People & Recruitment

Organizational development, recruitment, and culture-building

The Tension We Navigate

Balancing a bold "suppleness" — never hesitating to keep reshaping our systems, our organization, and the way we work as the environment shifts — with the "strength" of engaging wholeheartedly with each individual's life, no matter how convenient and efficient the world becomes.

The rise of AI, rapid organizational expansion, the launch of multiple businesses, shifting macro conditions — all of this comes at us at once. In an environment like this, what HR needs is not a passive posture that fears change, but the power to create change ourselves. Setting aside attachments to the past or to ourselves — "this is how we've always done it," "that's not what my career plan looks like" — and engaging positively with new challenges. Understanding the strategy as an owner of the business and debating with leadership on equal footing. Precisely because this is an era where textbook formulas no longer apply, we don't take secondhand information at face value; we go out and gather firsthand information with our own feet. This is the "suppleness" we train ourselves in every day. At the same time, suppleness alone will quietly break an organization. What we are entrusted with is nothing less than the "life" of each and every member. No matter how convenient the world becomes, no matter how fast the business accelerates, we engage seriously with each person's life and never look away from it. This is the "strength" we will not compromise on. The "suppleness" of constant change, and the "strength" that never changes. Not one or the other, but embodying both at once within the same organization. That is the dichotomy UPSIDER's HR takes on every day.

Meet the People & Recruitment team

What We Do

The HR department is made up of four functions — the Recruiting Group, HR Planning Group, General Affairs Group, and Labor Management Group — covering every domain related to "organization and people": recruiting, the design of evaluation, grade, and compensation systems, talent development, organizational development, onboarding, labor management, regulatory frameworks, office and facilities, and company events. That said, our work does not stay confined within these four groups. We constantly work alongside leadership, business heads, and hiring managers, immersing ourselves in the thick of decision-making at the front lines of the business. "Even if the org chart puts us on the outside, we gather information as owners of the business and act on our own hypotheses" — that is our basic stance. It is precisely because we deeply understand business strategy, product strategy, and market trends that we believe we can make sharper moves in hiring plans and organization-building. Another defining trait is that no one's role is fixed. As the business moves through its phases, the challenges we need to address change by the day. So we never think "that's not my area"; we go out and pick up every event that happens at the company as our own. Startups are full of "work that no one is sure which department should own." We see that and think, "If I take it on, wouldn't the whole organization perform better?" — and we act on it without hesitation. We will step into leadership's decision-making debates, and we won't shy away from the fine-grained operations on the ground either. With that level of flexibility, we keep redrawing the boundaries of our roles ourselves.

Why We Exist

UPSIDER's mission is "to build a world-class financial platform that supports challengers." Whether we can realize this mission ultimately comes down to "with what kind of teammates, and in what kind of organization, do we take it on." People create the organization, and the organization creates the business. That is precisely why HR carries the very foundation of realizing the mission.

That said, what we are truly engaging with is not an abstract "organization." It is the "lives" of our employees and candidates themselves. Work makes up the greater part of a person's life, and a single choice can dramatically change someone's future. That is why we will absolutely never steer someone's wishes for reasons like "we want them to join us" or "we don't want them to leave." We think seriously about, and respect, what the truly optimal choice is for that person's life. If another company is a better fit for their career, choosing it is perfectly fine. If a life event takes priority, we cheer them on with everything we have. We do our utmost not just for our own convenience, but to enrich the other person's life. This is the stance we value above all.

We refuse to make business growth and the richness of a person's life a trade-off. As we deliver UPSIDER's mission to society, we also genuinely shoulder each individual's life. That is the reason we, as HR, exist.

How We Work

Here are three stances we hold dear in how we operate day to day. "Pursuing what's best for the whole company, with strong conviction" HR is "the position that makes every employee a customer." Even as we listen to diverse voices, a solution that satisfies everyone basically doesn't exist. Sometimes we adopt the minority view rather than the majority's. We believe HR's responsibility is to not run from ambiguity, but to steel ourselves and point the way. "A sense of balance between romance and the abacus" As a startup built on a financial business, we have to be thoroughly disciplined about cost. We pursue both "an environment where employees can work with pride" and "a financially sound company," without compromising on either. Engaging genuinely with "a person's life" What we engage with is the very lives of our employees and candidates. Work makes up the greater part of life, and a single choice can dramatically change someone's future. That is why we must never steer someone's intentions out of our own convenience — "we want them to join us," "we don't want them to leave." Of course, we convey UPSIDER's appeal honestly and without holding back. But in the end, we think seriously about, and respect, what the best choice is for that person's life. If another company suits them better, we give them a push toward it. If a life event comes first, we cheer them on with all we have. We hold on to the pride of putting the other person's life ahead of our own convenience.

Work Style

In the HR department, we value face-to-face communication. That's because we treasure the resolution and trust that come from debating in the same room as leadership, business heads, and the members of each group, above all else. At the same time, in-person is not an absolute; partial remote work is perfectly fine depending on family or personal circumstances. In practice, most members base their week on three to four days in the office, flexibly switching their working hours and location as the situation calls for.

Growth & Learning

What we value most in HR learning is the posture of going out to gather "firsthand information with a pulse." Most of the measures touted as "success stories" out in the world can't be applied as-is without being customized to your own culture. That's exactly why we don't take secondhand information from the web or books at face value, and instead go gather firsthand information that only the people directly involved can speak to. To do that, we make a point of giving generously ourselves, expanding circles of mutual learning within external HR communities.

Team Culture & Events

In the HR department, in addition to a face-to-face offsite once every half-year, we regularly hold team lunches and get-togethers. At the same time, we are also the ones responsible for planning and running all-hands meetings and company social events. So rather than deliberately keeping things contained within HR, we run them while drawing in the people around us to just the right degree. We are always thinking, at once, about both enjoying ourselves and energizing the whole organization.

Who We're Looking For

Someone who doesn't flinch at change, and who can sometimes drive change as the protagonist.

Someone who, even when business direction or their area of responsibility shifts, isn't trapped by "this is how we've always done it" and can engage positively with new challenges. Someone with enough composure to respond, no matter what happens, "That's within the range of what I anticipated."

Someone who has "resilience"

HR is work that involves you deeply in "the swirl of human emotion." When facing problems with no right answer or tough situations, it demands the strength to control yourself without being swept away by emotion. Even if you were in a hard-fought discussion until ten minutes ago, at the next meeting you can switch gears and face the person in front of you on an even keel. We want to work with people we can sharpen that kind of tough mindset alongside.

And someone who will absolutely never betray a trust. What HR handles is all information that, if leaked, would damage the lives of those involved or the credibility of the entire company — personal data, salary information, sensitive labor matters, and behind-the-scenes projects known only to leadership. That's exactly why "discretion is the lifeline of the job." On this one point alone, we cannot afford to ever waver.

Our Future Vision

Following our integration into the Mizuho Group, we are taking on even greater challenges at an unprecedented scale, with global expansion in view. What we aim for beyond that is a new form of organization, realized through collaboration between people and AI. By having AI handle part of the work of aggregating information, making judgments, and communicating, we will build unshakable peace of mind freed from over-reliance on individuals, alongside an environment in which we can face each person one-on-one. And people will pour all their energy into "the work only people can do" — supporting those who fight, and growing the organization. Starting from UPSIDER, we will implement an organization where talented challengers genuinely want to give their all.

Each team's most recent challenges

The HR department is made up of four groups, but each one's role and the challenges it faces are constantly changing in step with the organization's phase. We'd love to tell you more in a casual conversation!

Recruiting Group — We work closely with each business division to execute hiring on the scale of 50 to 100 people a year as a small team. Our mission is to hire people who can help realize UPSIDER's discontinuous growth, and as the business phase shifts, we constantly revisit not only our candidate requirements and hiring channels but also questions that go beyond hiring as a means — such as "should we hire someone, or should we use AI to raise the organization's output?" It's a position where we think through the organization's optimal solution together with the business heads.

HR Planning Group — Working right next to leadership, we set goals every six months against the organization's most pressing challenges and act on them. Most recently, we carried out a review of the grade and compensation systems. System improvement, organizational development, placement — there are still mountains of challenges to take on.

General Affairs Group — As the organization grows to 100, then 150 people, we focus on creating an environment where members can easily perform at their best. With our recent office relocation as a turning point, we're in a phase of building things out even further.

Labor Management Group — As our social responsibility keeps growing, we pursue both thorough compliance and an undiminished employee experience — a balance we pursue as labor management done the UPSIDER way.