Talent Acquisition Manager, Japan

About the role

Blue Bottle Coffee is looking for a Talent Acquisition Manager, Japan to lead our recruitment efforts across Japan.

Build a talent acquisition strategy for major growth and execute creative hiring solutions that entice the right type of profile.

This role will own the end-to-end talent acquisition agenda for the Japan market, covering both corporate/office positions and café frontline roles. You will partner closely with the Japan leadership team, hiring managers, café operations, and HR to ensure we attract and hire great talent who can contribute to both our business and our culture.

You will also manage and develop two Recruiters, while remaining hands-on in recruitment yourself. This is a role for someone who enjoys building and improving how recruiting works—not simply managing an established process.

You will

Lead Talent Acquisition for Japan

• Own the overall talent acquisition strategy and execution for Blue Bottle Coffee Japan.

• Lead end-to-end recruitment for corporate and office-based positions across functions and levels.

• Oversee recruitment for our café teams, ensuring we can consistently attract and hire high-quality frontline talent as the business grows.

• Partner with business and HR leaders to translate workforce plans and business priorities into practical hiring plans.

• Personally lead critical, senior, or difficult-to-fill searches when needed.

Build Strong Retail Recruitment

• Develop scalable and effective recruitment approaches for café positions across Japan.

• Partner closely with Café Operations and café leaders to understand hiring demand, workforce challenges, and local talent-market conditions.

• Improve sourcing channels, recruitment campaigns, selection processes, and candidate conversion for frontline hiring.

• Balance hiring speed and volume with Blue Bottle’s standards for quality, hospitality, and culture.

Strengthen Our Recruiting Capabilities

• Continuously improve the candidate and hiring-manager experience, from initial contact through offer and onboarding handoff.

• Build stronger sourcing capabilities and reduce reliance on external agencies where appropriate.

• Use recruiting data and market insights to identify bottlenecks, evaluate channel effectiveness, and improve hiring outcomes.

• Establish clear recruiting rhythms, processes, standards, and reporting for the Japan organization.

• Support employer-brand initiatives and help bring the Blue Bottle employee experience to life in the talent market.

Lead and Partner

• Manage, coach, and develop one Recruiter, providing clear priorities, guidance, and ongoing feedback.

• Build trusted relationships with hiring managers and act as a talent advisor—not simply an order taker.

• Partner closely with the Head of Human Resources, Japan and the broader People team on workforce planning, organizational priorities, and talent initiatives.

• Collaborate with regional and global People colleagues where relevant, while ensuring solutions work effectively for the Japan market.

You have

Solid experience in talent acquisition, with 3 years above experience in the consumer industry.

Experience recruiting across both corporate/professional roles and high-volume frontline or retail roles is strongly preferred.

In-house experience is a must; headhunter experience would be strongly preferred as an add-on.

Strong hands-on sourcing and recruiting capability; comfortable personally running searches from intake through offer.

Good understanding of the Japan talent market, recruiting channels, and candidate expectations.

Ability to work effectively with senior business leaders as well as frontline operational teams.

Strong judgment and the ability to balance speed, quality, candidate experience, and business needs.

Comfortable working in a fast-moving environment where processes and ways of working continue to evolve.

Data-oriented and able to use recruiting metrics to identify problems and drive improvement.

Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Fluent Japanese and business-level English.