About the Position

Customer Program Manager

Location

Tokyo, Japan

Employment Type

Full time

Department

Product & Delivery

About the Role

We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that.

The Challenge

As Robotaxi Customer Program Manager, you’ll be the main customer-facing program lead for Wayve’s Japan-based OEM and partner activity, with a current focus on robotaxi work involving Nissan. You’ll work with the customer to define and manage project plans, and make sure their requirements flow into our internal development pipeline and are delivered on schedule. It’s a high-visibility, high-ownership role in a fast-moving, ambiguous environment with significant autonomy.

Responsibilities

Leading cross-functional teams in executing complex customer programs, ensuring program objectives are achieved.
Establishing and maintaining a comprehensive project management framework, including project planning, risk management, change management, and task coordination.
Engaging with customers to understand and address their technical requirements and needs.
Collaborating with Product, TPM, R&D, and engineering teams to translate customer demands into clear, actionable technical requirements.
Working with internal development teams to align customer requirements with internal milestone planning and execution.
Running progress reporting, stakeholder communication, and meeting cadence, externally with customers and internally, in both Japanese and English.
Filtering and structuring customer requests so the wider organization can focus on what is most important and executable.
Providing first-level support to customers, so their needs are met promptly and effectively.

Requirements

Essential

Fluent Japanese and English, with the ability to lead high-stakes external discussions in both languages.
Strong program management experience, ideally more than 5 years or at senior individual contributor level, in complex automotive software development.
Direct experience working with Japanese OEMs, automotive companies, or tier-1 suppliers.
Proven customer-facing stakeholder management experience, not just internal program delivery.
Strong ownership and the ability to operate effectively in ambiguity.
Robust technical expertise, with comprehensive knowledge of the automotive industry and software development, and some robotics, autonomy, or AI-related experience.
Proficiency with program management tools (e.g., Jira), and exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
The ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams, and a willingness to travel as needed.

Desirable

Knowledge of current AI advancements, including Generative AI, AV 2.0, and Large Language Models (LLMs).
Hands-on software development experience (Python, C++, Rust, and others).
A Master’s degree in Engineering or Computer Science.

About Wayve

🚀 Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end-to-end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real-world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalize, and improve at scale. Our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it, resulting in technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision, and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency.

Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware-agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

We Offer

Competitive salary
Meaningful equity, sharing in the ownership and long-term success of Wayve
Relocation support and visa sponsorship where applicable
Hybrid working, core hours, and the chance to work hands-on in vehicle workshops and labs
Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences, and growth
Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials, and more

The Interview Process

Our process is clear and respectful of your time:

Initial call / recruiter screen (30 mins)
Competency Interviews (Hiring team; 1 hour total)
Deep-dive technical interviews (automotive product, program management, and cross-functional collaboration, and a presentation on running customer programs; 3 hours total)
Final interview: mission & values alignment (1 hour)

We’ll always explain the format and work around your availability.

Diversity and Inclusion

At Wayve, we're committed to creating a diverse, fair, and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic, or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information, visit Careers at Wayve. To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve.

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities, or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.

Customer Program Manager

Job description