Sakana AI recruits for its Applied Defense team after a 150-person Tokyo expansion

garrytan · x · 2026-07-29

Sakana AI is recruiting for its Applied (Defense) team in Japan, with the post linking to a careers page and an interview about the company’s defense-focused work.

The materials say the company was founded in Tokyo in 2023 by David Ha, Ren Ito and Llion Jones; it now has about 150 employees and completed a Series B in January 2026. It also highlights applied partnerships with MUFG, SMFG, Daiwa Securities, Japan’s Defense Innovation Science and Technology Institute, and Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The broader pitch is that Sakana wants to build frontier AI in Japan and bring it into finance, public-sector and defense use cases.

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