Senior Bilingual Software Engineer (English/Japanese) – West Coast (U.S.)

About Tailor

Headless ERP for retail operations

The role

## OverviewWe are seeking a highly capable **Senior Bilingual Software Engineer** to serve as the connective layer between our **Forward-Deployed U.S. teams** and our **Platform Core Engineering team in Japan**.This role reports directly to the **CTO**, reflecting its strategic importance in aligning product direction, platform evolution, and field execution.This role is not about language translation. In an AI-enabled environment, its core responsibility is **context alignment and leverage maximization**—ensuring both teams operate with a shared understanding of priorities, constraints, urgency, and intent.You will play a critical role in making sure:- The **Platform Core team focuses on the highest-impact problems**, grounded in real-world usage - The **Forward-Deployed teams extract maximum value from the platform**, leveraging it effectively and correctlyThis is a high-impact role at the center of a two-speed organization: fast-moving field execution and a scalable, reusable platform.---## Key Responsibilities- Act as the primary interface between **Forward-Deployed U.S. teams** and the **Platform Core team in Japan**, driving **deep, bidirectional context alignment** - Continuously synthesize and communicate **what is happening on the ground**—including priorities, urgency, constraints, and team sentiment (“temperature”) - Translate not just requirements, but **intent, trade-offs, and decision rationale** across both sides - **Influence platform roadmap and product strategy** by ensuring decisions are grounded in real-world usage, high-impact opportunities, and evolving field needs - Ensure the **Platform Core team is working on the highest-value problems**, with clear prioritization informed by field context - Ensure **Forward-Deployed teams fully leverage the platform**, including understanding its capabilities, constraints, and intended design patterns - **Drive cross-regional program execution**, including: - Defining and maintaining **clear priorities, milestones, and success criteria** across teams - Managing **dependencies, risks, and trade-offs** between Forward-Deployed and Platform Core workstreams - Establishing and enforcing **execution cadence** (planning, check-ins, reviews) across time zones - Ensuring **accountability and follow-through** on key initiatives - Facilitate **technical discussions, design reviews, and prioritization decisions** across regions - Improve internal systems for global collaboration, including **documentation, communication cadence, and decision-making frameworks**---## Qualifications### Required- **Near-native proficiency in both English and Japanese**, capable of conveying nuanced context such as priorities, urgency, assumptions, and technical trade-offs. - **7+ years of experience in software engineering**, with strong exposure to system design and real-world implementation - **4+ years of prior experience operating as a Software Engineer within a U.S.-based organization**, where English was the primary language for technical discussions, design reviews, and deliverables, both orally and in writing. - Strong understanding of modern software architecture (APIs, backend systems, data models) - Proven ability to operate across product, engineering, and implementation contexts - Experience working with distributed or cross-border teams - Strong communication skills with the ability to convey nuanced context, not just information### Preferred- Experience in platform engineering or building extensible systems - Familiarity with ERP, supply chain systems, or complex business applications - Experience with SaaS integrations or composable/headless architectures - Background in solution architecture or technical program management - Experience in a startup or high-growth environment - Experience or familiarity with modern systems programming languages (e.g., Go, Rust) and/or TypeScript, aligning with the Platform Core team's current or evolving technology stack.---## What Success Looks Like- The **Platform Core team consistently prioritizes high-impact work** aligned with real field needs - Forward-Deployed teams **maximize leverage from the platform**, minimizing unnecessary custom work - Reduced rework and friction caused by misalignment in priorities, assumptions, or timing - Clear and shared understanding of **technical trade-offs and decision rationale** across both teams - Faster feedback loops between field execution and platform evolution - High trust and strong collaboration across U.S. and Japan teams---## Location & Working Conditions- Based on the **U.S. West Coast (required)** - Hybrid or remote-friendly - **Open to working regular hours of 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM PT** to maintain meaningful daily overlap with the Japan-based Platform Core team (required) - **Willingness to travel (\~15%)**, primarily to strengthen cross-regional collaboration and alignment---## Why This Role MattersAs organizations scale globally, the challenge is not access to information—it is **alignment on context, priorities, and intent**.This role ensures that:- The **platform evolves in the right direction**, focusing on what truly matters - The **field operates with maximum leverage**, building on the platform instead of around itBy synchronizing these two layers, you enable a system where **speed and scalability reinforce each other**, rather than compete.