Software Engineering Careers in Japan: What 1,387 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.
- 1,387
- 288
- 48%
- 46%
What Gets You In
1-2 years of experience
122
3-4 years of experience
282
5-9 years of experience
210
10+ years of experience
50
10%
13% day-to-day or above
AWS
32%
Project Management
31%
Python
28%
Java
24%
C++
21%
SQL
20%
Generative AI
19%
TypeScript
18%
1,387 postings
Levels by Experience
1–2 years
7%
12% day-to-day or above
Cloud certification (AWS / Azure / GCP) 5%
122 postings
3–4 years
10%
16% day-to-day or above
Cloud certification (AWS / Azure / GCP) 5%
282 postings
5–9 years
15%
18% day-to-day or above
PMP 8%
210 postings
10+ years
20%
30% day-to-day or above
Java 42% (+14)
JavaScript 22% (+11)
50 postings
Stated Pay
Median ¥7,500,000 · 634 postings state pay
¥6,200,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥9,300,000
Median ¥6,400,000 · 60 postings state pay
¥5,600,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥8,600,000
Median ¥7,400,000 · 132 postings state pay
¥6,000,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥9,500,000
Median ¥9,500,000 · 80 postings state pay
¥8,000,000
25th to 75th percentile of stated salaries
¥11,300,000
Working Conditions
- 123 days
221 postings
- 20 h
154 postings
- 33%
- 19%
Fully remote
118
Hybrid
263
On-site
57
1,385 postings
What Comes Next
People management
48
Specialist track
40
Project management
30
Senior leadership
15
Internal transfer or rotation
6
Employers naming each step, of 56 that name one
Levels by Job Title
Specialist track
Entry / new graduate
40
Junior / associate
7
Senior
74
Principal
6
Management track
Team lead
140
Manager
21
Individual-contributor level
127 postings from 70 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.
Software Engineering · individual-contributor level
median ¥7,900,000 · 54 postings
¥5,300,000
Typical advertised range (25th to 75th percentile)
¥10,500,000
English · 110 postings
Daily English
12%
Some English
20%
No English stated
68%
Japanese · 114 postings
Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)
81%
Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)
11%
Limited Working Proficiency (JLPT N3)
3%
Not required
1%
No level stated
4%
5 years median (middle half 3 to 5)
over 61 postings stating a threshold
9% of postings (11)
Team-lead level
140 postings from 40 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.
Software Engineering · team-lead level
median ¥8,000,000 · 31 postings
¥6,800,000
Typical advertised range (25th to 75th percentile)
¥8,300,000
English · 133 postings
Daily English
11%
Some English
19%
No English stated
71%
Japanese · 140 postings
Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)
94%
Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)
3%
Limited Working Proficiency (JLPT N3)
2%
No level stated
1%
5 years median (middle half 3 to 5)
over 78 postings stating a threshold
10% of postings (14)
PMP (16%)
Cloud certification (AWS / Azure / GCP) (6%)
Project Management 50% (+26 pts over the level below)
terms counted over 140 postings at this level
23 openings are titled as a candidate for this level
Manager level
21 postings from 14 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.
Software Engineering · manager level
English · 19 postings
Daily English
26%
Some English
21%
No English stated
53%
Japanese · 19 postings
Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)
95%
Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)
5%
5 years median (middle half 3 to 7.25)
over 12 postings stating a threshold
57% of postings (12)
C++ 29% (+20 pts over the level below)
API Development 24% (+17 pts over the level below)
Stakeholder Management 29% (+13 pts over the level below)
Docker 19% (+13 pts over the level below)
Linux 24% (+10 pts over the level below)
terms counted over 21 postings at this level
9 openings are titled as a candidate for this level
Who Is Hiring
All Software Engineering openings
1,387 postings from 288 employers, as of 2026-09-22
Related Functions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Software Engineering career ladder?
A level-by-level summary of what live Software Engineering 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.