HIRING: Senior Software Engineer in Tokyo (No Japanese Required)
If you’re a senior software engineer looking for a role in Japan where you can work in English, take ownership, and contribute to products already used by major enterprise customers, check out this opportunity.
This is not a role where you receive tickets and implement individual features.
Japanese is not required, the engineering environment is English-friendly, and candidates currently living overseas will be considered.
You are expected to take ownership of technical projects across frontend, backend, data, and architecture, while working closely with Product, Design, and Business teams.
Quick Role Overview
| Position | Senior Software Engineer |
| Salary | ¥7M–¥11M |
| Location | Ginza, Tokyo |
| Work Style | Hybrid — around 1 day per week in the office |
| Employment | Full-time |
| Language | English required / Japanese not required |
| Experience | 7+ years of professional software engineering experience |
| Main Stack | TypeScript, React, Node.js, NestJS, Prisma, MongoDB, Redis, AWS |
| Relocation | Overseas candidates can be considered |
What Does the Company Do?
This is a Japanese technology company focused on improving productivity within Japan’s service industry.
The company develops a portfolio of digital products covering areas such as:
Customer acquisition and quotation management
Business operations and workflow management
Digital ordering and procurement
Operational efficiency and automation
Its products are already being used by major enterprise customers in Japan.
The broader mission behind the business is ambitious: helping improve productivity in Japan by giving service-sector businesses better technology and more efficient ways to operate.
For engineers, this means you’re not simply building isolated internal tools. You’ll be working on production systems solving real operational problems at scale.
What Will You Do as a Senior Software Engineer?
The Senior Software Engineer position sits across the stack.
You’ll work primarily with TypeScript, using technologies including React on the frontend and Node.js, NestJS, Prisma, and MongoDB on the backend.
But the role goes beyond simply implementing frontend or backend features.
You’ll be expected to understand the wider system, make technical decisions, and own projects from initial design through production.
Your responsibilities can include:
Designing and delivering features across frontend and backend
Making architectural and technical design decisions
Improving core backend systems and data persistence layers
Designing and working with complex data models
Building integrations with external platforms
Improving system reliability and maintainability
Investigating and optimizing application performance
Working with asynchronous systems and distributed workflows
Reviewing code and improving engineering standards
Mentoring other engineers
Contributing to open-source projects and upstream dependencies
You’ll also collaborate closely with people outside engineering, including Product, Design, Operations, and other business stakeholders.
That makes communication and product thinking important alongside your technical skills.
The Technology Stack
The engineering organization uses TypeScript extensively across its development environment.
Some of the main technologies include:
Frontend
TypeScript
React
Vercel
Backend
TypeScript
Node.js
NestJS
Prisma
MongoDB
Redis
Infrastructure
AWS
ECS
CloudFront
S3
SQS
Lambda
The company is looking for engineers who are comfortable thinking beyond one layer of the application.
You do not necessarily need to be equally specialized in every technology, but you should be capable of understanding how frontend, backend, databases, infrastructure, and architecture interact.
What Makes This Senior Engineering Role Different?
One of the biggest attractions of this position is the level of technical ownership.
Many senior engineering positions still involve receiving specifications and primarily focusing on implementation.
Here, you’ll be expected to help determine how the system should be built, not only write the code.
You could take ownership of technically challenging areas such as:
Complex data modelling
Algorithm and performance optimization
Backend architecture
System reliability
Platform integrations
Asynchronous processing
Database and persistence design
The engineering team places particular importance on reliability, maintainability, testability, and long-term technical quality.
So rather than optimizing purely for development speed, you’ll need to think about how technical decisions affect the product months or years into the future.
What Experience Do You Need?
This is a genuinely senior engineering position.
You should have:
7+ years of professional software engineering experience
Significant professional experience using TypeScript
At least 2 years of hands-on React experience, or experience with another modern frontend framework
Strong backend engineering experience
Experience with database modelling
Understanding of SQL and/or ORM tools such as Prisma
Knowledge of asynchronous application architecture
Experience delivering reliable production systems
Strong understanding of maintainability, testing, and code quality
Experience working with Git, pull requests, CI/CD, and automated testing
Experience collaborating with Product, Design, Operations, or other stakeholders
Your overall engineering maturity is important.
The team is looking for someone who can identify technical problems, evaluate trade-offs, and take ownership rather than waiting for detailed implementation instructions.
Skills That Would Give You an Advantage
There are also several areas of experience that are useful but not mandatory:
Docker or other container technologies
AWS or GCP
Machine learning
Recommendation systems
Performance measurement and optimization
Bottleneck investigation
Conversational Japanese
Conversational Japanese around JLPT N3 level or above would be useful, but Japanese ability is not required for the position.
Do You Need Japanese?
No.
This is one of the more notable aspects of the opportunity for international engineers looking at Japan.
You need to be able to perform your responsibilities professionally in English.
Internal communication is primarily conducted in English, although Japanese and translation tools may also be used depending on the situation.
The interview process is also conducted in English.
If you already speak Japanese, that will naturally help when living and working in Japan, but it is not a requirement for getting hired.
Can You Apply From Overseas?
Yes.
Candidates who are currently based outside Japan can also be considered.
That makes the opportunity particularly relevant if you’re an experienced engineer interested in moving to Japan but have found your options limited by Japanese-language requirements.
You’ll still need to meet the technical expectations of the position, particularly around seniority, TypeScript, and full-stack engineering experience.
What Is the Working Style?
The position is based in Ginza, Tokyo, with a hybrid working environment.
You’ll generally be expected to come into the office around once per week.
The company operates a flexible working-hours system with core hours between 11:00 and 16:00.
The office is accessible from several central Tokyo stations, including Higashi-Ginza, Ginza, Shimbashi, Tsukiji Market, and Shiodome.
Salary and Benefits
The salary range for the position is:
¥7,000,000–¥11,000,000 per year
Your final compensation will depend on your experience, skills, and current compensation.
The salary includes a fixed overtime allowance equivalent to 40 hours per month. Overtime beyond that amount is paid separately.
Benefits include:
Social insurance
Paid annual leave granted from your joining month
Saturdays, Sundays, and Japanese public holidays off
Year-end and New Year holidays
Maternity, childcare, and elder-care leave
Commuting allowance of up to ¥50,000 per month
Regular health checks
Company-provided computer
Team lunch and social-event subsidies
Babysitting discounts
Office convenience store
Developer tooling provided for engineers
The company lists approximately 125 days of annual holidays.
Who Would This Role Suit?
This opportunity could be particularly interesting if you’re a senior engineer who wants more ownership over what you build.
It could be a strong match if you:
Enjoy working across frontend and backend rather than specializing exclusively in one area
Want to influence architecture and engineering standards
Prefer solving complex technical problems rather than simply completing tickets
Care about reliability and maintainability
Enjoy collaborating directly with Product and Business teams
Want to mentor other engineers
Want to work in Japan without needing professional Japanese
Are currently overseas and considering relocation to Tokyo
It may be less suitable if you’re looking for a narrowly defined frontend-only or backend-only position, as the company expects senior engineers to think across the wider system.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Japanese required for this position?
No. Japanese is not required. You should be comfortable working professionally in English, which is the primary language used within the engineering environment and during the interview process.
Conversational Japanese is considered a plus.
Can I apply if I don't currently live in Japan?
Yes. Candidates currently living overseas can be considered for the position.
Is this a fully remote position?
No. The role is hybrid. You should expect to work from the Ginza office approximately once per week.
How much experience do I need?
The company is looking for engineers with at least 7 years of professional software engineering experience.
Because this is a senior position, they are also looking for evidence that you can independently own technical projects and make architectural decisions.
Do I need React experience?
You should have at least two years of experience with React or another comparable modern frontend framework.
Do I need TypeScript experience?
Yes. TypeScript is one of the most important technologies in the company’s engineering environment, so significant TypeScript experience is expected.
Is this a frontend or backend role?
Neither exclusively.
This is a full-stack senior engineering position where you can work across frontend, backend, databases, architecture, and infrastructure.
You may naturally be stronger in certain areas, but you should be comfortable understanding and contributing across the system.
What kind of technical problems could I work on?
Depending on the project, you could work on areas including performance optimization, complex data modelling, asynchronous architecture, backend systems, platform integrations, system reliability, and product features spanning frontend and backend.
Is this a management position?
No. This is primarily a senior individual-contributor engineering position.
However, you’ll have opportunities to mentor other engineers and influence technical standards, code quality, and architecture.
