Talent.com
Vice President, Concepts Lab
Vice President, Concepts LabCrunchyroll • San Francisco, CA, US
Vice President, Concepts Lab

Vice President, Concepts Lab

Crunchyroll • San Francisco, CA, US
[job_card.variable_days_ago]
[job_preview.job_type]
  • [job_card.full_time]
[job_card.job_description]

Vice President, Concepts Lab

Founded by fans, Crunchyroll delivers the art and culture of anime to a passionate community. We super-serve over 100 million anime and manga fans across 200+ countries and territories, and help them connect with the stories and characters they crave. Whether that experience is online or in-person, streaming video, theatrical, games, merchandise, events and more, it's powered by the anime content we all love.

Join our team, and help us shape the future of anime!

About the Role

In the role of VP, Concepts Lab, you will report to the SVP of Engineering.

We are considering applicants for the location(s) of San Francisco, CA or Los Angeles, CA.

We're hiring a hands-on senior leader to own the strategy, portfolio, and execution of Concepts Lab. You'll combine a founder's entrepreneur mindset with deep product and technical skills, personally ideating and prototyping when it's the fastest path, while scaling a small, elite team known for speed and impact. You'll also incubate new ideas end-to-end, cutting across organizational lines and turning ambiguous opportunities into durable value. You will also stay closely connected to both industry trends and the R&D happening within our core stack and the broader Sony ecosystem to multiply your impact. This role will require periodic travel to other US and International locations.

You will :

  • Set the strategy and operating model for 0?1 innovation, from problem discovery to scaled adoption.
  • Maintain a bias for action : ship small, learn fast, and either sunset or scale with clear success criteria.
  • Serve as the connective tissue between executive priorities and engineering execution across platform and product domains.
  • Serve as liaison between Crunchyroll and Sony R&D groups, connecting and finding creative uses of shared innovation.

Core Areas of Responsibility

Strategy & Portfolio

  • Define the innovation and incubation thesis, intake, and prioritization for Concepts Lab, aligning bets with company strategy, market signals, and measurable outcomes.
  • Operate a transparent funnel (Idea ? POC ? Pilot ? Venture / Production / Hand-off) with crisp go / no-go and funding gates.
  • Run discovery sprints with cross-functional partners to frame problems, pressure-test riskiest assumptions, and pick the fastest paths to evidence.
  • Continuously scan emerging technologies and platforms, share perspectives and investment theses that look ahead.
  • Connect Sony R&D to our roadmap and look for opportunities to accelerate innovation, co-develop shared roadmaps, and prioritize "better together" bets.

    • Technical Leadership (Hands-On)

  • Spend meaningful time building : prototyping services, integrations, automation, and developer tools (expect ~2540% hands-on during early phases).
  • Provide architectural direction for POCs and pilots.
  • Set AI / LLM best practices for applied use cases (prompting, evals, safety / guardrails, vector stores, retrieval, fine-tuning) and developer productivity tooling.
  • Learn and deeply understand our core platform stack (services / APIs, data / ML, edge / embedded, observability, compute, networking, etc.).

    • Execution & Scale

  • Move validated concepts into production with delivery teams, ensuring clean handoffs, thorough documentation, and operational readiness.
  • Establish a lightweight SDLC for experiments (trunk-based, automated testing, ephemeral environments, telemetry).
  • Track and report lab KPIs with crisp narratives for executives.

    • Team & Culture

  • Hire, coach, and retain a mission-driven, senior-leaning team (principal engineers, product-minded builders, applied AI specialists).
  • Model a culture of kaizen, courage, service, and curiosity, celebrate learnings, not just wins.
  • Create repeatable playbooks for rapid prototyping and internal tool adoption across the org.

    • Operations & Governance

  • Manage budget, vendor evaluations, and build-vs-buy decisions.
  • Ensure compliance with security, privacy, and legal standards while moving fast.
  • Codify IP and knowledge capture to accelerate future work.

    • About You

    We get excited about candidates, like you, because...

    Must-Haves :

  • You have 12+ years in software engineering with 5+ years leading high-impact teams (Sr Director / VP scope) delivering products and platforms.
  • You have demonstrated 0?1 leadership : created and scaled new products, internal tools, or developer platforms with measurable business impact.
  • You possess strong hands-on technical depth across cloud (AWS / GCP), services / APIs, data systems, CI / CD, observability, and modern developer workflows.
  • You have practical GenAI / LLM experience (shipping AI-powered features or building productivity tooling), including evaluation frameworks and safety guardrails.
  • You have exceptional storytelling and influence skills; proven cross-functional leadership with Product, Design, and Business Development.
  • You demonstrate bias for action : you unblock, you ship, you simplify.

    • Nice-to-Haves :

  • You have prior experience running a venture / incubation program, skunkworks, or internal platform / enablement org.
  • You have domain familiarity with streaming, subscriptions, payments, personalization / search, or client applications.
  • You possess a proven track record standardizing developer productivity tools and practices across a large engineering org.
  • You have prior experience with hardware development and software and hardware bridge (firmware), ability to partner on reference designs and rapid hardware prototyping when needed.

    • About the Team

    Concepts Lab is our applied innovation team. It rapidly validates new product concepts, builds internal tools that boost developer productivity, and works with our delivery teams to bring the best concepts into production. The team also jumps into critical initiatives to unblock delivery when the business needs it most.

    Why You Will Love Working at Crunchyroll

    In addition to getting to work with fun, passionate and inspired colleagues, you will also enjoy the following benefits and perks :

  • Receive a great compensation package including salary plus performance bonus earning potential, paid annually.
  • Flexible time off policies allowing you to take the time you need to be your whole self.
  • Generous medical, dental, vision, STD, LTD, and life insurance
  • Health Saving Account HSA program
  • Health care and dependent care FSA
  • 401(k) plan, with employer match
  • Employer paid commuter benefit
  • Support program for new parents
  • Pet insurance and some of our offices are pet friendly!

    • The Pay Range for this position is listed. Actual pay will vary based on factors including, but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Crunchyroll's Total Rewards offerings.

    Pay Transparency - Los Angeles, CA

    $292,000 - $350,000 USD

    Pay Transparency - San Francisco, CA

    $320,000 - $390,000 USD

    Our Values

    We want to be everything for someone rather than something for everyone and we do this by living and modeling our values in all that we do. We value :

  • Courage. We believe that when we overcome fear, we enable our best selves.
  • Curiosity. We are curious, which is the gateway to empathy, inclusion, and understanding.
  • Kaizen. We have a growth mindset committed to constant forward progress.
  • Service. We serve our community with humility, enabling joy and belonging for others.

    • Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

    Our mission of helping people belong reflects our commitment to diversity &

    [job_alerts.create_a_job]

    Vice President • San Francisco, CA, US

    [internal_linking.related_jobs]
    Vice President, Drug Product

    Vice President, Drug Product

    Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. • Redwood City, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Soleno is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases based in Redwood City, CA. At Soleno, we are driven by...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]
    Vice President, Product Design and Research

    Vice President, Product Design and Research

    SurveyMonkey • San Mateo, California, USA
    [job_card.full_time]
    SurveyMonkey is the worlds most popular platform for surveys and forms built for businessloved by users.We combine powerful capabilities with intuitive design effectively serving every use case fro...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Vice President of Product

    Vice President of Product

    ConductorOne • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Shape the future of identity with the highest-caliber team.If you’re amazing at what you do and want to solve big challenges in identity and security, come on board. Identity is how companies are be...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]
    Vice President, Drug Product

    Vice President, Drug Product

    ELKA Search Partners • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    We are seeking an experienced Drug Product leader to oversee formulation development, process scale-up, technology transfer, commercial manufacturing, and global supply continuity.This role will pa...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Gap Inc. Vice President, Employee Technology Experience

    Gap Inc. Vice President, Employee Technology Experience

    Gap Inc. • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Our brands bridge the gaps we see in the world.Old Navy democratizes style to ensure everyone has access to quality fashion at every price point. Athleta unleashes the potential of every woman, rega...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]
    Vice President of Engineering, Cameras

    Vice President of Engineering, Cameras

    Davita Inc. • San Mateo, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Verkada is a leader in cloud-based B2B physical security.Verkada offers six product lines — video security cameras, access control, environmental sensors, alarms, workplace and intercoms — integrat...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]
    Vice President CP Hardware

    Vice President CP Hardware

    Fortune Brands • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc.Our driving purpose is that we elevate every life by transforming spaces into havens.We support an inclusive and diverse culture where everyone is encouraged and emp...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]
    Vice President, Regulatory Science

    Vice President, Regulatory Science

    Day One Biopharmaceuticals • Brisbane, CA, US
    [job_card.full_time]
    VICE PRESIDENT, REGULATORY SCIENCE.At Day One, we are focused on advancing first- or best-in-class medicines for childhood and adult diseases with equal intensity. We were founded to address the lac...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]
    Vice President, Technology & Standards

    Vice President, Technology & Standards

    Dolby Laboratories • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Join the leader in entertainment innovation and help us design the future.At Dolby, science meets art, and high tech means more than computer code. As a member of the Dolby team, you’ll see and hear...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    VP Global In Vitro Operations

    VP Global In Vitro Operations

    VirtualVocations • Oakland, California, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    A company is looking for a VP of Global In Vitro - Scientific Operations.Key Responsibilities Lead global in vitro scientific operations and ensure high-quality execution of studies Oversee oper...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_1_day] • [promoted]
    Gap Inc. Vice President, Employee Technology Experience

    Gap Inc. Vice President, Employee Technology Experience

    BoF Careers • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Vice President, Employee Technology Experience.Our brands bridge the gaps we see in the world.Old Navy democratizes style to ensure everyone has access to quality fashion at every price point.Athle...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]
    Vice President, Technology & Standards

    Vice President, Technology & Standards

    Dolby • Oakland, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Join the leader in entertainment innovation and help us design the future.At Dolby, science meets art, and high tech means more than computer code. As a member of the Dolby team, you’ll see and hear...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Vice President of Sales - Life Sciences & Healthcare

    Vice President of Sales - Life Sciences & Healthcare

    Reltio • San Francisco, CA, US
    [job_card.full_time]
    At Reltio®, we believe data should fuel business success.Reltio's AI-powered data unification and management capabilities—encompassing entity resolution, multi-domain master data mana...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Vice President, Translational Computational Biology

    Vice President, Translational Computational Biology

    Menlo Ventures • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    As the Vice President of Translational Computational Biology, you’ll set the strategy and drive the implementation of connecting data from our genome-scale -omics platforms with population- and pat...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Vice President, Clinical Development

    Vice President, Clinical Development

    Septerna • South San Francisco, CA, US
    [job_card.full_time]
    Septerna is a biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, CA on a mission to develop life-changing medicines for patients with the vision to become the industry-leading G protein-coupled re...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Senior Vice President, Engineering

    Senior Vice President, Engineering

    Linden Lab • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Senior Vice President, Engineering.Direct message the job poster from Linden Lab.Changing the way society thinks about Talent Acquisition. Linden Lab develops platforms that empower people to create...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Executive Director, Biostatistics

    Executive Director, Biostatistics

    Summit Therapeutics Sub, Inc. • Menlo Park, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    Career Opportunities with Summit Therapeutics Sub, Inc.Careers At Summit Therapeutics Sub, Inc.Current job opportunities are posted here as they become available. Ivonescimab, known as SMT112, is a ...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_variable_days] • [promoted]
    Vice President - Product Design & Research

    Vice President - Product Design & Research

    OpenTable • San Francisco, CA, United States
    [job_card.full_time]
    This is a hybrid role requiring working from the San Francisco office 2x / week.With millions of diners, 60,000+ restaurant partners and 25+ years of experience, OpenTable, part of Booking Holdings...[show_more]
    [last_updated.last_updated_30] • [promoted]