Japan Country Manager Search for Enterprise Technology
We help US enterprise software and AI vendors appoint the leadership that determines success in Japan.
Retained executive search and structured RPO for 0–1 market entry and 1–10 scale.
Who I Am
I’m Murray Clarke.
For over twenty years I have advised global technology companies on leadership hiring in Japan.
I built and sold my previous search firm to ManpowerGroup Japan following a joint venture partnership. Since then, I have continued to operate at senior mandate level, focusing on Japan Country Manager and commercial leadership appointments.
My work spans early market entry through to scaled operations. Many leaders I placed during early expansion phases went on to run Japan businesses for global vendors across cloud, cybersecurity, data, and enterprise SaaS.
I have worked closely with executive teams at VMware during its hyperscale phase in Japan, and have longstanding relationships with leaders now responsible for Japan operations at companies including Snowflake, Datadog, Tanium, Workday, Confluent, Wiz, and Automation Anywhere.
I have spent my professional career in Tokyo and work fluently across US and Japan executive environments.
Validation: Trust Earned, Not Claimed
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★★★★★
“Impressive research and a job well done! Thanks for the great work. Happy to be a reference.”
- Josep Garcia, APAC VP
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★★★★★
“We almost exclusively found Murray to be our go-to recruiter. I highly recommend him.”
- Matt Young, APAC VP
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★★★★★
“One of the top recruiters VMware has worked with, across the whole of Asia Pacific. Exceptional.”
- Kate Berkeley, APAC Talent Acquisition
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★★★★★
“Thanks for your work. Nice job! I appreciate you running at a very intense pace. ”
- Anthony Palladino, CRO
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★★★★★
“Murray has been a tremendous help in hiring dozens of individual contributors as well as key leaders”
- Jon Robertson, APAC VP
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★★★★★
“If you need someone to assist as you try to enter the Japanese market don’t look any further.”
- Gerry Sillars, APAC VP
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★★★★★
“Murray can build a strong relationship and he drives things very passionately.”
- Keita Nozaki, Services Director
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★★★★★
“His business sense and creativity helped fill a high level executive position in a relatively short period of time.”
- Matt Thatcher, Global Sales VP
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★★★★★
“Murray has done outstanding work for PARC in a difficult talent space. Thank you!”
- Patrick Cook, Director Innovation
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★★★★★
"Murray was invaluable. His advice, cultural guidance, and results were outstanding. I highly recommend him.”
- Stephen Beck, Services VP
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★★★★★
“Instrumental in hiring key people, including Country Manager, and delivering RPO”
- Goh Hattori, APAC Talent Acquisition
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★★★★★
Murray helped build our Japan team, securing very high quality sales & engineering hires.
- Sung Hae Kim, Global Head of People
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★★★★★
“Murray helped us lock in a key leader for our Japan business. He did an excellent job.”
- Mathew Fleming, CEO & Founder
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★★★★★
“Excellent work to hire a key sales lead for our new all-flash product in Japan.”
- Barry Kent, Global Sales VP
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★★★★★
“I see Murray as the only recruiter that really understands the markets that he recruits into.“
- Brian Burns, Founding Partner
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★★★★★
“Very pleased with the outcome. Murray provided extremely helpful cultural guidance throughout.”
- James Moore, Global Sales VP
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★★★★★
“Great job Murray. Thanks so much for this. We are really happy with this key hire!”
- TJ Chandler, APAC VP
What I Do
Japan expansion is a leadership decision.
I conduct retained executive search for US enterprise technology vendors entering or scaling in Japan.
My focus is:
Japan Country Manager appointments
Senior commercial leadership
Phase-fit hiring aligned to revenue maturity
For early-stage expansion, this is typically a single Country Manager mandate.
For scaling businesses, we extend into structured multi-hire support through disciplined RPO, ensuring team build aligns to stage, segmentation, and revenue design.
Search secures leadership accuracy. Structured execution supports scale.
How I Do It
Japan expansion requires leadership accuracy and disciplined execution.
We deliver these through three service models.
Executive Search
Builders First - Retained, top-down search for Japan Country Managers and senior commercial leaders. These are mandate-defining hires where market positioning, channel structure and revenue trajectory are set. We focus on phase-fit leaders aligned to 0–1 entry, 1–10 scale, or reset situations.
Outbound RPO
Controlled Market Execution - Structured direct sourcing to build teams once leadership is in place. We manage hiring sequence, market narrative and referral activation through Japan-based delivery. Designed for scale without prematurely expanding internal headcount.
High-Impact Search
Key Hires That Move the Business - Targeted search for critical player-coach and early GTM hires whose impact outweighs title. Enterprise sales, partner leads, senior SEs and foundational operators. Precision mandates, not volume recruitment.
What That Looks Like
Leadership requirements change by phase. A Country Manager who succeeds at 0–1 entry will not always be the right leader for 10–100 scale. The mandate, risk profile, and operating environment shift as the business matures.
We place leaders aligned to the commercial reality of each stage, ensuring expansion decisions match revenue maturity, organisational design, and board expectations.
Build
0-1
Fivetran, DoiT*, Veeam*, Commvault*, Recorded Future*, Rapid7*, Darktrace*, Fusion-io*, Medallia*, Alteryx*, Druva*, SundaySky*, Pure Storage, WeWork*, mabl AI, and more
Scale
1-10
ZenDesk*, Celonis*, ServiceNow, Stripe, Nutanix, VMware
Lead
(Or Transform)
10-100
Splunk*, SUSE*, Dell Technologies, Nutanix, VMware, Lenovo
Selected References:
Anthony Palladino, Chief Revenue Officer - on transformation at mabl AI
Brian Burns, Founding Partner - on building Hortonworks/Cloudera
DQ Li, APAC VP - on building Recorded Future
Goh Hattori, APAC Talent - on scaling Splunk, leading Dell-EMC
Jon Robertson, APAC VP - on scaling and leading VMware
Josep Garcia, APAC GM - on transformation at SUSE/Rancher
Matt Young, APAC VP - on building and scaling Nutanix
TJ Chandler, APAC VP - on building Fivetran
Building | Scaling | Leading | Transforming
Useful resources.
Practical guides to help your Japan journey.
Free resources to help global technology companies hire and lead successfully in Japan. All resources are free to download as PDFs.
Process of Engagement: Clarity Before Outreach
How we align, calibrate, and engage the market on senior searches in Japan.
Contingency vs. Search: Horses for Courses
When to use executive search, and why, vs. a standard contingency approach.
Attracting Leadership Talent in Japan
Without a strong brand you may need to work at attracting talent. Here’s what to consider.
Winning in Japan: Why High-Touch Sales Matters
A concise look at why Japan’s enterprise market demands high-touch engagement.
Find me on LinkedIn:
Japan Candidate Calibration Guide
Get the best out of cross-cultural interviewing of Japanese leadership candidates.
Potential Interview Planning Framework
Plan your interview structure, stakeholders and evaluation criteria for success.