Project Manager - AI Adoption & Core Systems

IGSA is an AI company born out of the Matsuo-Iwasawa Lab at the University of Tokyo. Like tatami woven from igusa rushes, we pursue sustainable happiness through AI systems that support society warmly, softly, and from beneath.

This position joins IGSA X, our business that rebuilds both business operations and core systems with AI as the premise, working alongside clients end to end from design through operation. We are neither a business-transformation consultancy nor a system development vendor: we design and implement operations and systems together in the same project. Our main clients are companies where on-the-ground operations are at the heart of the business. Our track record includes bringing core business systems to production in a fraction of the timeline expected of conventional system integrators, and extends from private companies to university research institutions and government.

IGSA itself runs its own management and development AI-natively, practicing daily the same methods and verification design we deliver to clients. Learn more on the IGSA X website.

We are looking for a Project Manager to own requirements definition and project leadership on IGSA X client projects. You will talk with clients directly, draw out what they need, turn it into requirements, and keep development moving.

IGSA X delivery runs on four roles: a Lead Engineer who owns the project as a whole, a Project Manager who defines requirements and keeps the project moving, a Design Engineer who designs and builds the experience and screens, and an Applied AI Engineer who implements it quickly with AI. You do not need to cover all of them: join from where your strength is, and the team covers the rest. What this position owns is deciding what gets built, and keeping the project moving.

If you have worked as a PM in software development, you will find the way we run projects familiar. You can pick up our AI-first development process after you join. Design and implementation are handled together with the rest of the team.

If you can cover several of the four roles, we will also consider you for the Lead Engineer position.

You can join either full-time or on a contract basis, and starting as side work and switching to full-time later is also possible.

• Understanding client needs through direct conversation, and turning them into requirements and specifications
• Driving projects forward and managing progress together with the development team
• Making proposals to clients and reaching agreement on specifications
• Designing the post-release operation and improvement cycle

• Practical experience managing software development projects
• Experience turning needs into requirements in direct conversation with clients or business stakeholders
• Using AI in your own day-to-day work

• Upstream experience in client services or systems integration
• Experience in product management (PdM)
• Experience in business or core systems
• Ability to produce documents and prototypes hands-on

• Someone who can take vague requests and firm them into requirements through repeated conversation
• Someone who can set priorities with technical feasibility in mind
• Someone who has moved projects forward on the ground in development, rather than in business planning
• Someone who resonates with our purpose of pursuing sustainable happiness

• Interview with the business lead
• Interview with the CEO
• Practical exercise (drafting requirements from a realistic request)
• Alignment on terms and contract

If you are interested, please apply via the application form.