Product Development Engineer

★Product Development Engineer | web3 / Metaverse

• Business Level Japanese Required (N2 Level)

◆ Flextime & Hybrid Work

◆ Start-up Company

◆ Global Environment

◆ Annual salary: 8 million yen - 12 million yen

-------------【About the company】-------------

The company is a Web3 startup that aims to create a fan economy with the mission of "advancing the times together with fans".

The company develops and provides a fan platform for the Web3 era that maximizes fan enthusiasm for major entertainment companies such as publishers, music labels, and game companies. They have raised 3.4 billion yen in Series B funding in 2022 and are actively recruiting.

The company uses the concept of a "Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)" as a guideline for organizational management.

Regardless of age, role, or position, members proactively make proposals and decisions.

The company aims to realize new entertainment experiences at the production level by utilizing generative AI technologies, such as Generative Agents and Entertainment IP's unique image generation.

Agile: To respond flexibly to areas of high uncertainty, we use Kanban to manage development autonomously by teams of engineers.

-------------【 Job Description】-------------

■About the Group

The company's group operates businesses across three intersecting domains—entertainment, technology, and finance—to realize its vision of a "Fan Nation." By designing an ecosystem where these three domains organically interlock, the group is working to build a new social infrastructure. This includes operating one of the world's largest anime and manga community sites, developing and providing products that support the creation of IP-specific fan communities, and running Web3 financial businesses.

In its Pre-Series C round in April 2025, the group secured major funding from Sony Group and Bandai Namco Holdings. In the subsequent second close, Shochiku, Toei Animation, and Toho joined, further strengthening the collaborative foundation with Japan's leading entertainment enterprises. In February 2026, the group transitioned to a group management structure, accelerating business expansion and global rollout to achieve its vision.

■About the Position

In this position, the company is seeking a Product Development Engineer to technically lead the "ecosystem construction"—including the group-wide ID infrastructure and data integration—spearheading the core of the group’s global strategy.

The ultimate mission of this role goes beyond developing a single product. The engineer will fluidly engage across a broad spectrum of technical domains based on business needs to realize an ecosystem centered around MAL.

Boasting 20 million monthly active users, MAL is far more than a mere media platform or database; it is the foundation of the data business envisioned by the company and the starting point—the group's "ultimate asset"—for the Fan Nation concept (tokenomics economic zone). The company is looking for an engineer who possesses a deep respect for this historic culture, while scalably implementing and delivering new value to the world through data, AI, and ID integration.

■Responsibilities

You will be involved in the design, development, and operation of a wide range of systems, keeping the entire ecosystem of the company's group in mind. Your role will go beyond single-product development to lead the architectural design that seamlessly connects various services.

・Ecosystem Integration & ID Infrastructure Development:

Designing new ID and tokenomics integration infrastructure and implementing APIs to connect MAL's massive user base with other products.

・Core System Evolution & Re-architecting:

Rebuilding infrastructure to withstand traffic from 20 million users worldwide, and driving large-scale improvements and performance tuning of MAL's existing systems in anticipation of integration with other services.

・Web Application Design & Development:

Designing and developing the core MAL platform and its peripheral products (from frontend to backend) to enhance the user experience.

・Commitment to Product Improvement:

Collaborating with PdMs, designers, and other stakeholders to identify business challenges, propose improvements from a technical perspective, and execute agile implementations.

【Development Environment】

・Languages: TypeScript / Go / PHP

・Infrastructure: GCP / AWS

・Databases: Google Spanner / MySQL

■Position Highlights

・Development of the Company’s Ecosystem Infrastructure

Moving beyond single web service development, you can challenge yourself with large-scale architectural design that connects a massive community foundation with new ID and financial products.

・A Global Product with an Overwhelmingly Large and Passionate Overseas Fan Base

While based in Japan, you can be involved as a core member in developing a massive platform that fuels the passion of anime and manga fans worldwide.

・A High-Discretion Development Environment to Guide Technology Selection

The company provides an environment where you can actively experiment with any technology that directly drives user value or ecosystem construction. You will have significant discretion over the choice of frontend frameworks, databases, architectures, and re-architecting initiatives.

-------------【 Requirements】-------------

■Required

・Web Application Development Skills Presupposing the Utilization of AI

Hands-on experience in the design, implementation, testing, and operation of web application lifecycles. The ability to extensively broaden the scope of implementation through the use of AI and drive development forward at an overwhelming speed. Additionally, maintaining a "standard mindset" that inherently structures complex information and requirements into actionable plans for the team.

・Product-Oriented Development Mindset

The ability to understand the purpose behind development ("the Why") and collaborate effectively with PdMs, designers, and other stakeholders to make technical proposals aimed at solving business requirements and user challenges.

・Adaptability to the Unknown and a Strong Learning Process

The capability to autonomously catch up and adapt to complex domains (such as the intersection of Entertainment, Web3, and Global business) as well as new technologies. A proactive stance that drives initiatives forward even under uncertain circumstances.

・Building Trust and a Cross-Functional Sense of Ownership

The ability to respect and build trust with different teams and members holding diverse values, particularly in an environment that prioritizes cultivating synergy through product and technical collaboration across the group. The capacity to voluntarily step in when tasks lack clear ownership, organizing and pushing matters forward across organizational boundaries.

■Preferred

Practical experience in architectural design and performance tuning for services handling high-volume traffic

Experience in rearchitecting, modernizing, and migrating large-scale legacy systems

English proficiency (comfortable communicating via text and code reviews; translation tools may be used)

A strong interest in and respect for Japanese entertainment (manga, anime, etc.) and IP content

Experience developing products utilizing blockchain and generative AI technologies

■ideal Applicants

・Alignment and Empathy with the company’s Mission and Vision.

・Ability to Navigate Uncertainty Independently, proactively managing "traffic control" and making strategic priority judgements while enjoying the process.

・Treating Technology as a Means to an End, viewing it strictly as a tool to solve user challenges rather than a goal in itself.

・Engaging in Flat and Respectful Dialogue with existing communities and team members who hold diverse perspectives and values.

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【Welfare】

・Fully remote working in principle (with one day of work per month)

・2 days off per week, holidays off

・Annual paid vacation (10 days granted on the day of employment)

・Year-end and New Year vacations

・Condolence leave, nursing care leave

・Rent subsidy (for those within 3 km of the office or within 3 stations from Sasazuka or Daitabashi station): 10,000 yen if rent and common expenses are less than 70,000 yen, 20,000 yen if rent and common expenses are 70,000 yen or more

・Full subsidy for the purchase of books (including manga)

・Subsidy for participation in outside study groups and events

・Up to 20,000 yen per month for laundry, housekeeping, gym fees, etc., selected by each employee from among items specified by the company.

・Subsidy for Ethereum purchase

・Subsidy for remote work environment...up to 100,000 yen

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