Japan Recruitment Specialist

Japan Recruitment Specialist

Global Headhunting Firm | Remote (Japan-based) | Full-Time

About Us

We are an established international headhunting and recruitment firm operating across more than 50 countries. We work with a diverse client base — from fast-scaling technology companies to global multinationals — placing talent across industries including Technology, Life Sciences, Finance, Manufacturing, CleanTech, and Retail.

We are a lean, high-performing team that values quality over volume and takes pride in doing recruitment properly. As we expand our presence in Asia, we are looking for a Japan market specialist to join our global delivery team.

The Opportunity

This is a pure delivery role. No cold calling. No chasing clients. No business development targets.

Your mandate is singular: identify, engage, and present the best available talent in Japan. Briefs come to you — your job is to execute on them with speed, rigor, and quality. You will work on a variety of searches simultaneously, spanning multiple industries, company types, seniority levels, and job functions. The ability to shift gears between a technical search one week and a commercial or back-office role the next is central to what makes someone thrive here.

What You Will Do

• Design and run targeted sourcing campaigns across the Japan market using direct headhunting, LinkedIn, local job boards, and professional networks.
• Conduct structured screening calls to evaluate candidates on experience, motivation, communication, and fit — then document your findings clearly and concisely.
• Build and present polished candidate shortlists that give clients a clear, confident basis for moving forward.
• Own the candidate experience from first contact through to offer — briefing, preparing, managing feedback, and keeping people engaged throughout.
• Develop and maintain a living pipeline of passive talent across multiple sectors and functions in Japan.
• Track market intelligence: compensation benchmarks, talent availability, hiring trends, and competitor activity in the Japan market.
• Work closely with colleagues across different time zones to align on briefs, calibrate submissions, and continuously improve search quality.

Types of Roles You Will Recruit For

Expect genuine variety. You will not be pigeonholed into one function or industry. Examples of what comes through:

• Commercial: Country Managers, Sales Directors, Business Development, Account Executives, Pre-Sales
• Technical: Software Engineers, Data Scientists, DevOps, IT Infrastructure, R&D
• Back Office: Finance, HR, Legal, Operations, Supply Chain, Administration
• Executive: Director, VP, and C-suite placements across all functions
• Sectors: Technology, Life Sciences, FinTech, Manufacturing, Retail, CleanTech, and others

What We Are Looking For

• A minimum of 3 years of agency recruitment experience in Japan with direct, hands-on experience recruiting in the Japanese market.
• A track record of successfully filling roles across different functions and seniority levels, not just one specialty.
• Real sourcing ability: you can find and engage passive candidates, not just sort through inbound applications.
• Strong assessment instincts and the writing skills to translate a good interview into a compelling candidate presentation.
• Professional-level Japanese (business or native) and solid written English for communication with a global team.
• Self-directed and organized — you manage your own desk, hit your own deadlines, and don't wait to be told what to do next.
• A genuine commitment to quality: you won't send a candidate forward unless you'd stand behind them.

Bonus Points

• Experience placing talent for foreign companies entering or growing in Japan.
• Familiarity with Japan-specific platforms such as Daijob, Bizreach, or Wantedly.
• Sector experience in Tech, Life Sciences, or Financial Services.
• Previous experience in a remote, globally distributed team.

What We Offer

• A focused role with no business development responsibility — ever.
• Constant variety: different clients, industries, and role types keep the work genuinely interesting.
• Full remote flexibility — work from anywhere in Japan.
• Competitive base compensation with meaningful performance-based upside.
• A collaborative international team with deep recruitment expertise and a strong, established client base.

• Agency recruitment experience in Japan: at least 3 years of hands-on recruiting in the Japan market.

• Strong sourcing/headhunting ability: direct sourcing via LinkedIn, local job boards, professional networks, and passive-candidate outreach.

• Candidate assessment and screening: ability to run structured screens on experience, motivation, communication, and fit.

• Shortlisting and presentation skills: can write clear, persuasive candidate summaries and present polished shortlists.

• Candidate management: able to own the process from first contact through offer, including feedback and engagement.

• Market intelligence: understanding of compensation benchmarks, talent availability, hiring trends, and competitor activity in Japan.

• Multi-sector recruiting: comfortable recruiting across commercial, technical, back-office, and executive roles.

• Japanese and English communication: professional-level Japanese plus solid written English.

• Organization and self-direction: able to manage your own pipeline, deadlines, and multiple searches at once.

• Quality judgment: strong standards and the confidence to reject weak candidates.

Bonus / nice-to-have skills

• Experience placing talent for foreign companies entering or growing in Japan.

• Familiarity with Daijob, Bizreach, or Wantedly.

• Sector exposure in Tech, Life Sciences, or Financial Services.

• Experience working in a remote, globally distributed team.