Sales Executive Japan Akur8

Akur8 is a fast-growing InsurTech scale-up on a mission to modernize how insurers assess, price, and manage risk.

Our next-generation SaaS platform combines transparent machine learning, predictive analytics, and smart product design to turn complex insurance workflows into scalable, data-driven systems.

Powered by expert engineering, data, product, and actuarial teams, Akur8 enables insurers to model risk up to 10x faster while maintaining transparency, explainability, and regulatory trust.

As our product suite expands, we are building an end-to-end platform supporting pricing, reserving, and forward-looking risk decisions — helping insurers operate efficiently in a complex environment.

Recognized globally, Akur8 has been featured in:

• CB Insights’ Insurtech 50 (2025)

• CNBC’s InsurTech Top 150 (2025)

• InsurTech200 Global Insurtech Top 100 (2025)

• Professional Equality Index 97/100 (2025)
  

With 40+ nationalities across 8 global offices, we serve 320+ clients across 4 continents while maintaining a strong engineering and product culture.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, fostering an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives help shape better products and decisions.

As part of our growing sales team, you will be focusing, helping to develop and scale our business on the Japanese and South Korean market.

As Sales Executive, you will own Akur8’s commercial growth across Japan and South Korea. You will run your territory with the mindset of a business owner, taking responsibility for its strategy, pipeline, partnerships, customer relationships, and revenue performance.

You will develop a clear understanding of the insurance market in the region, identify where Akur8 can create the most value, and turn that insight into focused commercial action. This means knowing your territory in depth, recognising its strengths and gaps, and stepping back when needed to reassess priorities and redirect effort.

You will work independently while partnering closely with our wider sales, marketing, product, and leadership teams. You will also build and manage relationships with local sales partners who can extend our reach and support our growth in the market.

Your responsibilities

• Own the Japanese and South Korean territory strategy, quota, pipeline, forecast, and sales priorities.

• Build a clear market view across key segments, including large insurers, MGAs, and Insurtechs.

• Identify the accounts and routes to market with the greatest growth potential.

• Develop strong, long-term partnerships with strategic local partners.

• Lead the full sales cycle, from opportunity creation to contract signature.

• Build relationships with C-level and senior decision-makers, and communicate Akur8’s value clearly to different stakeholders.

• Assess the performance of your territory, identify what is working and what is not, and adjust your approach accordingly.

• Work with internal teams to bring market insight back into Akur8’s product, positioning, and go-to-market priorities.

• Represent Akur8 in Japan, building awareness and credibility with relevant decision-makers.

• Take ownership of outcomes, raise challenges early, and create new approaches when the existing playbook does not fit the market.

• Engage and build strong relationships with existing clients to maximize the usage of the platform in order to create “happy clients” and to protect the existing contracts.

• Lead the marketing initiatives with some support from the Marketing team in the headquarter including building marketing strategies, event organisation, contents localization.

You will be based in our Tokyo office. Travelling for business development events may be required in the country, and in our headquarter in Paris from time to time.

We are looking for a senior enterprise sales professional with a proven track record of selling complex software through long, multi-stakeholder sales cycles. You know how to create opportunities from scratch, build trust with senior decision-makers, and turn a strategic account into a long-term commercial relationship.

Insurance experience is a strong advantage. Experience selling complex SaaS, deep-tech, data, analytics, or other mission-critical software is essential.

Required experience and capabilities

• You have at least 8+ years of B2B sales experience, ideally in enterprise software, complex SaaS, deep-tech with clear commercial responsibility.

• You have managed long and complex sales cycles involving multiple stakeholders, including business sponsors, C-level executives, CTOs, IT teams, solution architects, procurement, risk, and legal.

• You are a genuine new-business hunter. You enjoy opening doors, building a market from the ground up, and pursuing accounts where there is no existing relationship or established sales path.

• You know how to explore the white spaces within a territory. You can identify overlooked segments, accounts, use cases, and internal stakeholders that could create new opportunities.

• You can sell contracts ranging from €100k to €300k, as well as larger enterprise deals in the €1m to €1.2m range. You remain composed when the sales cycle becomes demanding and the level of scrutiny increases.

• You can build a clear strategy for every major opportunity, with defined stakeholders, risks, next steps, decision criteria, and a realistic closing plan.

• You understand the operating discipline required to deliver against a quota. You know how much pipeline you need, which opportunities are genuinely qualified, and how to maintain pipeline coverage of three to four times your annual target.

• You are comfortable making accurate forecasts and updating your view when new information changes the probability or timing of a deal.

• You have a strong land-and-expand mindset. You actively look for cross-sell and upsell opportunities, including additional modules, new teams, and new business units within existing accounts.

• You are willing to ask for the internal introduction, pursue one more conversation, or challenge an initial scope when there is a credible business case.

• You build relationships across an organisation, creating champions among the people who use, sponsor, influence, and approve the solution and build long-term relationships.

• You combine ambition with commercial realism. You are willing to target major institutions while understanding the account coverage, sales activity, and pipeline creation required to win them.

• You are comfortable discussing technical subjects and can make complex concepts clear to different audiences without oversimplifying them.

• You are highly autonomous and able to take ownership of your territory, while working closely with sales, marketing, product, solutions, and leadership teams.

• You have strong written and verbal communication skills in Japanese and English, with the executive presence needed to lead high-value commercial conversations. Korean as an additional language is a plus.

• You are organised, disciplined, and comfortable working with CRM systems, structured sales processes, and regular forecasting routines.

• You are curious, persistent, and action-oriented. You take responsibility for outcomes and keep momentum when a deal requires patience, creativity, or a change of approach.

• You have the emotional ownership to solve clients’ business problems through technology.

What will set you apart

You will stand out if you have sold software into the insurance sector or another highly regulated industry. Experience with pricing, risk, actuarial, data, or analytics solutions would also be valuable, particularly where the product required both business and technical buy-in.

You will also stand out if you have already built a territory, created demand in a new market, or grown an initial customer relationship into a broader strategic partnership.

IMPORTANT: You must possess an employment status that will allow you to work from our Tokyo office.

As a newcomer, you'll be joining a diverse, highly skilled and motivated team, with a strong Tech DNA, colleagues that are eager to share their knowledge and passion.

We care about strong teamwork and a positive day-to-day environment. The team regularly connects through optional activities such as team lunches, sports, karaoke, or occasional after-work gatherings.

In addition to this, we will provide you with:

• Competitive salary + annual bonus

• 20 days of PTO/year

• Commuter benefit

• IT equipment allowance

• Professional development & trainings

• Team fun: regular company gatherings and team events

As part of our recruitment process, we may carry out background checks in line with the applicable laws and regulations in the countries where we operate. These checks may include verification of employment history, education, and, where legally authorized, criminal records. Any background checks will be performed lawfully before formal employment contracts are signed, with the candidate’s consent, and all information collected will be handled confidentially.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist with certain stages of the recruitment process. These tools are used to support our recruitment team and do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are always made by people. If you would like further information about how your data is processed, you can contact us at dpo@akur8.com.