Inside Computec Engineering’s Blueprint for Global Tech Talent

Computec Engineering Ltd.
Inside the Tokyo headquarters in Ichigaya
Representative Director: Mr. John Lemkuil (Left)
HR Manager (Right)

Natsuki Yagi from the Daijob.com Media Sales Division visited Computec Engineering Co., Ltd., located in Ichigaya, Shinjuku. Behind the company's ability to maintain a strong multilingual IT organization while delivering consistent results is an independent, flat organizational culture that breaks away from traditional Japanese models, alongside proactive investments in developing employee skills.

In this interview, we spoke with Representative Director John Lemkuil and HR leadership about how to evaluate candidates in an increasingly competitive global talent market, their flexible career paths that adapt to life stages, and why they continue to use Daijob.com as a long-term strategic partner.

Yagi (Daijob.com): I understand that you have sister companies in ten cities across Asia, and your Tokyo office alone features many different nationalities. Could you share the core characteristics of your workplace culture and how your teams manage their daily operations?

Lemkuil: Right now, we have about 80 staff members in our Tokyo office. About half are Japanese, and the other half are multicultural members from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, the United States, Germany, and New Zealand. While English represents a high ratio of our official company language systems, day-to-day operational communication flows naturally in Japanese as well.

Our company does not use detailed corporate manuals, nor do we practice micromanagement where managers constantly supervise everything. We give our staff great professional freedom and decision-making authority right from the beginning. For professionals, this lack of a preset playbook can feel surprising at first.

However, for individuals who want to think for themselves, take action, and build their own solutions, this is an enjoyable and rewarding environment. When minor problems occur on the ground, teams do not wait for someone else to make a decision. The team aligns directly, discusses the best approach, and resolves the issue on the spot. That flat speed, including how easy it is to talk directly to me as president, is our greatest strength.

Yagi: Computec Engineering has a reputation for offering clear support when it comes to employee training and professional credentials. What specific frameworks do you use to drive this continuous development?

Lemkuil: The tech sector moves at a rapid pace. New technologies cycle out completely every three to four years. If your knowledge base freezes where it was ten years ago, you fall behind as an engineer. Because of that reality, we offer clear incentives to employees who commit to continuous learning.

Alongside creating an environment where study time can be secured, we provide a solid backup system. In addition to allocating dedicated time for learning, we offer an educational allowance equivalent to 10% of an employee’s salary.

Furthermore, every employee sets four learning goals. Achieving these targets unlocks a financial reward equal to a full one-month salary bonus. Additionally, we have introduced a point-based system within the company, ranking employees based on their performance. The top three annual performers receive additional rewards, such as gift cards.

This is not limited to engineers. Everyone is eligible, including sales and back-office members in accounting and HR. Sometimes, accounting staff hold IT credentials. Precisely because everyone understands the underlying IT infrastructure and the operational value of ordered hardware, client interactions improve. They bypass treating client invoices or inquiries as static product serial numbers and instead hold smooth, strategy-driven conversations that capture the true essence of the business.

Yagi: You have partnered with Daijob.com for many years. Could you walk us through the specific hiring challenges you faced in the past, and why you choose to keep Daijob.com at the center of your talent acquisition strategy?

Lemkuil: The profiles we require occupy a specific intersection. We are not simply looking for standard IT engineers; we need professionals who combine technical skills with fluid, bilingual or multilingual communication capabilities. We have previously run campaigns on mass domestic job boards and tapped major traditional recruitment agencies, but the volume of registered bilingual talent was limited. Sourcing is the starting point of recruitment; if you cannot build that baseline volume, you cannot elevate the quality of your selection process.

We have been well aware of Daijob.com since the early days of its establishment, and we have utilized it as a recruitment platform for many years. The primary reason is that many of the bilingual professionals we seek are registered on the platform, providing many opportunities to meet candidates who match our hiring needs. The system itself also matches our recruitment workflow very well, and we find it highly valuable because we can directly approach candidates who meet our required standards.

Yagi: How does your company manage internal career paths after onboarding, and what initiatives do you run to drive long-term employee engagement?

Lemkuil: We support flexible career changes that align with our employees' personal life stages and evolving lifestyles. For instance, if a back-office operations specialist expresses a desire to transition into hard engineering, we discuss a development plan to build the necessary skills. Conversely, if a veteran infrastructure engineer faces a shift in their personal life—such as navigating new childcare schedules or school drop-off windows that conflict with irregular weekend or night emergency deployments—we step in. If an employee wishes to transfer to a sales or support role with fixed working hours, we will arrange a meeting to discuss how the company can accommodate their request.

To support team building, we focus on providing enriching company events. We host seasonal cherry blossom festivals in April, summer BBQs, music celebrations, Thanksgiving events, and a year-end Christmas gala where the team rents out a hotel venue to enjoy course dining.

Our annual corporate ski trip is another main tradition. The company coordinates travel to resort destinations, covering the transportation and accommodation expenses. Crucially, there is no forced corporate participation or rigid itineraries. Those who want to hit the slopes can ski, while others are free to spend the weekend visiting local fashion outlet malls with their preferred group, allowing everyone to build human bonds freely.

A flat corporate culture that leverages individual creativity and problem-solving, an internal development model built on educational investment, and motivated bilingual professionals acquired through Daijob.com serve as the core strengths driving Computec Engineering.

By anchoring its operations on these distinct pillars, the company successfully maintains its world-class quality standards, even while navigating a highly competitive IT hiring market and shifting macroeconomic trends.

Interviewer: Natsuki Yagi, Daijob.com Media Sales Division
Produced by: Daijob.com Editorial Department

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