RResidents in Japan

Weird offer from Nomura

  • September 8, 2025

I received an unofficial offer from Nomura for Software Engineering job for Senior Associate level. I have been offered a base of 6.5M JPY and 860k jpy housing benefits. The bonus shared with me verbally is 2M JPY. Now here's the catch, initially the recruiter told me bonus would be around 1M JPY and hence I rejected the offer as it was too low and far below my minimum acceptable of 9M total comp. After rejection, the department head reached out and asked my total target and said the bonus figure was off and I would get 2M JPY for my band even if I show average performance. Is the offer to be trusted here? Is 2M a very normal bonus for a senior associate software engineer? Remember this is back office related job profile.

by Playful-Breadfruit54

14 comments

  2. Nomura does not write bonus numbers on the offer letter. I’ve seen this with Japanese companies sometimes (companies like Nissan too, etc)

    While they don’t publish it, their bonuses are pretty stable. Don’t take the recruiter’s word for it. But if HR gives you the verbal amount it should be OK.

    If it was a system integrator like TCS, they’ve offer a big bonus and only pay half. But Nomura is pretty stable. Tech teams are pretty international so good working environment and flex options. It’s just HR that is domestic and domestic Japanese people hate liability and will avoid at all costs. Hence, they don’t write the bonus.

    Sounds like a decent offer tho

  3. 2m bonus on a 6.5m salary; that’s really pretty high; it’s rare to see bonus above 3 months salary for normal (non executive) employees imo.

    Ask for more money. Then enjoy a bonus calculated on your higher salary. If they are so confident about the bonus it should be easy for them to split the difference and pay you 7.5 with a 1m bonus right?

  4. I would trust it. Manager would have the on the ground numbers. The percent of bonus vs base is pretty reasonable. When I was at a big domestic corp, our bonuses were about 5-6 months of base salary on average. You can check online and see what other big companies are doing too. Toyota this year paid 7.6 months as bonus.

  8. This comes from experience but not from Nomura, I’ve been changing jobs often as an SE for compensation growth, even did some dispatch SE just because I didn’t know better, I also have big brands in my resume.
    If you’re a foreigner I’d say don’t trust the bonuses, besides you probably won’t get it on your first year on the Job.
    It differs from company to company but Japanese managers use that bonus as a tool to slave drive you IMHO.
    General consensus is that the evaluation systems in Japanese companies are termed to be objective but become subjective at the end of the day, they compare you to every employee they have and this is why they don’t put bonuses on paper so they can lowball you or reward you based on your evaluation and company performance. 🙂
    For reference, highest bonus I got was 7x my basic pay, but that was a really tough year. Lowest was none at all just because I’m new. It comes and it goes.

  10. 6.5M is pathetic for a senior level role. Don’t let them low ball you. They are a big enough org and can afford to pay you appropriately. Do you really want to work for a company that won’t put the bonus amount in your employment contract?

    Also, you said 9M is your minimum. Why are you even entertaining this — 8.5 < 9? 2M will probably be your max bonus, but since it’s not in your offer, you aren’t even guaranteed that.

  11. You should contact the recruiter since they shared the initial offer number. The dept head may not have correct numbers to share (sounds odd but in some companies, HR have the official authority to calculate and offer). As others have said, 2mil bonus for 6.5M base is quite high, and all the more reason to check with the recruiter.

    Also, the bonus is often not listed in writing because it will change depending on performance and so a specific number is not guaranteed.

  12. Senior Associate should be around 10M base salary. So if they came back to you try to negotiate. Not sure if you can go from 6.5M to 10M, probably not. But you have nothing to lose if you have already rejected them. 

  13. Yeah, be careful with bonuses. Legally they don’t have to pay them. And companies can cut them in half, due to company performance or your performance. So expect your salary to be only 6M only.

    Make sure the contract outlines bonus payplan. eg. Annually On the month may.
    And put the bonus as a percentage of your salary instead of one time lump sum.

    But better just avoid the bonuses all together and put the compensation into monthly salary.(Discretionary allows or babe pay).
    Base pay is better because your pension will be higher.

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