Country Lead

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Overall Role

The Japan Country Lead is accountable for the leadership and performance of Integrated Facilities Management services across Japan.

The role oversees client relationships, people, finance, operations, compliance, and risk. It combines strategic leadership with practical site support, particularly for Commercial, R&D and Make sites across Japan. The Country Lead will also strengthen EHS, Hard Services, and GMP-related facilities governance, project delivery, lead succession planning for critical technical roles, and improve workload management so the team can deliver sustainable and effective results.

Duties & responsibilities

1. Account and Client Leadership

·       Lead IFM services and represent the Japan team in client and regional forums.

·       Maintain strong client relationships and lead operational and business reviews.

·       Manage service quality, KPIs, SLAs, budgets, savings, compliance, and risk.

·       Translate client and regional requirements into clear priorities and actions.

·       Identify operational risks, resource gaps, and improvement opportunities.

·       Deliver measurable improvements in quality, efficiency, service stability, and client value.

·       Lead the team to achieve higher workplace experience

2. People Leadership and Site Support

·       Lead, coach, and develop the Japan team and relevant service partners.

·       Establish clear responsibilities, priorities, decision authority, and escalation routes.

·       Maintain regular site engagement and conduct visits based on risk and business need.

·       Provide practical support to Commercial, R&D and Make sites across Japan.

·       Strengthen cross-site collaboration, onboarding, handovers, cross-training, and backup coverage.

·       Build site capability and independence rather than routinely replacing onsite responsibilities.

3. Financial & Corrigo Governance

·       Own Japan account budget planning, forecasting, cost control, savings delivery, and accurate financial reporting.

·       Interpret budget tracking, actual spend, commitments, accruals, and variance drivers; reconcile inconsistencies and lead corrective actions to maintain reliable budget control.

·       Understand the end-to-end Corrigo process and work order lifecycle, and ensure vendor work orders are created, approved, dispatched, completed, invoiced, and closed accurately and on time.

·       Align Corrigo work order status, vendor invoices, cost trackers, forecasts, and finance reporting to improve spend visibility and prevent process or payment delays.

·       Partner with Finance, site teams, and vendors to address root causes, improve forecast accuracy, and support sound commercial decisions.

4. Operations, EHS, Hard Services, and GMP

·       Oversee Hard and Soft Services in line with client, contractual, regulatory, GxP, and site requirements.

·       Manage vendors, contracts, service levels, technical performance, and preventive improvement.

·       Maintain appropriate procedures, work controls, documentation, and escalation processes.

·       Provide country-level oversight of EHS and Hard Services.

·       At Make Sites, work with Quality, Manufacturing, Engineering, and EHS teams to ensure that facilities services support product quality, contamination control, and manufacturing continuity.

·       Oversee relevant GMP-related facilities services, including cleaning, pest control, HVAC, utilities, facility maintenance, and associated vendor activities.

·       Support audit readiness through appropriate procedures, specifications, quality agreements, work records, change controls, and action tracking.

·       Ensure significant incidents, audit findings, technical failures, and recurring issues receive appropriate root-cause review and corrective action.

·       Engage qualified specialists when technical, EHS, or quality decisions require specialist expertise.

5. Succession, Workload, and Sustainable Performance

·       Lead succession and knowledge transfer for critical EHS and Hard Services responsibilities.

·       Reduce dependency on individual specialists through documentation, cross-training, and backup arrangements.

·       Maintain operational continuity during vacancies, transitions, and temporary resource gaps.

·       Regularly review team workload, overtime, priorities, responsibilities, and resource allocation.

·       Reduce duplicated work, unnecessary reporting, rework, inefficient meetings, and low-value activities.

·       Clarify the purpose, priority, deadline, owner, and expected outcome of work requests.

·       Use standard procedures, templates, task trackers, and digital tools to simplify work.

·       Improve productivity without compromising safety, GMP, compliance, employee wellbeing, or service quality.

·       Measure success through outcomes rather than activity volume.

Candidate Profile

Experience

- Significant experience in IFM, Facilities Management, or a related field.

- Experience leading multi-site operations and geographically dispersed teams.

- Strong client, people, financial, vendor, and operational management experience.

- Experience overseeing both Hard and Soft Services.

- Practical knowledge of building services, EHS, risk management, audits, and corrective actions.

- Experience in pharmaceutical, medical-device, manufacturing, or another regulated environment is preferred.

- Understanding of GMP-related facilities requirements, including cleaning, pest control, quality documentation, and vendor controls.

- Experience in succession planning, knowledge transfer, workload improvement, or process simplification.

- Professional-level Japanese and business-level English.

- Relevant Engineering, EHS, FM, or Project Management qualifications are preferred.

Key Capabilities

- Strategic leadership combined with practical operational judgment.

- Ability to assess safety, GMP, quality, technical, financial, and business-continuity risks.

- Strong coaching, communication, stakeholder-management, and problem-solving skills.

- Ability to simplify complex requirements and establish clear priorities.

- Ability to challenge vendor proposals and involve qualified specialists when required.

- Collaborative, accountable, inclusive, and approachable leadership style.

[Place of Work]

Location: Within Tokyo’s 23 wards

[Working Hours and Days Off]

Working hours are based on the client’s timetable

Generally based on working from the office

Days off: Two days off per week (Saturday and Sunday), public holidays, and the year-end and New Year period

【Salary】

Overtime pay: Available. A fixed overtime allowance is included in the basic annual salary (equivalent to 30 hours per month) *For non-managerial positions

Bonuses: Available (performance-related bonuses)

Probationary period: Yes

【Number of Vacancies】 1

【Selection Process】

1. Application screening

2. Interviews (several rounds planned)

3. Final interview

Location:

On-site –Tokyo, Japan

If this job description resonates with you, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet all of the requirements.  We’re interested in getting to know you and what you bring to the table!

At JLL, we harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to efficiently accelerate meaningful connections between candidates and opportunities. Using AI capabilities, we analyze your application for relevant skills, experiences, and qualifications to generate valuable insights about how your unique profile aligns with the specific requirements of the role you're pursuing.

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