Sales Careers in Japan: What 3,064 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.

3,064
610
57%
42%

What Gets You In

  • 1-2 years of experience

    437

  • 3-4 years of experience

    666

  • 5-9 years of experience

    506

  • 10+ years of experience

    145

14%

22% day-to-day or above

  • SaaS

    33%

  • New Business Development

    32%

  • Solution Sales

    29%

  • Account Management

    22%

  • Target Achievement

    19%

  • Stakeholder Management

    19%

  • Customer Success

    18%

  • Inside Sales

    15%

3,064 postings

Levels by Experience

1–2 years

20%

10% day-to-day or above

437 postings

3–4 years

14%

16% day-to-day or above

  • Stakeholder Management 22% (+14)

  • Solution Sales 36% (+10)

  • Target Achievement 26% (+10)

  • PowerPoint 14% (+10)

666 postings

5–9 years

18%

43% day-to-day or above

  • Customer Success 24% (+10)

506 postings

10+ years

19%

62% day-to-day or above

145 postings

Stated Pay

All postings

Median ¥6,500,000 · 1,274 postings state pay

¥5,300,000

25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries

¥8,000,000

1–2 years

Median ¥5,600,000 · 245 postings state pay

¥4,800,000

25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries

¥6,500,000

3–4 years

Median ¥7,200,000 · 328 postings state pay

¥6,000,000

25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries

¥8,300,000

5–9 years

Median ¥9,000,000 · 112 postings state pay

¥7,700,000

25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries

¥11,600,000

Working Conditions

123 days

474 postings

20 h

263 postings

26%
22%
  • Fully remote

    104

  • Hybrid

    562

  • On-site

    157

3,004 postings

What Comes Next

  • People management

    103

  • Senior leadership

    51

  • Specialist track

    38

  • Project management

    12

  • Internal transfer or rotation

    11

  • Overseas assignment

    7

Employers naming each step, of 115 that name one

Levels by Job Title

Specialist track

  • Entry / new graduate

    84

  • Junior / associate

    48

  • Senior

    98

  • Principal

    8

Management track

  • Team lead

    80

  • Manager

    190

  • Director

    59

  • Executive

    3

Individual-contributor level

238 postings from 119 employers

Every figure below summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA at this level. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, not any individual.

These figures summarize other postings tracked on AirTA, not this role.

Sales · individual-contributor level

Stated salary

median ¥6,000,000 · 103 postings

¥4,900,000

Typical advertised range (25th to 75th percentile)

¥8,000,000

17%

English · 207 postings

  • Daily English

    17%

  • Some English

    17%

  • No English stated

    65%

94%

Japanese · 214 postings

  • Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)

    85%

  • Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)

    9%

  • Limited Working Proficiency (JLPT N3)

    0%

  • No level stated

    6%

5 years median (middle half 3 to 7)

over 130 postings stating a threshold · Entry / new graduate 2 · Junior / associate 3 · Senior 5

7% of postings (16)

View Sales openings

Team-lead level

80 postings from 47 employers

Every figure below summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA at this level. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, not any individual.

These figures summarize other postings tracked on AirTA, not this role.

Sales · team-lead level

Stated salary

median ¥7,000,000 · 13 postings

Too few stated salaries to publish a range

19%

English · 73 postings

  • Daily English

    19%

  • Some English

    30%

  • No English stated

    51%

95%

Japanese · 74 postings

  • Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)

    84%

  • Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)

    11%

  • No level stated

    5%

5 years median (middle half 3 to 5)

over 44 postings stating a threshold

19% of postings (15)

  • Solution Sales 33% (+15 pts over the level below)

  • Project Management 16% (+10 pts over the level below)

terms counted over the newest 80 postings at this level

88 openings are titled as a candidate for this level

View Sales openings

Manager level

190 postings from 103 employers

Every figure below summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA at this level. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, not any individual.

These figures summarize other postings tracked on AirTA, not this role.

Sales · manager level

Stated salary

median ¥8,500,000 · 23 postings

Too few stated salaries to publish a range

41%

English · 144 postings

  • Daily English

    41%

  • Some English

    24%

  • No English stated

    35%

85%

Japanese · 151 postings

  • Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)

    70%

  • Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)

    15%

  • No level stated

    15%

5 years median (middle half 3 to 8)

over 121 postings stating a threshold

24% of postings (45)

  • Pipeline Management 22% (+18 pts over the level below)

  • Salesforce 18% (+12 pts over the level below)

  • Target Achievement 21% (+11 pts over the level below)

  • Negotiation 15% (+10 pts over the level below)

terms counted over the newest 190 postings at this level

105 openings are titled as a candidate for this level

View Sales openings

Director level and above

72 postings from 51 employers

Every figure below summarizes job postings tracked on AirTA at this level. It describes what employers asked for in their postings, not any individual.

These figures summarize other postings tracked on AirTA, not this role.

Sales · director level and above

65%

English · 66 postings

  • Daily English

    65%

  • Some English

    23%

  • No English stated

    12%

55%

Japanese · 66 postings

  • Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)

    38%

  • Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)

    17%

  • No level stated

    45%

8 years median (middle half 5 to 10)

over 51 postings stating a threshold

28% of postings (20)

8 openings are titled as a candidate for this level

View Sales openings

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Sales career ladder?

A level-by-level summary of what live Sales 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.

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