Senior Manager, Security & IT Service Management

About SmartNews 

SmartNews is a leading global information and news discovery company dedicated to delivering quality information to the people who need it. Thanks to our unique machine-learning technology and relationships with more than 3,000 global publisher partners, we provide news that matters to millions of users.

Founded in 2012 in Tokyo, SmartNews also has offices in Osaka (Kansai Office), Palo Alto, New York and Singapore.

If you share our vision and are passionate about our mission, we encourage you to apply!

The Team

The IT Service Management (ITSM) team keeps SmartNews operating efficiently and securely by enabling staff to be productive and unblocked day-to-day.  We embody the company’s mission of delivering quality information to the people that need it, by making work, service health, and decisions visible and discoverable.  We provide fast, reliable support for devices, access and tooling, and connect business applications to allow staff to spend their time on outcomes, not manual effort.  We protect SmartNews through security and governance programs so that SmartNews can operate efficiently with confidence and clarity and as little friction as possible.

Your Role

We are looking for a seasoned, forward-thinking Senior Manager to lead Security and IT Service Management (ITSM) across our organisation. This is a working manager role. You will set the strategic vision, elevate our practices, and roll up your sleeves to guide two critical functions through a period of rapid maturation. You will be responsible for strengthening our security posture, shaping security-by-design as a cultural norm, and transforming our ITSM capabilities into scalable, efficient, and well-governed services. You’ll also help guide our AI security strategy via safe-by-default controls and managing safety without overly constraining delivery.

This role is ideal for an experienced leader who can combine deep technical expertise with diplomacy, influence, cross-functional partnership, and a strong hands-on work ethic.

You will succeed if you:

• Can take an organisation with solid foundations but clear gaps and systematically mature its capabilities.
• Balance risk reduction with business practicality.
• Influence without authority and build strong working relationships across engineering, HR, finance, and business teams.
• Know how to automate, delegate, and restructure work so that teams operate scalably, not heroically.
• Can lead by example, handling day to day tasks and understanding the active workload as part of the team
• Understand both modern security architectures and modern IT service operations—not just theoretically but in real companies with real constraints.
• Bring clarity, direction, and calm leadership to fast-moving, ambiguous environments.

Responsibilities

Security Leadership

• Own and evolve the company-wide security strategy, ensuring it is risk-based, pragmatic, and aligned with business goals.
• Actively participate in and guide the implementation of security-by-design principles through education, process improvements, and  partnership with engineering and product teams.
• Strengthen security governance, elevating practices across product engineering, corporate IT, and business functions.
• Work directly with Internal audit teams to ensure continued compliance and process improvements, driving remediation efforts and control implementation.
• Lead the development and enforcement of policies, in areas such as endpoint management, BYOD, identity and access management, data loss prevention, and cloud security.
• Drive improvements in Cloud Security posture—shifting from “engineer-defined” to “centrally guided, consistently implemented.”
• Work with governance bodies, senior leadership and technical experts to evolve our AI security stance to take advantage of new technologies, and provide guidance to ensure data security and compliance
• Oversee and and actively manage compliance with external audits and certifications (e.g., ISMS, JSOX), ensuring controls are meaningful and business-appropriate.
• Implement and manage security monitoring, incident response processes, vulnerability management, and risk assessment frameworks.
• Build constructive relationships with internal stakeholders; communicate security risks and trade-offs in clear, business-friendly language.

ITSM Leadership

• Oversee the team responsible for IT support, workplace technology, SaaS management, and employee lifecycle operations, often engaging in hands-on IT support activities and escalations.
• Own the vision for modern ITSM practices—improving self-service to reduce incoming support contacts, use automation to scale processes and free the team to focus on higher-value work.
• Partner with HR, Finance, Legal, and department heads to clarify responsibilities, move work to the right teams, and embed ITSM as a shared organisational discipline.
• Improve operational efficiency, and clear ownership boundaries with other departments.
• Drive governance around SaaS acquisition, vendor management, asset lifecycle, and license optimisation.

Leadership & Management

• Lead and develop the Security and ITSM teams: coaching, mentoring, performance management, and team shaping as needed.
• Operate as technical leader and subject matter expert, getting hands-on with team tasks when necessary.
• Foster a culture of accountability, high trust, and continuous improvement.
• Build roadmaps, track progress, and communicate clearly with leadership on risks, investments, and outcomes.
• Work closely with technology leadership to ensure strategic alignment with company goals.

Requirements

Minimum requirements

• 8+ years experience across Security, ITSM, or Infrastructure roles, with at least 3+ years in people management.
• Track record of maturing security or ITSM practices—improving processes, governance, architecture, and team capability.
• Strong knowledge of core security domains (identity, access control, endpoint management, cloud security, monitoring, incident response, compliance frameworks).
  Familiarity with ITSM frameworks (ITIL or similar), modern service operations, and workflow automation tools.
  Experience managing compliance programs (e.g., ISO 27001/ISMS, SOC 2, JSOX, etc.).
• Business-level Japanese language.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills; able to navigate complex political environments with diplomacy.

Nice to have experiences/skills

• Experience in a high-growth or multi-product technology company.
• Prior ownership of SaaS governance, vendor management, cloud security posture management.
• Hands-on experience implementing Zero Trust principles.
• Ability to build or refine reporting, budget controls, and operational metrics.
• Business level English.

Related Links

• Click here or visit our careers site to check employee interviews

Working condition

• Office Location: Tokyo

Click here or visit our careers site for more info.

Benefits

Benefits available at the SmartNews Tokyo Office

• All healthcare and social insurance required by the Japanese labor law, plus annual health check
• Visa sponsorship and overseas relocation support available for eligible candidates

Click here or visit our careers site for more info about our benefits.