Research & Development Careers in Japan: What 350 Job Postings Ask For
Every figure on this page summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, in aggregate, and is shown the same way to every reader. It is not a description of any individual’s career or prospects.
- 350
- 91
- 35%
- 35%
What Gets You In
1-2 years of experience
12
3-4 years of experience
62
5-9 years of experience
37
10+ years of experience
13
10%
29% day-to-day or above
Project Management
16%
Semiconductor
14%
Data Analysis
12%
Stakeholder Management
9%
Automotive
7%
Mechanical Design
7%
Production Engineering
7%
Quality Assurance
7%
350 postings
Levels by Experience
1–4 years
3%
35% day-to-day or above
74 postings
5+ years
22%
52% day-to-day or above
Stakeholder Management 24% (+16)
Project Management 22% (+10)
50 postings
Stated Pay
Median ¥7,500,000 · 123 postings state pay
¥6,400,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥8,800,000
Median ¥8,000,000 · 32 postings state pay
¥7,000,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥9,100,000
Working Conditions
- 124 days
84 postings
- 20 h
39 postings
- 40%
Fully remote
4
Hybrid
37
On-site
50
350 postings
What Comes Next
People management
16
Specialist track
10
Senior leadership
8
Project management
5
Overseas assignment
3
Employers naming each step, of 20 that name one
Who Is Hiring
Related Functions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Research & Development career ladder?
A level-by-level summary of what live Research & Development job postings tracked on AirTA ask for. Levels come from job titles (manager, director, senior and so on) and, separately, from the years of experience a posting states. Every figure is a statistic over those postings, refreshed daily.
Where do the numbers come from?
From the job postings AirTA collects from employer career sites and applicant tracking systems. Years of experience, certifications and management experience are read from the posting text; the level is read from the title; pay is the salary the employer stated on the posting. Nothing is estimated for an individual.
Why is there no pay figure at some levels?
A pay band publishes only when at least 30 postings at that level state a salary, and a median only from 10. Senior-level pay is rarely published in Japan, so the honest answer at some levels is no figure rather than a figure borrowed from another level.
What does "candidate for" mean?
Some postings are titled 「マネージャー候補」 or "Manager Candidate": the employer states in the title that the opening is for someone who will grow into that level. The ladder counts those titles as the employer wrote them. It does not predict anyone’s promotion.
Role information is sourced from companies' public careers pages. Listed companies are not affiliated with AirTA. Is this your company? Claim your listing or request removal.