Engineering Manager (Director Candidate)

Belong operates a business selling, purchasing, and renting used smartphones as an internal startup of Itochu Corporation. This Engineering Manager position leads either the Data team or the Platform team, according to the candidate’s suitability and interests. The manager is expected to use technical expertise and people management to improve engineering productivity, mentor engineers, and support their careers. The role works with Product Managers on service development and operations and manages engineering members to achieve goals. Future involvement as a VPoE or Director is described. When technology management is also possible, the position may include a Tech Lead Manager role.

Day-to-day responsibilities cover people, process, and product management. People responsibilities include conducting evaluations, holding regular one-to-one meetings for career support, managing motivation, maintaining psychological safety, and developing personnel. Process responsibilities include managing project progress, continuously improving development methods, handling incidents, establishing a production-support structure, and coordinating and managing external vendors. Product responsibilities include close collaboration with Product Managers, negotiating requirements while considering engineering context, and proposing and implementing non-functional requirements such as scalability and security.

The planned Data team includes two to three data engineers, one to two data scientists, and one to two ML engineers. The planned Platform team includes three SREs and one to two Platform Engineers who also serve as SREs. The posting also describes opportunities to work on data projects intended for global expansion, create mechanisms for introducing current AI practices across the company, and build organizational and product foundations during the launch phase of a new business. No separate education, years-of-experience, or required technology-stack criteria are stated in the supplied posting.

The work location is Belong’s Tokyo headquarters in Akasaka, Minato-ku. The stated location scope includes company-designated places, including locations where remote work is performed. Three days of office attendance per week are expected, with face-to-face communication emphasized for close design discussions. A move to a new office around Aoyama-itchome Station is planned for autumn 2026; work will continue at the current location until the move. The selection process consists of document screening, three to four interviews, a reference check, and an offer meeting.