Director of Marketing - Japan

Role Summary

As the Head of Japan & North Asia Marketing, you will lead the comprehensive marketing strategy for Japan with a strong focus on enterprise, SMB, and mid-market development. This senior leadership role is crucial in driving demand generation, brand growth, and customer acquisition across diverse customer segments, from large enterprises to small and medium-sized businesses. You will oversee a dynamic marketing team and work closely with sales, regional marketing, and channel teams to ensure cohesive execution and consistent pipeline growth. Your responsibilities will span from enterprise marketing to SMB and mid-market expansion, with an emphasis on channel marketing, lead development, and new logo opportunity production. This role demands a strategic, high-productivity approach and the ability to optimize cross-functional partnerships, especially with the Sales Development team, ensuring a seamless closed-loop process that drives measurable business outcomes. Additionally, you will be responsible for the planning and overseeing on-the-ground execution of channel-led marketing programs in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Korea. This is primarily a remote leadership role and will require excellent cross-functional collaboration, and strong marketing leadership through organized planning and follow-up.

Please note this role is based in Japan - we are unable to sponsor and work visa at this time in Japan

What You Will Do

• Enterprise, SMB & Mid-Market Marketing Leadership
• Enterprise Marketing (Japan Focus) : Lead the strategy and execution of integrated marketing campaigns targeting high-value enterprise clients across key industries such as finance, government, and manufacturing.
• SMB & Mid-Market Growth : Develop tailored marketing strategies to drive growth in the SMB and mid-market segments across Japan and North Asia. Focus on brand awareness, customer acquisition, and pipeline expansion in these key growth areas.
• Trans-create and implement demand generation initiatives aimed at driving both new logo acquisition and expansion within existing enterprise, SMB, and mid-market accounts.
• Adapt global marketing programs to cater to local market nuances in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, ensuring each segment receives appropriately targeted campaigns that align with regional and global objectives.
• Foster brand loyalty and preference across all market segments by creating a consistent brand experience for enterprise and SMB customers, reinforcing Sophos' leadership in the cybersecurity space.
• Sales Development Team Collaboration & Closed-Loop Lead Management
• Work closely with the Sales Development team to ensure a cohesive approach to lead development and sales opportunity production.
• Provide high-quality, strategic input into lead generation activities and ensure seamless hand-off of leads from marketing to sales, maintaining a closed-loop system that maximizes conversion rates.
• Develop a coordinated lead nurturing strategy to guide prospects from awareness to conversion, ensuring that both marketing and sales are aligned in driving pipeline and sales growth.
• Provide continuous support and ongoing training to the Sales Development and sales teams, ensuring they are equipped with the latest insights, content, and tools to convert leads into revenue-generating opportunities.
• Work hand-in-hand with sales teams to define key performance metrics and ensure both marketing and sales efforts are focused on the highest-value opportunities, contributing to overall business success.
• Channel Marketing Strategy & Execution (North Asia)
• Lead the design and execution of ‘to-channel’ and ‘through-channel’ marketing programs that support partner recruitment, enablement, and demand generation across the region.
• Drive co-branded marketing programs, MDF initiatives, and strategic partner enablement activities that ensure partners are equipped to execute campaigns that support both enterprise and SMB / mid-market segments.
• Optimize partner performance by working closely with regional channel sales leads, ensuring that channel marketing initiatives are closely aligned with overall sales and marketing objectives in both the enterprise and SMB / mid-market segments.
• Cross-Regional Leadership & High-Impact Campaign Management
• Lead integrated, high-velocity campaigns across digital marketing, events, ABM, and content marketing to drive both enterprise and SMB / mid-market customer acquisition.
• Champion the execution of high-profile industry events and webinars tailored to both enterprise and SMB / mid-market customers, ensuring alignment with the broader marketing strategy and business objectives.
• Develop targeted campaigns for both enterprise decision-makers and SMB / mid-market buyers, leveraging account-based marketing (ABM), email, PPC, social media, and SEO to optimize outreach efforts.
• Ongoing Training & Campaign Briefing Optimization
• Ensure that campaign briefings are optimized and well-structured, with clear goals, objectives, and KPIs, to ensure high productivity and alignment across all teams.
• Drive a continuous learning culture within the marketing and sales teams by facilitating ongoing training on best practices, campaign optimizations, and market insights.
• Establish and lead training sessions that equip sales teams with the necessary tools, resources, and strategies to effectively convert leads generated from marketing programs into sales opportunities.
• Performance Tracking & Optimization
• Use analytics tools like Tableau, Salesforce, and Power BI to track performance and optimize the effectiveness of campaigns, focusing on both enterprise and SMB / mid-market segments.
• Regularly review and optimize lead generation processes to improve conversion rates and ensure alignment between marketing activities and sales goals.
• Adjust campaign strategies based on performance data to maximize ROI, ensuring that marketing efforts are continually driving growth in both enterprise and SMB / mid-market markets.

What You Will Bring

LI-Remote#B2#AB1 Ready to Join Us? At Sophos, we believe in the power of diverse perspectives to fuel innovation. Research shows that candidates sometimes hesitate to apply if they don't check every box in a job description. We challenge that notion. Your unique experiences and skills might be exactly what we need to enhance our team. Don't let a checklist hold you back – we encourage you to apply. What's Great About Sophos?