🇯🇵 Japan Hiring Trends

How startup hiring in Japan is changing and which roles are in demand, measured as shares of startup job postings so it reflects hiring rather than how many startups we track.

Share of startup postings: 0.72%; Last 12 months
Change in share: +6.2%; From 0.68% the 12 months before
Most in-demand role: Account Executive; 5.6% of postings here

Japan's share of startup hiring

Japan accounted for 0.72% of startup job postings in the last 12 months, up from 0.68% in the 12 months before.

Japan share of startup job postings

Per quarter since Q1 2017.

Show the data

Quarter	Share of postings
Q1 2017	0.40%
Q2 2017	0.38%
Q3 2017	0.49%
Q4 2017	0.38%
Q1 2018	0.41%
Q2 2018	0.50%
Q3 2018	0.35%
Q4 2018	0.44%
Q1 2019	0.51%
Q2 2019	0.45%
Q3 2019	0.52%
Q4 2019	0.64%
Q1 2020	0.64%
Q2 2020	0.84%
Q3 2020	0.59%
Q4 2020	0.66%
Q1 2021	0.57%
Q2 2021	0.54%
Q3 2021	0.45%
Q4 2021	0.45%
Q1 2022	0.50%
Q2 2022	0.40%
Q3 2022	0.42%
Q4 2022	0.43%
Q1 2023	0.39%
Q2 2023	0.37%
Q3 2023	0.46%
Q4 2023	0.52%
Q1 2024	0.48%
Q2 2024	0.60%
Q3 2024	0.69%
Q4 2024	0.76%
Q1 2025	0.70%
Q2 2025	0.65%
Q3 2025	0.64%
Q4 2025	0.71%
Q1 2026	0.77%
Q2 2026	0.72%
Q3 2026	0.71%

Roles in demand in Japan

Account Executive is the most in-demand startup role in Japan, with 5.6% of postings in the last 12 months.

Largest roles

Role	Share, prior 12 months	Share, last 12 months	Change
Account Executive	4.2%	5.6%	+31.6%
Account Manager	3.1%	4.5%	+44.6%
Customer Service	4.8%	3.8%	-19.5%
Business Development	2.0%	2.4%	+22.1%
Software Engineer	2.7%	2.2%	-19.9%
H.R.	0.00%	1.6%
Project Manager	0.30%	1.3%	+320.3%
Enterprise Account Executive	0.38%	0.99%	+161.5%
Product Manager	0.00%	0.95%
Sales Manager	0.53%	0.88%	+66.1%
Support Engineer	0.56%	0.82%	+47.2%
Sales Engineer	0.00%	0.79%
Finance/Accounting	0.00%	0.77%
Customer Success Manager	0.00%	0.66%
Marketing Manager	0.00%	0.50%

Roles gaining share

Role	Share, prior 12 months	Share, last 12 months	Change
Project Manager	0.30%	1.3%	+320.3%
Enterprise Account Executive	0.38%	0.99%	+161.5%
Sales Manager	0.53%	0.88%	+66.1%
Head of Human Resources	0.20%	0.30%	+47.9%
Support Engineer	0.56%	0.82%	+47.2%

Methodology

Trends come from job postings on startup.jobs, sourced from startups' career pages and jobs posted directly by employers. Employers our vetting rejected or couldn't confirm as startups are left out.
We keep adding startups, so posting counts grow even when hiring doesn't. Every trend is therefore a share of all startup postings in the same period, which stays comparable as coverage grows.
Broad catch-all titles such as Manager or Specialist are left out of role rankings.
Quarterly shares start in 2017 and cover complete quarters. Changes compare the last 12 full months with the 12 before.

You are welcome to cite these figures with a link: Source: Startup Jobs, startup.jobs/locations/japan/trends

For salaries, remote work, and AI hiring, see the startup hiring statistics.