Head of Japan Programming Strategy
Amazon
Head of Japan Programming Strategy
Amazon
Sells products online and rents cloud computing
Prime Video is seeking a Head of Japan Programming Strategy to own the end-to-end programming strategy for one of Prime Video's largest and most strategically important streaming markets. Japan is a priority locale with a deep local slate, a distinctive competitive landscape, and globally significant content categories — most notably Anime — that reach audiences far beyond the domestic market.
This is a senior, strategy-led leadership role with a mandate to innovate. Its center of gravity is insights-led, forward-looking slate health planning — not just day-to-day scheduling. Your team will decide what Japan should be programming and investing in over the next 3–5 years and why, using audience and performance insights to steer the slate. Equally important, you will look for new ways to expand the reach of Japan programming — new audiences, categories, formats, and distribution and promotional approaches — and reinvent how the team works internally, adopting automation and AI-assisted tooling so the team spends its time on strategy rather than routine execution.
You will be the single-threaded owner for Japan programming, leading a team based in Japan and operating with a high degree of autonomy while ensuring Japan's work is tightly aligned to Global and APAC-wide mechanisms, standards, and priorities.
Key job responsibilities
Own the Japan programming strategy, weighted toward insights-led slate decisions — moving the team from "what airs when" to "what we should invest in and why."
Find new ways to expand the reach of Japan programming — identifying new audiences, categories, formats, and promotional and distribution approaches that grow engagement beyond the current slate and surface Japanese content to wider domestic and global audiences.
Innovate how the team works internally — reinventing programming workflows, mechanisms, and tooling (including automation and AI-assisted approaches) so the team shifts its time from routine reporting and coordination toward high-value strategy and insight.
Own slate health as a portfolio — balancing genres, categories, and title types to sustain engagement and retention, and proactively identifying gaps and over-indexes before they affect performance.
Map the Japan slate on a 3–5 year horizon, not just near-term calendar planning — enabling earlier, better-informed content and investment decisions and tighter alignment to global title strategy.
Drive rapid strategic pivots, re-orienting Japan's programming priorities and long-range strategic direction quickly as market dynamics, competitive moves, or global signals shift.
Fill calendar and slate gaps with hub programming solutions, drawing on APAC regional and global content (imports, worldwide categories such as Anime, cross-locale titles) to turn gaps into growth opportunities.
Lean into Anime and title-travelability ownership, aligning the team on travelability to drive measurable improvement in local Anime performance.
Partner cross-functionally — with Content/Studios, Marketing, Product, Customer Insights, Business Intelligence, and Finance — to align programming with launch, campaign, and business goals.
Define and track the KPIs that measure programming and slate-health effectiveness for Japan, and own regular performance reporting and the quarterly slate-health plan-of-record.
About the team
Prime Video Japan is one of Prime Video's largest and most strategically important markets in Global, with a deep local slate, a passionate and distinctive audience, and globally significant content categories — most notably Anime — that resonate far beyond Japan. The Japan programming team shapes what Japanese customers watch and discover, combining strong local expertise with a direct connection to regional and global programming initiatives. As Head of Japan Programming Strategy, you will lead a team as it evolves from an execution-focused group into a strategy-led, innovation-minded organization — deepening its use of audience insights, owning the long-range health of the Japan slate, finding new ways to grow programming reach, and reinventing how the team works day to day.
- Experience in managing and developing teams
- Bachelor's degree in a relevant field or equivalent work experience
- Speak, write, and read fluently in Japanese at a business level or above (N1+)
- Speak, write, and read fluently in English
- 10+ years of experience in programming, content strategy, slate planning, or a closely related media/streaming/strategy planning discipline.
- Experience in audience segmentation and targeting
- Experience working with global and cross-functional teams across business development, marketing, operations, product development and legal
- Experience influencing multiple stakeholders and leading cross functional teams across geographies and business units
- Experience with long-range (multi-year) content or slate strategy, not solely near-term scheduling.
- Deep familiarity with the Japan media/entertainment market and audience.
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