u/chuckingchicken

Note for the mod team first: this isn't a job listing, so I've flaired it Discussion, and I've sent you a modmail separately rather than just dropping it here. Our work is short scoped projects, which I know sits awkwardly next to your no-freelance rule. A moderator over at r/cscareers suggested this community when they cleared my post there, but I'm aware they don't speak for you - so if this doesn't belong, just say the word and I'll delete it myself, no argument.

Disclosure: I'm part of the team behind TechVault (https://techvault.jp). Our side of the operation is based in Japan. I have a stake in this, so read it with that in mind.

The thing we keep bumping into

Japan has a real, well-documented engineering shortage. But if you're sitting outside Japan, that demand is close to invisible. Roles get written in Japanese, posted on Japanese job boards, and often have a Japanese-only application flow. The result is genuinely odd: companies that need help, engineers abroad who'd happily do the work, and neither side able to see the other.

What we're doing about it

We match engineers based outside Japan with short, scoped remote projects at Japanese companies.

• Usually 1-3 months, occasionally as short as a week
• Scope and rate agreed before anything starts. Fully remote
• Paid in currency. No equity, no spec work, no unpaid trials
• Free for engineers - the company covers our fee
• Mostly software, AI/ML, full-stack, backend, cloud/DevOps. Separately we look for senior people who'd rather advise than build
• No Japanese required. Written work runs through AI translation, and a bilingual person from our side joins scoping calls and anything contractual

Where we honestly are

• It's an MVP. Matching is done by hand, by us, one at a time
• Signing up puts you on a waitlist, not in front of live openings. I can't promise anyone a project
• No finished case studies yet
• Rates are fair for project work but won't beat a senior US full-time offer
• This is project work, not employment - so no visa sponsorship or relocation attached

If it sounds interesting, signup is at https://techvault.jp. If you think the model is flawed, I'd rather hear that than not - the cross-border remote stuff especially (payments, timezones, contracts) is where we're still learning, and this community probably knows more about it than we do.

Disclosure so nobody feels tricked halfway down: I'm on the team at TechVault (techvault.jp). This is our thing.

Where the idea came from

Japanese companies have a real, well-documented engineering shortage. What's less known outside Japan is how many of them have quietly become willing to hand scoped work to engineers who don't live there. The catch is that none of that demand is legible from the outside. The postings are in Japanese, on Japanese job boards, and written as if the reader already lives in Tokyo. There was demand on one side, plenty of capable people on the other, and no road between them.

What we built

Companies bring us scoped projects, usually 1-3 months, sometimes a single week. Scope and rate get agreed up front. Fully remote, paid in currency, no equity, no spec work. Engineers pay nothing - the company covers our fee. Written communication runs on AI translation; for scoping calls and anything contractual, a bilingual person from our side sits in, because that's where the model gets thin.

Three things I got wrong

I thought the matching engine was the product. It isn't. Trust is. An engineer asked to take work from a company they cannot research in their own language is being asked for a leap of faith, and no ranking algorithm fixes that. We ended up building the deliberately unscalable version first - humans on calls, humans reading terms - and it worked better than anything automated we tried.

I thought translation was a solved problem. For tickets, specs, code review and async threads it genuinely is. For a live negotiation about scope, it is not, and pretending otherwise would have burned our first companies.

I priced the pitch wrong at first. I initially framed this as competing with a strong US offer. It doesn't, and saying so lost me credibility with exactly the engineers I most wanted. The honest framing is: this is for people between roles, people who want international experience, and people who want to keep their skills sharp. Being upfront about that has converted better than the optimistic version ever did.

Where we honestly are now

MVP. Matching is manual while the automated side trains. No finished case studies I can point at yet. It's a waitlist, not a queue of live offers, and projects aren't guaranteed. Anyone joining now is genuinely early, and I'd rather say that plainly than imply a track record we haven't earned.

If you've built anything two-sided and cross-border, I'd really like to hear how you handled the cold start on the supply side without over-promising to the people you're recruiting. That's the problem I'm sitting with this month.

Transparency first, because the sub rightly asks for it: I'm part of the team building this. TechVault (techvault.jp) is our project.

What it is

A matching layer between Japanese companies that need engineering help and engineers living outside Japan.

Why it exists

Japanese companies have a genuine engineering shortage, and more of them are now open to handing scoped work to people who aren't in the country. That demand is basically invisible from outside Japan, because the postings are in Japanese, sit on Japanese job boards, and assume you already live in Tokyo. Nobody was translating the road in either direction.

How it works in practice, in full, so nobody needs to DM me for the basics

• Work comes in as individual scoped projects, typically 1-3 months, sometimes as short as a week.
• Scope and rate are agreed before you start, on a call or a message thread with the company.
• Fully remote, work from wherever you are.
• Paid in currency at the agreed rate. No equity, no spec work, no unpaid trials.
• Engineers pay nothing. The company covers our fee.
• We're looking for software engineers, AI/ML, full-stack, backend, cloud/DevOps. Separately we talk to senior people who'd rather come in as a technical advisor than write the code.
• No Japanese required. Written work (specs, tickets, review, async threads) runs through AI translation, which holds up well. For live calls and anything close to contractual, a bilingual person from our team sits in, because the model is noticeably weaker on nuance there.

The honest state of it

Prerelease. Matching is manual right now while the automated side is trained, so it isn't instant. There are no finished case studies I can show you yet. It's a waitlist rather than a set of live offers, and a project is not guaranteed. And it's project work, not employment, so if you're mid job hunt it's something that pays and keeps you sharp, not the thing that ends the hunt.

What I've learned building it that might be useful to you

The hard part was never the software, it was that trust doesn't translate. An engineer being asked to take work from a company they can't even research in their own language needs someone standing in the middle, and there's no clean technical shortcut for that. So we ended up deliberately building the least scalable version first: humans on scoping calls, humans reviewing terms. Every automation instinct I had made the product worse until the trust piece was solved manually. If you're building anything cross-border, I'd budget far more for that than for the matching engine.

Happy to answer anything in the comments, and equally happy to hear that a piece of this doesn't hold up.

Disclosure up front: I'm on the team at TechVault (techvault.jp), so this is my own project, not something I stumbled across.

The problem we started from

Japanese companies have a real engineering shortage, and a growing number of them are willing to hand scoped work to engineers who don't live in Japan. From the outside, almost none of that is visible. The postings are in Japanese, on Japanese job boards, and written as though you already commute to Tokyo. So you get demand on one side and supply on the other, and no road between them.

What we actually do

Companies bring us scoped work, usually 1-3 months, occasionally as short as a week. Scope and rate are agreed before anyone starts, paid in currency, no equity and no spec work. Engineers pay nothing to use it; the company covers our fee. Day-to-day communication runs on AI translation, and when something matters (scoping, anything close to contractual) a bilingual person on our team sits in so nothing gets lost in the model.

Where we honestly are

MVP. No finished, shippable case studies I can point you at yet. Matching is still done by hand while the automated side is trained. It's a waitlist, not a queue of live offers, and projects aren't guaranteed. I'd rather write that here than have people find out later and feel sold to.

What I'd genuinely like feedback on

1. Two-sided marketplace, cold start on both sides. We've been leaning toward going deep on a small number of companies first rather than volume on the engineer side. If you've done a two-sided thing, did that work out or did you regret it?
2. Trust is the whole product. An engineer taking a project from a company they can't research in their own language is making a leap of faith. We currently absorb that by sitting in the middle on scoping and payment terms. Is there something less manual that actually builds trust?
3. Positioning. This does not compete with a US senior offer and I won't pretend it does. It's aimed at people between roles, people who want international experience, and people who want to stay sharp. Does that read as honest or as an excuse for low rates?

Happy to answer anything in the comments, including the uncomfortable questions. If it's useful to you as an engineer rather than as a builder, the signup is at techvault.jp, but I'm mostly here for the critique.

Disclosure first: I'm part of the team at TechVault, so this is our own thing, not a third-party listing. Mods, happy to pull it if it's out of bounds.

Here's the situation we're working on. Japanese companies have a genuine engineering shortage, and a growing number of them are willing to hand scoped work to engineers outside Japan. The problem is that almost none of those opportunities are visible from the US side, because the postings are in Japanese, on Japanese job boards, and mostly written as if you already live in Tokyo. We're trying to be the bridge.

What the work actually looks like: individual projects, usually 1-3 months, sometimes as short as a week. Scope is agreed up front on a call or a message thread with the company, so you know what you signed up for. Fully remote, work from wherever you are. Paid in currency at a rate agreed before you start, no equity, no spec work. Engineers pay nothing to use the platform, the companies cover our fee.

Who we're looking for right now: software engineers, AI/ML engineers, full-stack, backend, cloud/DevOps. Separately we're talking to more senior folks who'd rather come in as a technical advisor than write the code themselves.

No Japanese needed. Day to day communication runs through AI translation, and when something actually matters a bilingual person on our team sits in and makes sure nothing gets lost.

Two things I'd rather you hear from me than feel misled about later. One, this is a waitlist, not a queue of live offers. You sign up, we reach out when something matches your skills. Projects are not guaranteed. Two, it's project work, not full-time employment, so if you're mid job hunt treat it as something that pays the bills and keeps your skills sharp, not as the thing that ends the hunt.

Matching is double blind, so companies don't see your name or personal details until you've agreed to take an offer.

Sign up here: https://techvault.jp

Happy to answer anything in the comments.