Lead Android Engineer | No Japanese Required | Up to 8M JPY

About the Company

Our client is a Tokyo-based entertainment technology startup building the next generation of fan engagement infrastructure.

Its platform helps creators and fans build deeper relationships through personalized videos, chat, global fan clubs and community features. The company supports a diverse range of talent, including indie idols, professional wrestlers, musicians, comedians, cosplayers and influencers.

The platform is already live and generating revenue. The company is now expanding beyond one-to-one fan communication into subscription fan clubs, scalable community experiences and AI-powered products for creators, fans and entertainment businesses.

The business is being developed across three connected areas:

• Fan Engagement: Connecting global fans with creators through fan clubs, merchandise, tickets and communities.
• B2B Intelligence: Helping entertainment companies identify where global demand exists for their intellectual property.
• Activation: Converting demand into sponsorships, campaigns, events and international expansion opportunities.

The Opportunity

As Lead Android Engineer, you will take ownership of the Android version of the company’s flagship product.

You will be responsible for the native Android codebase end to end, including architecture, implementation, testing, performance, Play Store releases and ongoing product quality.

Working directly with the CTO and closely with the CEO, designers and backend engineers, you will plan and deliver features used by fans and creators. This is a hands-on engineering position with substantial influence over both the product and its technical direction.

As the company grows, you will establish its mobile engineering standards and become the technical leader for everything mobile.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the Android app across architecture, development, testing, releases and Play Store operations.
• Set the technical direction for mobile architecture, libraries, tooling and development practices.
• Plan, build and release new features with the CEO, CTO, designers and backend engineers.
• Monitor and improve crashes, performance, startup time and overall product stability.
• Use Firebase, analytics and product metrics to understand user behaviour and guide product improvements.
• Build and maintain integrations with APIs, push notifications, payments and media pipelines.
• Use Claude Code and Claude Design to accelerate development, prototyping and UI implementation.
• Review code and establish practical mobile engineering and quality standards.
• Coordinate versioning, staged rollouts, store listings and release notes.
• Contribute to the future roadmap and technical direction of the company’s iOS app.

Required Experience

• Five or more years of professional native Android development experience.
• Strong Kotlin skills and deep familiarity with the modern Android development stack.
• A proven record of releasing and operating production Android applications through the Google Play Store.
• The ability to understand, review and take responsibility for every line of production code, whether written manually or generated with AI assistance.
• Experience using Firebase Crashlytics, Firebase Analytics or similar tools to monitor and improve a live application.
• Confidence using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code and Claude Design as part of a daily engineering workflow.
• The ability to independently own a product area and make pragmatic technical decisions.
• Professional working proficiency in English.
• Comfort working in a small, fast-moving startup environment.

Japanese language ability is not required.

Preferred Experience

• Web development or React Native experience.
• Experience owning or leading development of an iOS application.
• Experience with entertainment, creator-economy, social or fan-community products.
• Experience implementing payments, subscriptions or in-app purchases.
• Experience with mobile CI/CD using GitHub Actions, Fastlane or similar tools.
• Experience working with international teams or global consumer products.

What Success Looks Like

During your first year, you will:

• Fully take ownership of the Android app, from architecture through production releases.
• Regularly deliver meaningful features and improvements for creators and fans.
• Measurably improve application stability, performance and Play Store ratings.
• Establish reliable CI, monitoring, release processes and quality gates.
• Become the company’s technical leader for mobile development.

Ideal Candidate

You are not only a strong Android developer—you approach the application as a product owner.

You notice changes in crash rates and performance before users report them. You care about startup time, responsiveness and the experience that fans and creators hold in their hands.

You move quickly without compromising product quality or user trust. You use AI development tools as force multipliers while remaining fully accountable for the code that reaches production.

Most importantly, you are excited to take ownership of an established product and help shape the future of fan engagement, creator technology and AI-powered consumer experiences.