Careers

Careers

We are looking for people who can carry a client’s GMS target as their own number. For those who want to leave an impact on society in the form of GMS. We are in the middle of growing our organization toward 40 people and beyond. Our systems and our thinking on compensation — we show all of it to you first, on this page.

Before meeting us, please read the five conditions of people who are not a fit for our company. If they apply to you, another company will surely suit you better.
Who should not join this company — five things to know before joining (in Japanese) →

Book a Meeting

Applying outright feels heavy. Let’s talk first.

Let’s talk before any paperwork. What we ask in our selection process is already published on this page. If you read it and felt “that’s close to me,” a 30-minute conversation will be faster than polishing your documents first. The only required field is your email address.

Request a meeting

The information you provide (email address and article read) is used only for recruitment screening and arranging meetings. It is not used for any other purpose (such as marketing). If you are not hired, data related to your selection will be deleted after the selection process ends. To request deletion, please contact info@5co.ltd. For details on how we handle information, please see our Privacy Policy.

Your Path

Start from the entry point closest to you

Depending on your background, the level you join at and the autonomy we give you differ. Please read from the one closest to you.

Potential

If you are about to learn the patterns

Join at G1 or G2

No professional experience is required. What we value is speed of thinking and dialogue, and a habit of reflecting on yourself and improving. You can learn hands-on Amazon and Rakuten work fastest through our “patterns” after joining. From your 13th month you become the one handing the patterns to junior members — an organization where those who were developed go on to develop others.

  • Early-career professionals (2–3 years into working life)
  • Comfortable with numbers
  • Interested in e-commerce or digital work
Professional

If you have experience with both numbers and developing people

Join at G3 or G4

Any industry is fine. If you have both experience committing to your own numbers and experience being responsible for developing direct reports or junior colleagues, catching up on advertising and e-commerce after joining is enough. As the DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) for your accounts, you make calls under your own name.

  • Owned numerical targets in ad operations, e-commerce, sales, or similar
  • Developed people as a store manager or team leader
  • Looking for autonomy and a clear growth path
Executive

If you don’t want strategy to end in a proposal deck

Join at G5 or G6

For those who have been drawing up strategies at consulting firms. Here, strategy is executed on the storefront and comes back as measurable impact in the form of GMS. Compensation is in a range on par with managers at consulting firms, together with the autonomy to run a business unit. The job is to turn a star player’s skills into a system anyone can reproduce.

  • Management experience at a consulting firm, agency, or operating company
  • Want to own “execution and results” beyond the proposal
  • Want to grow an organization through systems and developing people
Growth Design

Hand over, then climb.

At 5 co., the condition for promotion is handing your current work over completely to those who follow. It is not those who hold on to work who climb, but those who hand it over. Completing the work yourself makes you “half-fledged.” Handing it over completely to the next generation makes you a “full professional.” That is why, at this company, developing people is a prerequisite for your own career.

Our company name comes from The Book of Five Rings — and its Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void are, just as they are, the steps of a career. You build your foundation with Earth, take on the patterns like Water and change shape, compete with Fire, learn the outside world with Wind, and on reaching the Void, let go.

AI採用コーディネーター青山 和樹
Roles and annual salary ranges by Grade
Grade Five Rings Role Annual salary range (guide)
G1 Junior Earth Learning the fundamentals. You start out “easy to coach,” building trust through the speed and quality of your reporting, updates, and consultation. JPY 3.9M (JPY 300K/month, single rate)
G2 Associate Earth Full ownership and accountability for your own work. You design the annual numerical targets for the clients you handle and commit to them. From your 13th month, you become the one who hands the patterns of the work to junior members. JPY 4M–5M
G3 Consultant Water The first level at which you make calls under your own name. As the DRI (Directly Responsible Individual) for your accounts, you own the numbers and hand questions and decision-making experience to those who follow. JPY 5.5M–7.15M
G4 Lead Fire The level of a “full professional.” You turn your own judgment criteria into explicit knowledge, hand it over completely to the next generation, and free your hands to move on to new challenges. JPY 7M–9.1M
G5 Senior Wind You own the quality and P&L of multiple teams and “develop the developers.” You turn one person’s craftsmanship into a system anyone can reproduce. JPY 9M–12.6M
G6 Manager Wind You run a business unit. You are responsible for its P&L and people, and you grow the organization itself. JPY 14M–21M (applied in stages)
G7 / G8 VP / Exec Void Running internal management and the company as a whole. You design the systems, and in the end you let go, handing over to someone better suited than yourself. Individually designed

Ranges are a guide. The upper band of each range is designed to open up in step with the company’s GMS growth, so the more the company grows, the higher each individual’s ceiling rises. Responsibilities are paid as allowances, so roles and compensation correspond one to one. We will share details in a meeting.

Who We Look For

Not “people who keep moving themselves,” but “people who can amplify results through systems”

What we value most in hiring is leverage — the ability to produce the results of many people, not one person’s worth, through systematization, automation, and developing others. The following four are required at every Grade.

01

A drive to systematize

You can break your work down into patterns, procedures, and judgment criteria and hand it to others. Only when the work you handed over runs without you can you climb to the next level.

02

Ownership and accountability

You deliver results through systems, not through personal busyness. When things go wrong, you can analyze the structure and take responsibility for it.

03

Leaning into AI and systems

Leave precise, repetitive work to AI and systems, and spend human time on ideas no one has explored. You enjoy this shift.

04

A habit of reporting, updating, and consulting

You present while owning the numbers at the client OKR meeting held every business day, and respond quickly to feedback. You keep records, and build trust through those records.

Interview

We publish in advance what we will ask in the selection process

That’s because we want to see real, reproducible examples, not how smoothly you answer on the spot. Please come prepared to talk about the following four in your own words.

  1. 1. A concrete example of systematizing or documenting your work and handing it to someone else (after you handed it over, was it reproduced?)
  2. 2. A real example of multiplying results through automation, systems, or templates
  3. 3. An experience of understanding a failure structurally and running improvements
  4. 4. An experience of creating a situation that “runs even without you”
The Dojo

Real combat is the best education

Development happens not in a training room but in the “dojo.” That dojo is the client OKR meeting held every business day, where we face our clients and the numbers. It is a morning meeting where we check goals and progress, client by client.

Phase 1

Imitate the patterns

First, you take on document creation and analysis in-house and thoroughly imitate the “patterns” of senior members. This is where your fundamentals set fastest.

Phase 2

Ask questions in the dojo

The client OKR meeting held every business day is our “dojo.” You present while owning the numbers, ask questions, and gain experience leading discussions. It is real combat, right at the edge of where failure is still allowed.

Phase 3

Face it on your own

You face clients on your own, as someone who brings back “results,” not “answers.” And then it is your turn to become a master of the dojo.

Behavior Code

Behavior Code

Five principles for moving toward a single goal — maximizing our clients’ GMS — across differences in role.

The thinking behind this Behavior Code is set out in a signed message from our CEO, Takeshi Wakamatsu.
Read the CEO message “The Social Responsibility and Role of Marketing” →

  1. 01

    Outcome First

    No results, no reward. Be obsessed with results over process.

  2. 02

    Fact Based

    Speak with data and facts, not opinions.

  3. 03

    Anticipate

    Get ahead of client expectations and deliver surprise.

  4. 04

    Speed is Quality

    Decide on the spot. Speed is the greatest added value.

  5. 05

    Be Professional

    Act on logic, not emotion. Conduct yourself as a professional.

Work Style

Work Style

Here are 5 co.'s policies on working hours and side jobs, and the reasons behind them.

Working hours: 9:00 start. No flextime.

We align everyone's body clock to the morning-sunlight hours. This is a decision based on scientific grounds, made for the quality of our members' sleep and for their growth.

The other reason is productivity. To keep working hours short, we choose a way of working where no one ends up doing overtime because their hours don't line up with the team's.

Side jobs: not permitted.

The only exception is education, such as serving as a university professor (there is precedent for this).

In the age of AI, keeping our proprietary data closed, just as we protect client data, has become a company's lifeline.

Open Positions

Open Positions

We update this page as our hiring situation changes. Even for roles or Grades not listed here, casual meetings are welcome.

Analytics
Data Analyst (Amazon Marketplace Management)

You will identify growth opportunities for brands from search, advertising, share, and price data, and run the analysis that moves our clients’ GMS. The job does not end with analysis: it covers proposing initiatives and validating them.

Full-time Minato-ku, Tokyo (Onarimon)

What you will do

  • Analyze Amazon Marketplace data (search rankings, share, pricing, advertising)
  • Design and build reports used in clients’ management and sales meetings
  • Run advertising investment simulations and propose budget allocations
  • Continuously improve our analytics infrastructure and reporting

Experience and skills we look for

  • Hands-on experience in data analysis (including analysis with SQL and spreadsheets)
  • The ability to translate numbers into “words people can act on”
  • Experience in e-commerce or consumer goods is welcome (not required)

Full job requirements and terms will be shared in a meeting.

Apply or ask about this role
Retail Media
Retail Media Planner

You will design retail customer touchpoints as media, and plan and run programs that benefit both brands and retailers. It is a chance to shape the industry firsthand while it is still taking off.

Full-time Minato-ku, Tokyo (Onarimon)

What you will do

  • Design retail media products and support their launch
  • Plan and run media strategies on the brand side
  • Measure effectiveness based on purchase data and design improvement cycles
  • Plan joint retailer × brand programs

Experience and skills we look for

  • Experience running or planning digital advertising, or in sales promotion at a retailer or manufacturer
  • The ability to move things forward while coordinating multiple stakeholders
  • A strong interest in the retail media industry

Full job requirements and terms will be shared in a meeting.

Apply or ask about this role
Account
Account Consultant (Brand Support)

Against each client’s GMS target, you will put together analytics, storefront, and media initiatives and lead their execution. In this position you act as the client’s “external business owner.”

Full-time Minato-ku, Tokyo (Onarimon)

What you will do

  • Build and manage GMS plans for client brands
  • Work with the analytics team to identify issues and prioritize initiatives
  • Create proposals and report to client executives
  • Build relationships toward contract renewal and expansion

Experience and skills we look for

  • Client-facing experience in e-commerce operations, consulting, sales planning, or similar
  • Experience moving decisions forward based on data
  • A commitment to dealing honestly in “numbers we can stand behind”

Full job requirements and terms will be shared in a meeting.

Apply or ask about this role
FAQ

Frequently asked questions before applying

Q. What do you look at in the selection process?

The four items we publish in advance: 1) real examples of systematizing work and handing it to others / 2) real examples of amplifying results through automation and systems / 3) experience understanding failure structurally and improving / 4) experience creating a situation that runs without you. Rather than how well you answer on the spot, we ask about real, reproducible examples.

Q. Can I apply without experience?

G1 and G2 do not require professional experience. What we value is speed of thinking and dialogue, and a habit of reflecting on yourself and improving. You can learn hands-on Amazon and e-commerce work fastest through our “patterns” after joining.

Q. How is compensation determined?

We publish annual salary ranges by Grade as a guide. Responsibilities are paid as allowances, so roles and compensation correspond one to one. The upper band of each range is designed to open up in step with the company’s GMS growth.

Q. What are the conditions for promotion?

“Hand over, then climb” — handing your current work over completely to those who follow is the condition for climbing one level up. Completing the work yourself makes you half-fledged; handing it over completely to the next generation makes you a full professional. Developing people is a prerequisite for your career.

Entry

If you’re unsure, let’s talk first.

Before any selection, we will show you what the work is really like in a casual meeting. It’s fine to “hear us out, then decide.”

Request a meeting

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