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Metro Engine's Bold Move: New Graduate Salary Increase to 300,000 Yen

In a notable step toward fostering business growth and overcoming workforce shortages, Metro Engine Corporation, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, has unveiled plans to raise starting salaries for new graduates to 300,000 yen starting from April 2026. This strategic measure aims to secure essential talent in response to increasing demands in the hospitality sector fueled by the rise of big data and AI technologies.

Addressing Workforce Challenges and Future Talent Development

The rapid growth in demand for data utilization and AI within the hospitality industry has prompted Metro Engine to expand its project scope and development requirements year by year. Particularly, roles in data analysis and customer success have seen a noticeable shortage of skilled workers, leading to increased pressures on existing team members. This situation has, in turn, created bottlenecks in acquiring new projects and resultantly, sales growth.

With a competitive new graduate hiring market, especially among startups, the push to elevate starting salary levels has intensified. Many talented graduates have withdrawn from the application process midway or declined job offers post-acceptance. By raising the starting salary to 300,000 yen, Metro Engine seeks to enhance its attractiveness in the competitive job market, create contact points with highly skilled candidates, and ultimately improve hiring success rates.

Although this pay scale is relatively high for a startup, the company's leadership believes that strengthening new graduate recruitment is essential for the stable construction of its organizational structure, particularly in light of forthcoming business growth.

Moreover, this initiative does not solely focus on immediate recruitment but is also a commitment to long-term human capital investment aimed at securing a larger pool of talent for future business expansions. This approach aligns with the belief that, in an era where AI and data utilization are critical to competitive advantage, the generation of technology and algorithms comes primarily from people. Metro Engine is set to welcome new employees not just as immediate contributors but as partners in driving future growth, offering them opportunities for challenge and development.

In continuing to invest in talent, Metro Engine aims to enhance product development capabilities, operational stability, organizational agility, and technical proficiency, ultimately contributing to optimizing data utilization and pricing strategies for numerous accommodation providers across various sectors.

Training Period and Recruitment Highlights

New hires will initially enter a six-month training period aimed at practical skill development, during which their salary will be set at 250,000 yen. The recruitment for the 2027 graduating cohort commenced last November, with intentions to expand hiring capabilities, particularly focusing on sales and data analytics roles, planning to onboard between five to six candidates.

Metro Engine places significant emphasis on the candidate experience, ensuring that potential hires interact closely with current employees to better understand the company's culture and environment. Numerous opportunities for casual meetings and company visits are facilitated, allowing candidates to learn about the organization freely throughout the selection process.

A Culture of Innovation and Creativity

Embodying the mission of 'solving challenges ahead of the times', Metro Engine is recognized for its innovative working methods, particularly through the application of generative AI technologies. This has fostered a creative environment wherein numerous cutting-edge projects and ideas are born. Interested candidates are encouraged to begin their journey by participating in casual discussions to explore opportunities with Metro Engine. The company also welcomes mid-career professionals to apply.

For additional details, prospective candidates can visit Metro Engine's recruitment page for new graduates at Wantedly.

Dynamic Pricing Solutions and Market Impact

Metro Engine focuses on the hospitality, airline, and car rental sectors, delivering dynamic pricing systems tailored to optimize pricing strategies within each industry.

• - Hospitality: Their revenue management tool automatically sets optimal room rates based on AI-driven market demand and environmental analysis. This not only improves operational efficiency but also significantly enhances overall revenue.

- An example comes from Middlewood Inc., which reported a 5-10% increase in revenue after implementing Metro Engine's system.

• - Airlines: The company has strategically partnered with Sorashido Air to adopt a revenue management system across its operations. Expected to debut in 2024, the system enhances forecasting accuracy and streamlines pricing adjustments through AI technologies, all aimed at maximizing revenue potential.

- More about the implementation can be found here.

About Metro Engine Corporation

Founded in October 2016, Metro Engine harnesses the power of big data and AI to offer revenue management tools to hotel and accommodation providers. They have gained recognition among Japan's premier hotel chains and continue to showcase stable performance in adopting dynamic pricing strategies across varying sectors, including car rental and airline industries.

• - CEO: Ryosuke Tanaka
• - Location: 8th Floor, Sumitomo Real Estate Takanawa Park Tower, 3-20-14 Higashi Gotanda, Shinagawa, Tokyo
• - Website: Metro Engine Corporation