Human Resources Development/
Talent Recruitment
Through our leading-edge SoC solution business, we at the Group seek to live up to the many expectations of our stakeholders, including customers, partners, employees, and local communities. We will do so by striving to achieve sustainable growth as a company that supports global innovation through the pursuit of advanced technologies. To this end, we promote human resource development initiatives that cultivate professionals who take ownership of their work and are willing to tackle challenges as enthusiastic self-starters.
Recruitment
To attract talented engineers, the Socionext group is strengthening its efforts to recruit new graduates and experienced professionals. In Japan, we hired 36 new graduates in the fiscal year ended March 2025 and 32 experienced employees. We will continue to utilize a variety of recruitment methods to attract more talented employees.
(1)Recruitment of new graduates
In our recruitment activities for new graduates, we have introduced a job-specific recruitment system to ensure that students are hired in a manner that matches their wishes and abilities.
In addition, we maintain close communication with approximately 350 students through "laboratory visits" to universities that conduct research closely related to our business, “one-day work experience" for a one-day experience of our company's development work, and "Open Company" for company tours and meetings with senior employees. We also utilize the direct recruiting tools targeting science students to recruit as many talented students as possible who are aligned with our company's business and development activities.
(2)Recruitment of experienced personnel
In our recruitment activities for experienced personnel, we utilize more than 10 recruitment agencies, direct recruiting tools, and employee referral systems to acquire highly specialized personnel who match our company's business and development operations and are ready to work. We also offer an Alumni recruitment program for employees who have worked at our group in the past.
| Number of hires | Results | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| FY ended March 31, 2023 | FY ended March 31, 2024 | FY ended March 31, 2025 | |
| New graduates (persons) | 12 | 26 | 36 |
| Mid-career (persons) | 32 | 39 | 32 |
Personnel and Evaluation Systems
In particular, we have been working to reform our personnel system in order to proactively recognize and reward talented individuals. Since the fiscal year ended March 2023, our company has shifted from a functional qualification system to a role grade system, and the compensation system has changed accordingly. In the conventional functional qualification system, remuneration tends to rise according to the length of service, and even if young employees perform well, it is difficult to reflect this in remuneration, and a certain number of years are required for promotion. Our group’s business situation and the environment surrounding it are changing, including changes in business models, global business expansion, and cutting-edge technological innovation. Our company believes that it is difficult to flexibly treat personnel who will contribute to our company in response to these changes under the conventional functional qualification system, and has therefore shifted to a role grading system. As a result, the seniority system has been eliminated, and we are actively promoting the appointment and hiring of talented personnel according to their roles, responsibilities, and achievements, regardless of age or length of service.
Additionally, within the role grading system, we have different personnel systems for engineers and non-engineers.
(1)Engineer System
In order to create an environment in which engineers can work actively, we have created an environment in which engineers can concentrate on development while organizing projects flexibly by flattening the engineering organization.
In addition, with regard to the remuneration system and evaluation system for engineers, we have introduced a system that clarifies the image of an engineer that we require, objectively evaluates development results and technical skills according to the engineer's role, and provides appropriate treatment according to roles, responsibilities, and achievements regardless of age or experience.
In addition, each engineer has regular 1-on-1 meetings with their supervisor in which they share their career path and the specific actions they are taking to achieve it, supporting their personal growth.
In the past, employees were promoted or demoted once a year, but to enable engineers to play an active role in the company, from the fiscal year ending March 2026, engineers who meet certain conditions and are recognized for their roles and contributions to the business in higher grades can be promoted at any time.
(2)Professional System (personnel system for personnel other than engineers)
For non-engineers, we have introduced a professional system that treats talented people according to their roles, responsibilities, and achievements, behavioral expectations based on their roles, regardless of age or experience, and will actively treat professionals who can act autonomously and globally.
(3)Internal recruitment system
We have introduced an internal recruitment system to expand opportunities for career choices within the company and to shift employees to an environment where they can make the most of their individual strengths.
Main Actions on Human Resource Development
(1)Engineer training
(i)Clarification of human resources required
The Group considers the training of engineers to be one of its most important management issues.
In its medium-term business plan, the Group plans to expand business, focusing on each field of Automotive including autonomous driving (AD), advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and in-vehicle sensing; Data center & Networking including data centers and AI accelerators; Smart Devices including action cameras and network cameras; and Industrial Equipment including factory automation (FA) and measuring instruments. In these fields, companies requiring their own SoCs are seeking a partner with expertise not only in SoC architecture, but also a deep understanding of the final products and services the SoC will be equipped with. The ideal partner should also be capable of integrating advanced hardware and software technologies to deliver the optimal solution for differentiation. We believe that achieving such the "Solution SoC" business model will require the following engineering talent.
Methodologists to maintain development competitiveness globally
System architects who can propose and formulate optimal SoC architecture specifications based on customer requirements
Experts in each field who can create implementation specifications and design from architectural specifications
Project managers who earn the trust of customers and lead development smoothly to the goal
(ii)Clarification of skills required for human resources
In order to increase the number of engineers needed, the Group clearly defines the skills and experience required and works to visualize the skills and other resources possessed by each engineer.
[Engineer role model and Skill/importance matrix]
[Materiality]
a : Possess a particularly high level of expertise
a-: Possess a particularly high level of expertise in any of the designated skills (a-)
b : Can utilize and apply basic technology
b-: Can utilize and apply basic technology in any of the specified skills (b-)
c : Possess basic skills
(iii)Human resource development program for skill acquisition
As part of its efforts to develop engineers, the Group has established a system in which each engineer has a 1-on-1 meeting with his or her supervisor. By sharing their career paths and specific actions to achieve them, the Group supports individuals’ growth. In addition, to ensure that each engineer acquires the necessary skills and experience, we have formulated and implemented educational programs tailored to each engineer’s level. We are also strengthening our educational support system (Development program for language and communication skills), which are essential for conducting business with overseas customers and partners.
[Roadmap for developing engineers]
[Development program for language and communication skills]
| For leaders |
Advanced communication skills (1-on-1 training) Global mindset training (group training) Group coaching training |
| For general employees |
Basic communication skills (group training) Global mindset training (group training) English language skills training Language training for new employees (group training) |
| Common to all employees |
Strengthening basic English language skills (language training application) |
[Implementation status of engineer training]
| Implementation status of engineer training | Actual results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY ended March 31, 2023 | FY ended March 31, 2024 | FY ended March 31, 2025 | ||
| Total training hours (hours) | 21,000 | 19,500 | 18,900 | |
| Per engineer | Training hours (hours) | 14.4 | 13.2 | 12.8 |
| Invested values (10,000 yen) | 1.45 | 2.04 | 2.87 | |
(ⅳ)Human resource development indicators and results
In the medium to long term, it is expected that the number of overseas business negotiations will grow and that there will be an increase in collaboration with global partners such as IP vendors, tool vendors, foundries and OSAT that provide the latest technologies. To address these issues, we are increasing opportunities for many engineers to strategically participate in overseas business and leading-edge technology businesses, and are promoting the accumulation and utilization of the know-how and experience gained by engineers on an organization-wide basis. We also provide feedback on our educational programs and are continuously reviewing them.
[Project experience status of engineers]
| Project experience status of engineers | Actual results | Target by 2030 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY ended March 31, 2023 | FY ended March 31, 2024 | FY ended March 31, 2025 | ||
| Ratio of employees with experience in global projects (%) | 72% | 82% | 87% | Over 90% |
| Ratio of employees with experience in advanced projects (7 nm or smaller) (%) | 61% | 75% | 82% | Over 90% |
As a result of these efforts to develop human resources, the number of engineers (Methodologist, Systems Architect, Expert, Project Manager) meeting the Company’s standards has increased since the fiscal year ended March 2023, the baseline period. Particularly, Methodologists increased by 125 points as a result of measures including resource shift and human resource development. We will continue to accelerate our efforts to improve the index year on year.
[Transition of Engineers who meet the criteria]
| Transition of Engineers who meet the criteria*Index based on the number of employees in the fiscal year ended March 2023 (100) | Actual results | Target | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY ended March 31, 2023 | FY ended March 31, 2024 | FY ended March 31, 2025 | ||
| Methodologist | 100 | 200 | 225 | Index improved year-on-year |
| Systems Architect | 100 | 118 | 141 | Index improved year-on-year |
| Expert | 100 | 101 | 105 | Index improved year-on-year |
| Project manager | 100 | 97 | 115 | Index improved year-on-year |
(2)Implementation of Education and Training Systems for all employees
As part of its training programs for new and younger employees, our company encourages them to improve their motivation and skills and strives to create an environment in which they can perform autonomously at an early stage. In addition to introductory training after joining the company, follow-up training is conducted six months, one year, and two years after joining the company to develop basic business skills such as communication skills and compliance. The two years after joining the company are designated as the initial training period. Based on a training plan tailored to each young employee, OJT is used to improve practical skills and experience under the guidance of senior employees (trainers).
In addition, when promoted to a managerial position, we provide opportunities to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for managerial positions, such as management, communication, and accounting, through exchanges of opinions with executives, group training, and correspondence courses. Also, as common education for all employees, we provide e-learning on compliance, information security, prevention of insider trading, prevention of harassment, environment, purchasing transactions, and laws and regulations related to export control every year. 100% of employees take this course.
In addition, with the aim of fostering global human resources, we promote initiatives to improve language skills, such as TOEIC examinations and support for the use of language learning apps to strengthen the language skills of each employee.
[Implementation status of Education and Training Systems]
| Implementation status of Education and Training Systems | Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY ended March 31, 2023 | FY ended March 31, 2024 | FY ended March 31, 2025 | ||
| Per employee | Learning time (hours) | 11.8 | 11.3 | 11.7 |
| Investment amount (10,000 yen) | 1.25 | 1.76 | 2.59 | |