We recruit solutions engineers, solutions architects, technical account managers and customer success managers for foreign enterprise technology vendors in Japan. These are the people Japanese customers deal with most, before and after the sale, and the role has changed.
What we look for
A sales mindset. The gap between sales and solutions engineering has closed. Our clients expect their engineers and architects to find and develop opportunities, and to see where a customer's architecture leaves room to expand, rather than take down requirements and deliver against them. AI now handles much of the preparation of demos and proposals, so an engineer's value lies in discovery, judgement and making the business case.
Technical breadth. The engineers who do well are technically agile. They can work across a customer's environment rather than only within a narrow specialism.
The ability to present. The most sought-after can stand in front of an audience at an event, a webinar or a trade show and explain a technology with authority. They are rare, and they command the highest pay.
Advisory, not support. Technical account managers and customer success managers increasingly want roles where they shape how a customer uses the product, not roles spent reacting to tickets. Strong candidates will ask pointed questions to check that a role is not support under another name, and the brief should be able to answer them.
Japanese customers' expectations. Japanese customers expect support in Japanese, quick answers and a clear explanation of the root cause when something goes wrong. That makes the TAM or customer success manager part of how the product is sold, not only how it is supported.
What candidates look for
Many of the strongest candidates are looking for upside as much as salary. RSUs and equity in a company heading for a large IPO weigh heavily in their decisions. At the extreme end, we have spoken with a principal architect, close to field CTO level, whose package was well over ¥50 million. That is an exception, but it shows what the scarcest profiles can command.
For typical ranges, see our pay article on enterprise technology roles in Japan. Solutions engineers are usually paid around 70:30 base to variable, and technical account managers and customer success managers around 80:20.
Getting the brief right
At market entry, one technical person often covers both pre-sales and post-sales, because the first engineer needs to answer customers and partners from the first day. As the team grows, the roles separate. The brief should say which of these the role is, because the two attract different candidates.
Frequently asked questions
What does a solutions engineer earn in Japan?
Typical ranges for solutions engineers, technical account managers and customer success managers at foreign enterprise technology vendors are set out in our pay article. The scarcest senior architects are paid well above those ranges.
What is the difference between a technical account manager and a customer success manager?
A technical account manager is the customer's technical counterpart after the sale and works on architecture, issues and adoption. A customer success manager owns the overall relationship and the outcomes the customer bought the product for. Many vendors in Japan combine the two at first.
When should the first solutions engineer join?
We recommend hiring the first technical person alongside the country manager, so that customers and partners get answers in Japan from the start.