Japan Growth Marketing Manager

About us

Our mission is to become the de facto way people learn foreign languages. We begin by teaching the next billion people English and Spanish

English is the global language of business, culture, and communication, and over 1.5 billion people worldwide are actively trying to learn right now. Others dream of communicating with the half-billion native Spanish speakers across the globe. The problem is that it's nearly impossible to learn to speak a language without constant access to a speaking partner. Grammar and vocab apps don't really help – you need to actually converse with someone.

Speak is on a journey to fix this. We're creating an AI-powered experience that replicates the flow of a conversation, without needing a human on the other end. The goal is to make it radically more accessible to be able to have conversations in a foreign language and eventually help hundreds of millions of people gain fluency who otherwise wouldn't be able to.

We started on this journey over four years ago and we've still got a long ways to go. We're thoughtfully adding new team members only when we think they can truly play a big role in our mission.

Speak is currently live in South Korea where we have quickly grown to become the top-grossing education app in the country. We recently launched in Japan as well and are expanding to more markets in the coming months. The company is well funded, raising a recent Series B backed by investors like OpenAI, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, Lachy Groom, Josh Buckley, and others. We’re a team of just under 40 based primarily in SF, Seoul, and Ljubljana.

About this role

We’re looking for a Growth Marketing Manager who will be responsible for generating, managing, and executing growth initiatives to drive user acquisition in Japan as we continue to scale. The ideal candidate is someone who can identify and implement unconventional ideas to fuel our growth and has previous experience in multiple-channel marketing, such as performance marketing, ASO/SEO, affiliates, influencer marketing, and CRM. This role will report directly to the Head of Japan while working in close liaison with our global teams in US, Europe, and Korea.

What you’ll be doing

• Develop and execute digital marketing initiatives for local marketing channels
• Optimize ROAS/ROI for paid marketing channels
• Directly manage ads on large platforms e.g. Apple, Google, Meta, and Twitter
• Set and run multiple experiments from scratch
• Complete weekly and monthly reports accurately
• Lead CRM strategies and activities
• Communicate and collaborate with global teams in English daily
• Analyze overall market trends in Japan
• Manage ad-hoc projects

What we’re looking for?

• 3+ years of experience in marketing
• Hands-on experience in managing ads on large media platforms (e.g. Google, Meta, Apple, Twitter and/or ad networks)
• Strong track record of achieving goals and exceeding business expectations
• Highly analytical and number-driven
• Entrepreneurial mindset & self-motivated
• Ability to work under pressure, quickly adapt, and handle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Start-up experience is strongly preferred
• Native Japanese & Business English is mandatory

Why work at Speak?

1. Join a fantastic, tight-knit team at the right time:  we're growing super quickly, we just raised our Series A from some of the top investors in the valley, and we've achieved product-market fit. You'd join at a magical time when a single person could significantly change the course of the company.

2. Do your life's work with people you’ll love working with:  we care strongly about our craft and want every person at Speak to feel like they're growing every day. We believe in the idea that working with people you both enjoy and have respect for makes everything better. We hire thoughtfully and only work with people we admire deeply.

3. Global in nature:  We're live in South Korea and Japan, and launching in a number of new markets soon. We have dedicated offices in San Francisco, Ljubljana, and Seoul, and you’ll have the opportunity to talk to users in each of these regions on a regular basis as well as travel.

4. Impact people's lives in a major way:  Learning a language is one of the single most life-changing skills one can learn and right now 99% of people never achieve their goal because the process is broken. We’re helping millions of people achieve their goals and improve their lives.