning ambiguous inputs into clear problem statements, use cases, and prioritized roadmaps
• Experience collaborating with engineering leaders on technical feasibility, trade-offs, and incremental delivery plans
• Proven stakeholder management and communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex topics into clear written and visual artifacts for diverse audiences
• Business-level English (written and spoken)
• Business-level Japanese (JLPT N2 or equivalent), or strong willingness and plan to reach this level quickly while already able to work effectively with Japanese stakeholders

NICE TO HAVES

• Experience in the automotive or mobility industry, or other domains where safety, regulation, and long product lifecycles matter
• Prior work on developer experience, SDKs, APIs, or tools that serve engineering teams
• Hands-on familiarity with modern software development practices (CI/CD, cloud platforms, infrastructure as code) sufficient to collaborate deeply with engineering teams
• Experience with data-driven product decision-making, defining and tracking outcome-oriented metrics, and working with analytics partners
• Experience working in cross-cultural environments and/or large, multi-stakeholder organizations (e.g., OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, global technology companies)