About / Team

The people behind the AI.

Four partners lead AgentRPO, backed by a Tokyo-based team of veteran bilingual recruiters. We stopped scaling headcount in 2024, AI does the scaling now. The humans we do have are the best in the business.

Partners

Four partners. Nine years together.

Ken Charles
CEO · Co-founder
Ken Charles

American-born, Tokyo-based for over a decade. Co-founded ExecutiveSearch.AI in 2017 after a decade leading executive search at a global firm. Represents the company on the board of its parent subsidiary and leads product direction for Headhunt.AI. Lives in Hiratsuka, Kanagawa, with his wife and children. Yakult Swallows fan.

Cody Pettit
Head of Data Operations · Co-founder
Cody Pettit

Co-founded ExecutiveSearch.AI with Ken in 2017. Leads data operations across the firm, overseeing the candidate data infrastructure that powers Headhunt.AI, ensuring data quality, and managing the pipelines that keep the platform's 4M+ profiles current and accurate. Holds the firm's 責任者 (Responsible Person) certification for Japan's paid-placement recruiting license alongside Ken.

Gary Schrader
Partner · Director, ESAI Agency
Gary Schrader

Partner at AgentRPO and a director of ESAI Agency K.K. Two decades of executive recruiting experience across technology, finance, and industrial sectors in Japan. Specializes in C-suite and senior operator placements, and mentors the recruiter team on executive-level client management and closing.

Eileen Tian
Partner · Director, ESAI Agency
Eileen Tian

Partner at AgentRPO and a director and shareholder of ESAI Agency K.K. Bilingual Japanese-English recruiter with deep expertise in bilingual senior-level searches across the Japan market. Leads candidate experience and quality standards for the recruiter team.

The full team

The recruiters you'll actually work with.

Behind the partners, a tight team of veteran bilingual recruiters who run the actual searches, sourcing alongside Headhunt.AI, meeting candidates, prepping interviews, and closing offers. Most have 5-15 years of Japan-market recruiting experience.

AgentRPO team
Shibuya · 2025

Join us

We hire sparingly. When we do, we go long.

AI scales the work. Our job is to find the best recruiters in Japan and give them the best tools. If that sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.

See open roles → Our story