Research Scientist, AR & Spatial Computing - Mercari

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Research Scientist, AR & Spatial Computing - Mercari

• Employment Status:　Full-time
• Work Hours: Full Flextime (no core time)  
• Office: Roppongi

For more details, see the Overview of Our Positions section on our Careers site.

　

About Mercari

Circulate all forms of value to unleash the potential in all people

"What can I do to help society thrive with the finite resources we have?" The Mercari marketplace app was born in 2013 out of this thought by our founder Shintaro Yamada as he traveled the world. We believe that by circulating all forms of value, not just physical things and money, we can create opportunities for anyone to realize their dreams and contribute to society and the people around them. Mercari aims to use technology to connect people all over the world and create a world where anyone can unleash their potential. For more information about Mercari Group’s mission, see Mercari’s Culture Doc

　

Organization/Team Mission

Mercari Engineering Principles  

Mercari Engineering Principles are a shared understanding that serves as the foundation of engineering beliefs and behavior at Mercari. The Engineering Principles are designed to complement the organizational identity (Mercari’s mission, values, and culture) from an engineering viewpoint. 

These principles ultimately help us achieve Mercari’s mission by defining the ideal state we seek to realize in the long term. 

• Passion For The Product
• Grow Together
• Solve Through Mechanisms
• Collaborate Openly

For more details, please see the following link:

• Engineering Culture

＜R4D team’s mission＞

Under the mission of "Pioneering the path toward undiscovered value," Mercari Group established the R&D organization, Mercari R4D, to contribute to the realization of a society that circulates all forms of value to unleash the potential in all people, and to foment the future of innovation. At R4D, we have been working on creating pathways to new value, emphasizing a co-innovation approach.

Co-innovation is an R&D mechanism that aims to solve social issues and realize a better society by engaging in collaboration beyond the boundaries of communities such fields as industry and academia, and even going beyond national borders. Ever since its establishment, R4D has always aimed to be a hub that connects all communities.

As a step toward becoming a world-leading center for co-innovation, R4D wants to create a place where everyone can experience the potential of future innovation through our research.

Currently, focusing on the core concept of "using technology to change the way we exchange value," R4D has been working on sparking innovation in Mercari Group's services and businesses, including areas such as AI, blockchain, HCI (Human Computer Interaction), quantum computing, mobility, communication, ELSI, and more. 

For the R4D researcher position, we are looking for researchers on challenging research projects on the following themes. As one of R4D’s researchers, the researchers work closely with internal product teams at Mercari Group and external research institutes such as universities to lead research projects with the goal of sparking innovation.

(Learn more about Mercari's mission and values here.)

Specific research themes are as follows.

R4D HCI Research Themes (FY2027)

Mercari R4D HCI program is expanding into spatial computing and AR-driven research. We are seeking a full-time researcher passionate about building and evaluating AR systems in real-world commerce and logistics contexts. You will work closely with R4D researchers and Mercari product and engineering teams on the following themes:

• Theme 1: Spatial AR for Physical Object Understanding
• Research and develop AR-based systems for real-time 3D measurement, object detection, and spatial reasoning on mobile devices. Applications include improving logistics and e-commerce workflows through on-device AR interaction.
• Theme 2: Hand Tracking, Smart Glasses & Human-Robot Interaction
• Investigate spatial interaction using hand tracking and AR/smart glasses in logistics and warehouse settings. Explore how spatial computing can support robotic manipulation training, item inspection, and packaging guidance through HCI-driven interfaces and tactile/force feedback.
• Theme 3: Generative & Adaptive UI
• Explore generative UI/UX frameworks that adapt to user context, accessibility needs, and platform constraints. Prototype AI-driven and agentic interface components that can integrate with AR and mobile environments.
• Theme 4: Accessibility (Ongoing Collaboration)
• Contribute to accessibility research and web accessibility consultation for product teams as a secondary collaboration alongside primary research themes.
  
  　

Work Responsibilities

• Responsible for leading the HCI research program within R4D, including annual planning, prioritization, and execution across multiple projects.
• Oversees program operations such as budget planning/tracking, resourcing, and coordination with internal/external partners.
• Frequently publishes at top conferences and journals in Human-Computer Interaction, AI, and Computer Graphics
• Designs and executes end-to-end user research and experimentation for next-generation interaction experiences (study design, prototyping support, data collection, synthesis).
• Develops and evaluates novel interaction concepts across robotics, AR/VR, and multimodal (e.g., audio/haptics/vision) interfaces, including early-stage feasibility and UX validation.
• Investigates embodied interaction and sensor-based experiences (e.g., hand tracking, smart-glasses interactions, human-robot interaction) to inform future product opportunities.
• Partners with Product, Design, and Engineering to translate research insights into product requirements, design principles, and decision-ready recommendations.
• Communicates findings through reports, readouts, and workshops; ensures alignment on recommendations and next steps.
• Supports org-level research visibility and external presence (internal research forums, cross-team knowledge sharing, publications/presentations).
• Explores interaction opportunities relevant to immersive services, interactive media, and emerging AI-enabled experiences, identifying where research can de-risk investment and accelerate development.
  
  　

Unique Challenges

• Contribute to Mercari's mission of "Circulate all forms of value to unleash the potential in all people'' by  being involved in cutting-edge research and development.
• Experience a rare position within the company that will allow you to take on the highly valuable  challenge of implementing the results of your research into society.
• Collaborate with researchers from universities, enabling us as a private company to carry out long-term research projects that are not bound by conventional frameworks.
• Obtain technical input from Mercari Group products and services, such as the Mercari marketplace app and the Merpay payment services, which are used by 20 million people each month.
  
  　

Qualifications

• Required Experience/Skills
• PhD in Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related field
• Demonstrated research publication record at top-tier HCI or graphics venues (e.g. ACM CHI, ACM SIGGRAPH, UIST, IEEE VR, ISMAR, or equivalent)
• Hands-on experience building and evaluating AR, mixed reality, or spatial computing prototypes
• Strong programming skills relevant to research (e.g. Swift/ARKit, Unity, Python, C++, or similar)
• Ability to conduct independent research and communicate findings in English (written and verbal)

• Preferred Experience/Skills
• Experience with hand tracking, smart glasses platforms (e.g. Meta, Apple Vision Pro, HoloLens, Ray-Ban Meta), or robotics interfaces
• Familiarity with on-device ML inference, computer vision, or 3D object detection
• Experience in generative UI, LLM-driven interfaces, or adaptive/accessible design systems
• Publications or demonstrated work at the intersection of HCI and real-world deployment (logistics, e-commerce, or related domains)
• Experience collaborating with industry product teams and translating research into prototypes
  
• Language 
• (Optionally) Japanese: Basic (CEFR - A2)
• English: Independent (CEFR - B2)

For details about CEFR, see here.

　

Learn More About Mercari Group

• Careers site: https://careers.mercari.com/en/   
• Mercan: https://mercan.mercari.com/en/  
• Social media: X / Linkedin 
• Using Science and Technology to Pioneer a New Society : Mercari R4D Encourages Co-Innovation as a Hub for Research and Development
• Innovation for Mercari’s Future: R4D Members on Research at Mercari and Putting Their Findings Out Into the World
• Pioneering the Path Toward Undiscovered Value: Yoshihiro Kawahara and Masaya Mori on R4D’s Impact on R&D in Japan
• YouTube channel
  
  　

Recruiting at Mercari

At Mercari Group, we value empathizing with and embodying the mission and values ​​of the Group and each company. To promote the creation of an organization that maximizes the total amount of value exhibited by all members, we would like to understand the experience and skills of each candidate as accurately as possible.

Recruiting cycle at Mercari Group

• Application screening
• Skill assessment: For engineering positions, you will be asked to complete a skill assessment on HackerRank or GitHub. For non-engineering positions, you may be asked to complete an assessment depending on the position. (The timing of the assessment may coincide with the interview process.)
• Interview: The number of interviews may vary depending on the position.
• Reference check: We will ask for online references around the timing of the final interview.
• Offer: Offers will be determined carefully in consideration of the final interview and the reference check.

　Learn more about our recruiting process here.

　

Equal Opportunity Hiring

Here at Mercari, we work to realize a world in which no one’s potential is limited by their background and everyone has the opportunity to freely create value. We also firmly believe that a mindset of Inclusion & Diversity is essential for us to achieve our mission.

This, of course, extends to our hiring practices as well. Mercari is committed to eliminating discrimination based on age, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, physical disability, and other such factors so that anyone who shares our mission and values can join us, regardless of their background. For more details, please read our I&D statement.

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