Foreign engineer's guide to job hunting in Japan

Japan's IT sector has a real, structural shortage of engineers - government estimates put the gap at around 220,000 people in 2026, growing toward 790,000 by 2030. That shortage is the main reason foreign engineers can get hired here without fluent Japanese, especially in backend, cloud infrastructure, and AI/ML roles.

Where to actually look

• Japan Dev and TokyoDev - both vet listings and filter specifically for "no Japanese required" and "visa sponsorship from abroad," which most general job boards don't let you do.
• LinkedIn - most senior foreign hires in Japan start here, especially for roles that aren't advertised publicly.
• General boards (Indeed, Daijob, GaijinPot Jobs) are worth a pass, but expect more noise and more listings that quietly assume Japanese fluency.

What the visa process actually looks like

Most engineers come in on the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa. You'll generally need a bachelor's degree (in a relevant field) or 10+ years of demonstrated experience if you don't have one. Your employer applies for a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) first - that alone typically takes one to three months - and only after that do you apply for the actual visa at a Japanese embassy or consulate.

If you're applying from outside Japan, budget three to six months from first application to your actual start date. If you're already in Japan on another visa, it's usually six to twelve weeks.

Salary expectations

As a rough 2026 baseline: entry-level tech roles tend to start around ¥8M, senior roles ¥12-15M, against a national average salary of about ¥4.6M across all professions. Bilingual engineers (functional in both Japanese and English) tend to earn a real premium - on the order of 15% - over English-only candidates, so language study is a financial decision as much as a cultural one.

Practical checklist

• Filter for "visa sponsorship" or "apply from abroad" explicitly - don't assume a generic listing supports it.
• Get a sense of whether the role is genuinely remote-friendly or expects you in a Tokyo office eventually - "remote" listings vary a lot in practice.
• Ask directly about COE timelines in your first interview - a company that's sponsored visas before will have a real answer.

Official source: JASSO's job-hunting guide covers the broader Japanese recruiting calendar that most employers still follow.