Project Manager of Technical Consulting

Tokyo
Partial Remote
Full-time
August 30, 2023

Our Mission: Smarter, safer, connected driving in any vehicle

Driving technology always feels old. Not by a little bit. Years and years out of date. Is that really just “the way things are”? We don’t think so and we’re here to fix that. We believe vehicles can be 1000x smarter, safer, and more connected to the world around us. We’ve started on this mission by building a mobile-based connected vehicle platform used by millions of drivers in over 150 countries. In 2019, we joined forces with Honda as their first startup acquisition, and now we’re expanding our vision by bringing together software and hardware to build new products that solve real needs for millions of drivers around the world.

About the role

As a project manager of technical consulting, you will be a part of the technical consulting team to transform our parent company (Honda) into a software-first mindset when building the vehicles of the future. You will do project management, scope and requirement management as well as risk and progress management.

What you will do

Plan and manage consulting projects to build connected software solutions for Honda’s next generation of electric vehicles.

Align stakeholders, including executive leaders, on scope, status, and deliverables.

Work cross-functionally with all teams within Drivemode and Honda to design the best software solutions and architectures.

Keep the team moving forward by identifying bottlenecks/risks and solving them.

Ensure our projects are well organized and documented.

Learn and apply knowledge about the latest electric vehicle and software technologies.

What We Are Looking For

At least 5 years of work experience, including 3+ years as a Project Manager for software projects.

You are very organized and good at prioritizing, scheduling, and managing time.

You have fluent Japanese and business-level English communication skills, both written and verbal.

You are an empathic negotiator; you can understand all sides of an issue and find a way to reach a solution.

You have strong critical thinking and risk management skills.

You are a team player and know how to use soft power to motivate people around you.

You think that cars and motorcycles can be 1000x better.

Nice to Have

Prior software engineering systems background

Experience in automotive or mobile and backend products

Experienced or familiar with Agile methodologies

EEOC Statement

Drivemode is proud of a very diverse team with employees coming from 5 continents/11 countries as of today. Diversity in our workplace has played an important part in our success; we recognize each employee’s unique background, knowledge, experiences, ideas, and viewpoints, which are all critical in developing a product that has the greatest impact on drivers all over the world.

Drivemode provides equal opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other characteristics that make you unique.

APPLY NOW ➜Japanese Required ⚠️

About Drivemode

Drivemode (ドライブモード) は、ZipcarとTesla Motorsの起業家によって2014年に米国シリコンバレーで設立されたスタートアップ企業です。ドライバー向けスマートフォンの安全運転アプリの開発を手がけ、すでに150か国以上で数百万人のドライバーに使用されています。どの車両であっても、よりスマートで安全な運転を可能にするという、ドライバーの運転体験を根本的に変えるイノベーションに挑戦しています。

Drivemodeは、車両とダイレクトに連結し、主要な通信やナビゲーション機能を提供すると同時に、車両のデータをすぐに活用できるような、モバイルベースのプラットフォームを構築しました。Drivemodeが提供するアプリは、気に入ったアプリに安全にアクセスするためのもので、音声制御により運転中でも手を使わずに通話やカーナビ、音楽の再生、メールなどを行うことを可能にします。

2019年には、Drivemodeのプラットフォームを世界中のホンダ車にダイレクトに連結するために、独立子会社としてホンダに買収されました。

Honda Smartphone Voice Control system

公用語は英語で、シリコンバレーと東京にオフィスを構える約20人の小さなチームです。スピード、学習、柔軟性、データを使った意思決定に重点を置いており、１人１人が起業家のように考え、行動します。ダイバシティ豊かで、職種に関係なく、アイディアや意見を共有するため、積極的に発言することを奨励しています。

小さなチームですが世界を変えるテクノロジープロダクトの開発に挑戦することが大好きです。 DrivemodeのCEOは「チャンスさえあれば日本の技術力でシリコンバレーに勝負できる」と信じている経営者です。そんな思いを体現する会社を目指す、ベンチャー精神溢れるDrivemodeのカルチャーに共感いただける方に、ぜひジョインいただきたいと思っています！

Japanese Language Policy
Although Drivemode's official language is English, Business level + fluency in Japanese may be required depending on a role that needs communication with Japanese-speaking stakeholders.
Visa Sponsorship
Drivemode provides visa and relocation support for certain positions, and for the roles where they have such support in place, they will clearly state that in the job description.
Paid Leave
- Weekends (Saturday and Sunday), Japanese national holidays, New Year’s holiday
- Annual paid leave (10 days for the 1st year)
- Sick Leave (5 days per year)
- Celebratory/bereavement leave
Benefits
🧡 Brand new office just opened in Nov 2020, 5min walk from Ebisu station!

🏥 Health insurance

🚃 Commuting allowance

👩‍🎓 Language study allowance for non-Japanese employees

🍻 Team lunch party (Every Friday)

🍬 Favorite snack allowance

💜 We also have education support for up to 15,000 JPY a month which are to be used to develop skills and acquire knowledge in the job area.
Engineer Interview Process
Interview process at Drivemode varies from position to position.
Here is an example of a process for our Software Engineer:
- 1st step: Resume screening and Screening online test
- 2nd step: 1st Technical interview with a hiring team
- Further step: 2-3 more interviews with the management
Remote Work
Drivemode was already a “remote team” before COVID-19, and they will continue to be with offices in multiple locations. However, due to the nature of work that happens inside Drivemode, there is a need to be at the office together from time to time when developing new products that involve hardware prototypes.
Work style
- Our standard working hours: 9:00 - 18:00
- We currently do not have flex time set up in our company.
- However we value and respect employees' work-life balance, and we provide an environment where employees feel comfortable enough to discuss his/her schedule with a reportline manager to prioritize a personal life, e.g. taking care of families.
- Also, we offer "holiday swap option" for employees to be able to move holidays to their non-busy time.
Tech Stack
Android: Android SDK, Kotlin, Java, Jetpack, Coroutines/Flow, Dagger/Hilt, Gradle, Android Studio

iOS: iOS SDK, Swift, SwiftUI, Combine (Async/Await), SPM, Xcode

Server/Infrastructure: Rust, PostgreSQL, gRPC, Docker, GCP/Firebase (Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, etc.), Kafka, Terraform

CI/CD: GitHub Actions, DeployGate, Fastlane

IoT: Raspberry Pi, Arduino board, M5Stack, C++/C

Communication: Slack, Google Meet

Project Management: Jira Software, Notion, Miro

Analytics: BigQuery, Firebase Analytics, Jupyter, Pandas, scikit-learn

Others: Google Workspace
Parents and Family
We offer maternity leave and child care leave.
Also, we offer money gift for childbirth.