Our Team

Ken Charles, Partner/CEO

Ken began his career in tech recruiting in New York City in 2005. He went on to found and sell two startup companies in San Francisco (one owned by Sony, one by Accenture) before founding the IT recruiting division at a Tokyo-based executive search firm. In 2018 he co-founded ExecutiveSearch.AI.

Ken studied abroad at Sophia University nearly 20 years ago and speaks fluent Japanese.

Cody Pettit, Partner

Cody came to Japan from America over 10 years ago and speaks fluent Japanese. He is an avid gamer and an expert executive search and tech recruiter for the Japanese market. He was the top rookie consultant at a Tokyo-based executive search firm before co-founding ExecutiveSearch.AI.

In his spare time you can probably find him on Discord.

Eileen Tian, Partner

Eileen Tian has a masters degree in engineering from a top school in China. She has been one of the #1 engineer recruiters in Japan since 2012 and has helped many legendary and famous businesses build their executive, engineering, data and product teams both before and after IPO.

As a Partner, she is ExecutiveSearch.AI’s lead account manager and executive recruiter for all technical positions.

She speaks fluent Chinese, Japanese and English.

Taisuke Oshima, Business Manager I

Taisuke has specialized in mid-to-senior level searches in the technology/digital area throughout his career.

After graduating Keio University majoring in Law, Taisuke has supported many famous “mega venture” digital companies in Japan as they built their first teams.

Using the depth and breadth of his expertise and knowledge, his primary focus is to form partnerships for the long term and offer consultation for the best opportunities in the market.

In his free time, he enjoys climbing (rock, ice, boulder) and enjoying nature.

Nadja Drexel, Candidate Manager Team Lead

Originally from Vienna, Austria, Nadja has been in the recruitment business for 4 years focusing on software development roles.

Trilingual in Japanese, English and her native German, she has a deep understanding of Japan and its unique engineering market.

In her free time, you can find her in the gym lifting weights, hiking with her doggo, playing video games or exploring Tokyo.

Brennon Rogers, Automation Engineer

Brennon moved from America to Japan over ten years ago. He started his career as a software engineer recruiter in Tokyo before returning to the US to graduate school, becoming a full-time software engineer himself.

When he’s not coding, he’s listening to country music, drinking beer and/or eating American BBQ.

Michael Leung, Candidate Manager II

Originally from Hong Kong, Michael received his Bachelor's Degree in Business Management from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom. He is trilingual in Cantonese, English, and Mandarin. He is also conversational in Japanese.

In his free time, Michael enjoys cooking, making coffee, travelling, and various sports like bowling, cycling, darts and skiing. As a result of his wanderlust, he has visited most of Japan and is always planning his next trip around the world.

ERI MANGA, SALES ASSISTANT

Eri came to us from Yahoo Japan. She is our lead coordinator and sales assistant. She is bilingual in Japanese and English.