Senior Technical Project Manager, Robot Learning, Robot Platform Business & Strategy

TEAM

Toyota is redefining what it means to move. We're challenging the current state of mobility by enhancing the movement of people, goods, information and energy. Centered around three core concepts - A Living Laboratory™, Human-Centered, and Ever Evolving City™ - Woven City serves as a test course for mobility to fulfill our purpose of well-being for all.

We do this by bringing together a diverse community of people with a shared passion for the future of mobility to co-create, develop and refine innovative products and services. This cross-section of social infrastructure, mobility, and people provides a unique opportunity for inventors, residents and visitors to interact seamlessly with new technologies throughout daily life in an environment that emulates a real city.

We’ll expand “mobility” not only for people but also for goods or information. Regarding the mobility of things, we believe that if we can provide a service that makes moving things incredibly easy, it could potentially change our values ​​and lifestyles. To this end, we are developing the Robot Platform, a suite of products that supports Inventor's product development. Going forward, we will use robot learning technology to further evolve this product suite into one with even greater customer value and high competitiveness.

For more information about Woven City, please visit: https://www.woven-city.global/

WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

We are seeking an experienced project manager who can lead the development and commercialization of products utilizing Physical AI technology (robot learning). In particular, we are looking for someone who is willing to visit the field (factories, stores, and field sites), can formulate hypotheses and move forward even with incomplete information, and can make business-oriented decisions while respecting technology.
This position will also require travel to the field site in Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture, depending on the product development phase. If you are eager to take on the new challenge of developing innovative products combining hardware, software, and machine learning, let's make history together.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead product strategy planning, development promotion, and market launch in the 0→1 and 1→10 phases of products utilizing physical AI technologies (robotics/sensing/edge AI, etc.)
• Lead communication with engineering and stakeholders, to integrate learning data and models into our products (Robot Platform), driving business strategies that improve customer value and competitiveness
• Through market research and customer development activities, narrow down the markets in which our products using robot learning can solve problems across a wide range of fields and formulate business plans for those markets
• Drive end-to-end ownership of product delivery from early discovery through post-launch iteration driving outcomes across all stages while maintaining accountability for timeline, scope, and business impact

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Over 7 years of project management experience in B2B or B2B2C products in the software or robotics field
• Practical experience in translating customer challenges into technical requirements, defining requirements, developing roadmaps, and prioritizing
• Technical knowledge and fundamental understanding of machine learning/AI (especially Vision Language Action models and reinforcement learning) sufficient to communicate smoothly with engineers
• Ability to formulate hypotheses and verify them through testing, even when the technology is not yet fully mature
• Business-level proficiency in both English and Japanese

NICE TO HAVES

• Understanding of the AI ​​model lifecycle (training, deployment, and updates)
• Experience in designing hardware + SaaS business models
• Understanding of development processes in robot or device development (prototyping → evaluation → mass production, firmware updates, sensor calibration, etc.)
• Understanding of hardware constraints (latency, power consumption, durability, cost)
• Experience collaborating with researchers and designers as well as engineers