harlandjp

👋 Hi — I’m Jonathan.

I’m an software engineering leader with 20+ years of experience building and scaling software products used by millions worldwide.

Currently: Head of Engineering at Foundation LLM Technologies Inc. (AI tools for design & manufacturing).
Based in: Tokyo, Japan 🌏 (global teams / cross-timezone leadership is my default)

🏗️ Recent experience

Foundation LLM Technologies (MIT-born Silicon Valley startup) — Head of Engineering
Building AI tools for design & manufacturing.
Drivemode (Honda’s software innovation arm) — VP of Engineering
Led development of an in-vehicle infotainment platform and companion apps for Honda’s electric vehicles.
Mercari (Japan’s first unicorn) — Director of Engineering
Led teams behind Mercari’s mobile and web applications tailored for the US market.
Rakuten — Group Manager
Led the Digital Content Platform Development Group.

I’ve also contributed to Japanese tech startups Teracy, myBest, Canary and LOOV.

📚 Writing

I’m the author of From Culture to Code: Leading Software Engineering Teams Effectively (Apress / Springer).

It’s a practical guide to:

Building influence and presence as a leader
Hiring and developing great teams
Goal-setting (including OKRs), performance, and feedback
Choosing tech stacks, best practices, and managing technical debt

📘 Book page: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/979-8-8688-1428-0

🧩 A few more facts

🎓 Computer Science honors graduate — Tecnológico de Monterrey
🌍 Multilingual
📜 US patent holder
🏃 Agile certifications: Product Owner & Scrum Master

🛠️ What I tend to work on

AI-enabled products
Mobile and web platforms with millions of users
In-vehicle / mobility software ecosystems
Platform engineering, dev productivity, and operational excellence
Hiring and engineering organization growth

💻 My favorite programming languages

TypeScript
Python
Swift