Engineer Salaries in Japan 2019 – Averages by Position

What salaries can you realistically expect as an engineer in Japan? Gain insight into the average income in a variety of IT-related positions.

IT jobs are among the top 10 highest paying professions in Japan. Japan has a high demand for people with IT skills and companies are increasingly looking for foreigners to meet their needs. To create lasting working relations, companies are opening up, by reducing Japanese requirements, hiring English staff, and otherwise lowering the hurdles for foreigners.

Income data is provided by gender across all ages, and for people in their 20s to provide concrete and realistic salary expectations. Salaries are shown in units of ¥10.000.

IT/Communications

The average salary for an engineer in IT/Communications in 2019 was 4,570,000 JPY. Male engineers made 4,760,000 JPY per year on average, women 3,930,000 JPY. The average yearly salary for young people in their 20s was 3,730,000 JPY. For more details, see the table below.

Position	Male	Female	20s
Average	476	393	373
Project Manager	673	535	472
Presale	665	503	445
IT Consultant	644	500	463
R & D Engineer	571	454	426
Data Scientist	533※	467※	449
IT Strategist / System Planner	618	468	409
System Implementation Engineer	468	401	386
Server Engineer	474	395	385
Database Engineer	433※	341※	362
Network Engineer	474	351	373
Application Developer	451※	393※	370
System Engineer / Programmer	437	381	366
System Developer	488	403	371
Web Service Engineer	444	382	372
Control System Software Engineer	454	360	355
Technical Support	438	380	351
Operation & Maintenance Engineer	389	351	333
Debug / Testing	407	345	318
Help Desk	353	336	306

Salaries in 10,000 Yen.
※No data available for employees in their 40s, and or 50s, leading to smaller average income.

Electrical/ Electronic/ Mechanical

Position	Male	Female	20s
Average	476	382	383
Product Planning Engineer	577	458	422
Circuit Design Engineer	554	427	414
Field Application Engineer	512※	451※	414
Process Engineer	500	386	406
Mechanical Designer	494※	400※	406
Control Design Engineer	481※	385※	388
Project Manager	586	423	355
Quality Control	475	358	361
Evaluation/ Experiment Engineer	447	369	374
Service Engineer	452	373	378
Production Control	489	427	394
CAD Operator	374※	309※	312
CAE Analyst	486※	385※	386
Manufacturing Engineer	367※	273※	323
Evaluation/ Debug Engineer	402※	320※	359
Mechanic	392※	355※	345

Source: doda 「平均年収ランキング2019」, published on January 20th, 2020.
The ranking is based on survey answers of 400,000 Japanese engineers.

More about your income

Entry-Level

Looking at entry-level jobs, expecting to get the above pay from the first year is not realistic. Top-paying companies can give you a salary of up to ¥300.000 per month. However, most entry-level jobs (for the average, 22-year old university graduate with little practical work experience) start at around ¥200.000.

If you’re used to numbers like you can find them in the US, this (as well as the overall average) might seem low but is considered to be normal. It’s a potential/safety tradeoff – it’s very hard for Japanese companies to outright fire regular full-time employees ( 正社員せいしゃいん), so job security is pretty high.

Generally speaking, the bigger the company, the higher your entry-level salary is going to be. According to data from the National Personnel Authority (NPA, 人事院じんじいん), the average starting salary at a company with 100 to 500 employees is 3% higher than at a company with 50 to 100 employees. And companies with over 500 employees pay 3% more than those with 100-500. Keep in mind that these are just statistics – in the real world, “high salary” doesn’t automatically have to mean “big company”.

Many companies will only put an income range in the job ad, deciding your actual income based on your skills, sometimes also taking your age into consideration. A higher degree in your field means more pay right from the start. However, the gap often isn’t very big, to the point that it’s not worth to stay in university for a few years longer just to get that little bit of extra money. Most Japanese students start working with the typical 4-year BA (学士号がくしごう).

Income Gap

The difference in average income for women and men in the table is not the nominal difference for the same work. Part of the imbalance is caused by the fewer number of women in senior positions. That said, Japan’s gender wage gap is one of the biggest in developed countries. It is a work in progress, but Japanese companies (maybe too late, maybe too little) have started moving to address issues of equality and empowering women in the workplace.

More information

For more info, check out job ads and websites like Glassdoor, where Japanese (ex)employees post reviews of their companies. These can be a good additional information source on typical pay for a specific position or company. However, when looking at reviews you should keep in mind that a dissatisfied employee is more likely to write one than someone who’s happy with their job.

You might find that Japanese people won’t be forthcoming with information about their income, as it is not customary in Japan to discuss salary, especially among coworkers.
If you do have concerns regarding unfair payment, hoping for a raise or anything, consult with HR or a superior you trust.