Est. 2017 · Tokyo A Monstarlab Inc. company (TSE: 5255)

One engine.
Two companies.

We built the AI for our own recruiting agency in 2018. Eight years later, we run it two ways: as a self-serve platform anyone can use, or as a full-service agency we run for you. Same engine, different buyers.

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2017
Founded · Tokyo
8+ yrs
AI in production
4M+
Japan-focused profiles
17.2×
ROI on a recent platform-only cohort
Our companies

Two ways to hire with AI in Japan.
Pick the one that fits how you work.

100 free credits · No card needed
01Software · Self-serve headhunt.ai

Headhunt.AI

The AI recruiting platform.

For agencies and in-house TA teams

Paste a JD. Get a ranked candidate list and bilingual scout mail drafts in under two minutes. 4M+ Japan-focused profiles, scored on every search. Eight years in production at our own agency before we opened it up.

  • 100 free credits at signup, try it before you pay
  • Credits from ¥150 each, pay as you go
  • 15% off annual plans, Starter to Scale
Start free → ↗
02Service · We run it agentrpo.com

AgentRPO

Recruiting agency, powered by Headhunt.AI.

For companies that want hires, not operations

Veteran Japan headhunters running Headhunt.AI on your behalf. Send a JD, get a sample candidate list within a week. From first JD to signed offer, we own the cycle.

  • Contingency, pay only when we hire (35%)
  • Dedicated RPO, embedded recruiter, monthly retainer
  • Tier-1 Premium, dedicated team, weekly cadence
Operated by ESAI Agency K.K. · License 13-ユ-319155
Send us a JD ↗
Also from ESAI Agency K.K.

Scout IQ — the reply & scheduling agent.

Candidate replies answered in your voice, interviews booked against your real calendar; sensitive replies always go to a person. Scout IQ is operated by ESAI Agency K.K., a licensed recruiting agency (13-ユ-319155) — an independent sending service that Headhunt.AI hands off to. For Headhunt.AI organizations with Send Scouts, nothing additional — Scout IQ comes at no additional cost.

See how Scout IQ works →
About

Japan's first AI-first recruiting company.

Founded in Tokyo, 2017, on a simple thesis: a recruiter's job is judgment, and everything else should be machine-assisted. GPT-3 in production by 2022. 100% AI-driven outbound by 2024. Joined Monstarlab Inc. (TSE: 5255) in October 2023.

Today we run two companies from Tokyo: the platform (Headhunt.AI) and the agency (AgentRPO, operated by our subsidiary ESAI Agency K.K.). Same engine. Different buyers.

Founded
2017
Tokyo, Japan
In production
8+ yrs
AI-assisted recruiting
Candidate database
4M+
Japan-focused profiles · scored on every search
Parent
Monstarlab
TSE: 5255
Reading from the partners

What we've learned, written down.

No ad copy, no thought leadership filler. Operator briefings, full data, full sources, full reasoning. Free, ungated, share freely. They live on our platform's content hub at headhunt.ai/insights.

Apr 2026 · Ken Charles

Trusting the AI got us 17.2× ROI.

16 weeks, ¥100,000 of credits, 16 qualified meetings worth ¥1,720,788. Zero human review.

 Apr 2026 · Ken Charles

Is your AI & sourcing stack illegal in Japan?

How APPI and the Employment Security Act govern AI sourcing, with a 7-question buyer checklist.

 Jan 2026 · Ken Charles

100k Yen Per Meeting.

The unit-economic atom of every recruiting business in Japan.
See all insights →
Common questions

The structure, explained.

What is ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K.?
ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K. (株式会社ExecutiveSearch.AI) is Japan's first AI-first recruiting company. Founded in Tokyo in 2017, it launched Japan's first fully AI-first recruiting agency on February 1, 2018, integrated GPT-3 into the live recruiting workflow in Spring 2022, transitioned to 100% AI-driven outbound in August 2024, and joined Monstarlab Inc. (TSE Growth: 5255) as a group company in October 2023. It is the parent corporate entity for the Headhunt.AI platform and the AgentRPO recruiting agency.
What is the difference between Headhunt.AI, AgentRPO, and ExecutiveSearch.AI?
Same engine, three brands. Headhunt.AI is the AI recruiting platform (self-serve, paste a JD and get a ranked list in 1–2 minutes), operated by ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K. AgentRPO is the recruiting agency (we run Headhunt.AI on your behalf), operated by ESAI Agency K.K. (license 13-ユ-319155). ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K. is the parent corporate entity that owns both — this site exists for corporate-identity, press, and routing purposes.
What is Scout IQ?
Scout IQ is the reply & scheduling agent: it answers candidate replies in your voice and books interviews against your real calendar, and sensitive replies always go to a person. Scout IQ is operated by ESAI Agency K.K., a licensed recruiting agency (13-ユ-319155) — an independent sending service that Headhunt.AI hands off to. For Headhunt.AI organizations with Send Scouts, nothing additional — Scout IQ comes at no additional cost. Details at https://agentrpo.com/scout-iq/en/.
Who owns ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K.?
ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K. is a group company of Monstarlab Inc. (株式会社モンスター・ラボ・ホールディングス, TSE Growth: 5255), which acquired the company in October 2023. ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K. in turn wholly owns ESAI Agency K.K. (株式会社ESAI Agency), the licensed recruiting agency operator of AgentRPO.
Where can I read about the AI recruiting platform?
The AI recruiting platform is Headhunt.AI. Product information, pricing, sign-up, and the long-form Insights/Learn content hub live at https://headhunt.ai/. The platform is self-serve — plans from ¥200,000/month, pay-as-you-go credits from ¥150 per credit, and 100 free credits on sign-up.
Where can I engage the recruiting agency?
The recruiting agency is AgentRPO. Engagement models (Contingency, Dedicated RPO, Tier-1 Premium), pricing, and the contact form live at https://agentrpo.com/. AgentRPO is operated by ESAI Agency K.K. (license 13-ユ-319155).
When was ExecutiveSearch.AI founded?
ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K. was founded in Tokyo in 2017 by Ken Charles. Japan's first fully AI-first recruiting agency under the same group launched on February 1, 2018. The current two-entity operating structure (ExecutiveSearch.AI K.K. for the technology, ESAI Agency K.K. for the licensed agency) became effective on February 1, 2026.
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