Japan Life Sciences Salary Guide 2026

21 roles benchmarked against up to five published 2026 salary guides, with the typical agency fee beside every median.

Salary Consensus by Role

Median across published Japan salary guides, with the fee stacked on top

Engagement Model

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1 USD = ¥154.04, European Central Bank rate for Sep 11, 2026

Role	Median	Range (Low to High)	Guides	Agency Fee (35%)	Total Cost
Medical Affairs Director	￥23,704,513≈ $153,900	￥15,000,000 to ￥35,000,000≈ $97,380 to $227,200	2	￥8,296,580≈ $53,860	￥32,001,093≈ $207,700
Clinical Operations Director	￥20,755,375≈ $134,700	￥14,000,000 to ￥27,862,000≈ $90,890 to $180,900	2	￥7,264,381≈ $47,160	￥28,019,756≈ $181,900
Regulatory Affairs Director	￥20,000,000≈ $129,800	￥15,000,000 to ￥28,437,420≈ $97,380 to $184,600	3	￥7,000,000≈ $45,440	￥27,000,000≈ $175,300
Quality Director	￥18,061,007≈ $117,300	￥13,650,525 to ￥23,593,500≈ $88,620 to $153,200	2	￥6,321,352≈ $41,040	￥24,382,359≈ $158,300
Medical Affairs Manager	￥16,698,805≈ $108,400	￥10,920,420 to ￥25,000,000≈ $70,890 to $162,300	2	￥5,844,582≈ $37,940	￥22,543,387≈ $146,400
HEOR / Market Access Manager	￥15,064,420≈ $97,800	￥10,000,000 to ￥22,335,180≈ $64,920 to $145,000	2	￥5,272,547≈ $34,230	￥20,336,967≈ $132,000
Regulatory Affairs Manager	￥15,000,000≈ $97,380	￥10,000,000 to ￥22,020,600≈ $64,920 to $143,000	4	￥5,250,000≈ $34,080	￥20,250,000≈ $131,500
Medical Advisor	￥13,250,000≈ $86,020	￥8,000,000 to ￥15,000,000≈ $51,940 to $97,380	2	￥4,637,500≈ $30,110	￥17,887,500≈ $116,100
Clinical Study / Project Manager	￥12,652,584≈ $82,140	￥8,645,333 to ￥16,000,000≈ $56,120 to $103,900	2	￥4,428,404≈ $28,750	￥17,080,988≈ $110,900
Quality Assurance Manager	￥12,500,000≈ $81,150	￥10,000,000 to ￥16,000,000≈ $64,920 to $103,900	2	￥4,375,000≈ $28,400	￥16,875,000≈ $109,600
Field Service Manager	￥11,000,000≈ $71,410	￥8,000,000 to ￥12,000,000≈ $51,940 to $77,900	2	￥3,850,000≈ $24,990	￥14,850,000≈ $96,410
Medical Information Manager	￥10,900,000≈ $70,760	￥5,000,000 to ￥13,300,000≈ $32,460 to $86,340	2	￥3,815,000≈ $24,770	￥14,715,000≈ $95,530
Quality Control Manager	￥10,500,000≈ $68,170	￥10,000,000 to ￥12,000,000≈ $64,920 to $77,900	2	￥3,675,000≈ $23,860	￥14,175,000≈ $92,020
Senior Scientist	￥10,000,000≈ $64,920	￥8,000,000 to ￥12,000,000≈ $51,940 to $77,900	2	￥3,500,000≈ $22,720	￥13,500,000≈ $87,640
Medical Science Liaison (MSL)	￥9,300,000≈ $60,380	￥5,915,228 to ￥15,000,000≈ $38,400 to $97,380	3	￥3,255,000≈ $21,130	￥12,555,000≈ $81,510
Data Manager	￥9,000,000≈ $58,430	￥7,000,000 to ￥12,000,000≈ $45,440 to $77,900	2	￥3,150,000≈ $20,450	￥12,150,000≈ $78,880
Field Application Specialist	￥8,500,000≈ $55,180	￥7,000,000 to ￥11,000,000≈ $45,440 to $71,410	2	￥2,975,000≈ $19,310	￥11,475,000≈ $74,490
Data Management Specialist	￥8,059,955≈ $52,320	￥5,915,228 to ￥10,324,590≈ $38,400 to $67,030	2	￥2,820,984≈ $18,310	￥10,880,939≈ $70,640
Scientist	￥7,500,000≈ $48,690	￥6,000,000 to ￥8,000,000≈ $38,950 to $51,940	2	￥2,625,000≈ $17,040	￥10,125,000≈ $65,730
SAS Programmer	￥7,227,816≈ $46,920	￥4,732,182 to ￥10,000,000≈ $30,720 to $64,920	2	￥2,529,736≈ $16,420	￥9,757,552≈ $63,350
Clinical Research Associate (CRA)	￥7,100,256≈ $46,090	￥4,000,000 to ￥10,000,000≈ $25,970 to $64,920	4	￥2,485,090≈ $16,130	￥9,585,346≈ $62,230

What Japan Employers Ask For

Drawn from the 1303 Life Sciences postings we track, at 158 companies hiring in Japan.

State a Japanese Level

Native/Fluent (Native or JLPT N1)
10%
Professional Working Proficiency (JLPT N2)
3%
No mention
87%

State an English Skill

Native/Fluent (TOEIC 945-990)
6%
Professional Working Proficiency (TOEIC 785-944)
15%
Limited Working Proficiency (TOEIC 550-784)
10%
Mentioned, level not specified
12%
No mention
58%

Skills Employers Name

Share of postings stating each term

Clinical Trials
50%
Medical Devices
25%
Regulatory Affairs
23%
Project Management
20%
Stakeholder Management
17%
Clinical Research Associate
17%
Quality Assurance
17%
CRO
16%
Oncology
14%
GCP
14%

Show all 23 terms

PMDA
12%
GMP
12%
Medical Affairs
11%
Pharmacovigilance
11%
Excel
11%
Data Analysis
8%
PowerPoint
7%
Clinical Data Management
6%
MSL
6%
KOL Engagement
6%
Market Access
4%
GVP
3%
Biostatistics
3%

Stated Requirements

Share of postings stating each term

5-9 years of experience
22%
3-4 years of experience
20%
University degree
16%
1-2 years of experience
11%
Management experience
11%
Master's degree
7%
10+ years of experience
5%
Same-industry experience
4%

Go Deeper

Life Sciences Salary Guide

The narrative guide: market context, fee math and hiring notes

All Disciplines

Japan salary benchmarks across every discipline we index

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