Company Overview:
tripla Co., Ltd. is a leading provider of digital transformation (DX) solutions for the hospitality industry. Following our successful IPO and the acquisition of three companies, we are now focused on integration and accelerating global expansion.
Our mission is to empower hotels to maximize profitability, enhance guest experiences, and streamline operations through cutting-edge technology.
With a comprehensive suite of AI-powered products—including booking engines, chatbots, marketing automation, and payment solutions—we proudly serve over 8,000 customers across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
We are at an inflection point—having proven product-market fit and built a strong customer base, we're now investing in AI as a core strategic differentiator. This is your opportunity to shape the AI strategy of a high-growth company from the ground up, with direct access to executive leadership and real impact on thousands of hotels and millions of travelers.
Job Summary:
We are seeking a business-oriented and technically grounded Director of AI to lead our AI and deep learning initiatives. This role combines strategic product thinking with a deep understanding of machine learning engineering. You will identify areas where AI can drive customer value and business growth, lead cross-functional collaboration to deliver end-to-end AI-powered features, and guide a team of engineers toward excellence in execution.
You will report directly to the CTO/CPO and work closely with senior leadership. You’ll have full ownership of AI strategy and delivery, with significant autonomy in team building, architecture decisions, and roadmap prioritization.
You are not expected to be a daily hands-on contributor, but must possess the technical insight to evaluate solutions, support engineering execution, and ensure product-market alignment. From idea to launch and KPI tracking, you’ll own the full lifecycle of AI initiatives.
Key Responsibilities:
● Provide strategic and technical leadership for AI and ML initiatives aligned with company goals.
● Identify opportunities where AI can improve customer experience, operational efficiency, and business impact.
● Lead and mentor a team of Machine Learning Engineers and Data Engineers to deliver on roadmap goals.
● Drive cross-functional alignment across product, engineering, sales, and customer success teams.
● Oversee end-to-end development and launch of AI-powered features, from prototyping to production deployment.
● Track and optimize key performance indicators (KPIs) for AI-driven features post-launch.
● Evaluate and decide when to build custom solutions versus using open-source or commercial tools, balancing time-to-market with long-term scalability.
● Stay current with AI trends and technologies, and integrate relevant innovations into our stack.
● Promote best practices in ML operations, data infrastructure, and model lifecycle management.
● Communicate complex AI concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Why Join Us?
● Direct impact on strategy, product, and business outcomes in a company poised for global growth.
● Ownership of the AI roadmap with the autonomy to shape technical direction, tools, and team structure.
● Dynamic, agile, and collaborative environment with a clear path for growth.
● Be a core member of the leadership team transforming an industry with AI.
Required Skills and Qualifications:
● Master’s degree in Computer Science, Physics, Applied Math, or a related field (Ph.D. preferred but not required).
● 8+ years of experience in ML engineering, data science, or AI product leadership, including 3+ years in a managerial or strategic role.
● Demonstrated ability to lead AI projects from conception to launch, including KPI tracking and iterative improvement.
● Experience building and deploying deep learning models (DNNs) in customer-facing applications.
● Experience with personalization, recommendation systems, or NLP in production.
● Strong technical understanding of ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch) and MLOps tools (e.g., Kubeflow, Kubernetes, ECS).
● Experience with cloud-based AI deployment (GCP, AWS, Azure).
● Strong grasp of modern machine learning and deep learning principles.
● Excellent team leadership and organizational alignment skills.
● Pragmatic decision-making in "build vs. buy" scenarios.
● Effective communication skills with a variety of stakeholders.
● Business-level English proficiency.
Preferred Qualifications:
● Prior experience in hospitality or travel tech.
● Japanese language proficiency is a plus.
Location & Work Style:
● Flexible work environment. Tokyo office available for hybrid work.
● Occasional travel may be required.
Commuting allowance: paid in accordance with company regulations
Full social insurance (employment, workers' compensation, health, and pension)
Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays
Annual paid vacation: 10 days at the time of employment
Year-end and New Year vacations: 6 days from December 29 to January 3
tripla Co., Ltd. Human Resources
[email protected]
