Technical Director - Customer Strategy Department Platform Strategy Supervisory Department

**Job Description:** **Department Overview** Rakuten Group is headquartered in Japan and serves approximately 100 million customers domestically, while operating in 30 countries and regions globally. The company offers more than 70 services across e-commerce, payments, fintech, telecommunications, media, sports, and more. For this role, we are hiring a Technical Director in the Platform Strategy Supervisory Department (PFSD), a corporate organization reporting directly to the COO/Vice Chairman. PFSD is not responsible for operating a specific service; instead, it drives group-wide customer strategy and ecosystem growth initiatives, primarily through marketing-led planning and execution across Rakuten Group. As a Technical Director, you will lead both implementation/development execution and cross-functional problem solving to deliver measurable business outcomes, for products tied to Rakuten’s asset strategy-especially Points and Coupons-from new initiatives through continuous improvement. \*Corporate Organization: a cross-functional organization that includes Corporate Planning, CEO Office, HR, General Affairs, Accounting/Finance, Legal, and other corporate functions. Platform Strategy Supervisory Department Characteristics 1\. Discipline as a Professional Team “5C” \- Challenge to innovate \- Customer oriented \- Concept driven \- Cross-functional \- Commitment to result 2\. Contribution Mindset We value creating results through contribution to society, customers, colleagues, and stakeholders, and we foster a culture that supports each other’s growth and challenges. Department hiring site (job details, member interviews, etc.) [https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/division/customer\_strategy/(opens in new window)](https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/division/customer_strategy/) **Position:** **Why We Hire** To take products related to Points and Coupons-key growth levers of the Rakuten ecosystem-to the next stage, we are expanding our team and hiring additional members for development planning and execution. Appeal \- Lead overall optimization rather than local optimization, driving both short-term wins and mid-to-long-term growth \- Drive projects across multiple services/products, close to the core of the ecosystem-results scale significantly \- Work as one team with engineering, with strong proximity to implementation \- High feasibility: decisions translate into execution due to the closeness to design and development \- Strong career differentiation and rarity \- Unique accumulation of experience and outcomes at the intersection of business understanding × cross-functional development PM/PMO × growth delivery **Position Details** Scope/Responsibilities \*The scope below applies, but focus areas may vary depending on experience and strengths. \- Create and manage development roadmaps for each product (in collaboration with PLs/PdMs) \- Lead cross-team problem solving across Biz-Tech organizations; support team/operating model design; drive development direction discussions for overall optimization \- Serve as PM/PjM for cross-functional development initiatives such as system modernization and shared platforms (e.g., Point/Coupon platforms, company-wide marketing tools) \- Lead product work from planning to requirements definition, design, and implementation direction (across frontend/backend) \- Manage delivery progress: task breakdown, prioritization, and stakeholder alignment \- Support Web Directors technically; collaborate on architecture and API design; drive technology selection and development environment improvements \- Build and improve development processes (from initiative intake → requirements definition → development tracking → release management) \- Lead continuous improvement of development QCD (Quality/Cost/Delivery): QA/test scope management, automation, release operations (CI/CD, Git operations, quality evidence/traceability, incident prevention) How Success Is Measured (what gets evaluated) \- Improvements in customer experience directly impact metrics such as CVR, usage rate, retention rate, and OI lift \- Maximizing outcomes as a service/product development organization through both short-term delivery and mid-to-long-term problem solving \- Improved development productivity and quality (defects, rework, lead time) through high-quality specifications and accurate release operations \- Recognition as a driver of cross-functional execution by owning implementation-side decisions and moving teams forward **Work Environment** Platform Strategy Supervisory Department has approximately 70 members, with a roughly equal gender balance and an average age in the early 30s. More than half of the team has joined mid-career, with diverse backgrounds including strategy consulting, IT, platform businesses, startups, telecom, and content operations. \*Flex-time system available (core hours apply). **Mandatory Qualifications:** Web production/development direction or development PJM/PMO (5+ years) \- Led and managed an end-to-end lifecycle: demand definition → requirements definition → design → QA → release \- Strong project management involving multiple stakeholders; capable of schedule control, quality assurance, and task prioritization User-side requirements definition plus business/customer understanding (internet services) \- Experience consolidating requirements/specifications close to business functions, either within business teams or business-adjacent development teams \- Experience collaborating with business/service planners, marketers, and UI/UX designers; able to translate business needs and user experience into concrete development requirements/specifications Understanding of product/system development and web system architecture \- Understand development processes (waterfall and/or agile) and able to lead process design, establishment, and improvement \- Hands-on implementation experience is not required, but you must be able to speak with engineers on equal footing across backend and frontend, and discuss technology choices, design direction, and scope Cross-functional delivery leadership (alignment × PM) \- Experience driving initiatives from planning through execution while managing dependencies and risks across diverse stakeholders (business, development, operations, security, etc.) \- Experience collaborating with global teams, including offshore development and multinational members Business outcome mindset (delivery that drives growth) \- Strong desire to work close to strategy/marketing, track outcomes from releases, and run continuous improvements \- Ownership mindset: not “build and finish,” but accountable for performance metrics **Desired Qualifications:** \- Deeper technical understanding across backend and frontend enabling deeper discussions on design and development direction \*Mobile apps (Android/iOS), Web backend (PHP/Java), Web frontend (HTML/CSS/JS/React/Next.js), and other areas (rendering approaches, BFF design, etc.) \- Architecture and API specification design: able to lead collaboration with engineers from a design perspective \- Experience with large-scale web/apps and new feature development (high traffic, complex requirements, continuous improvement) \- Experience with member-only/login-required websites (auth, authorization, personal data handling) \- Proven results in agile/lean delivery with rapid hypothesis testing and KPI improvement \- Leadership/team management experience for leading directors and cross-functional teams \- Development environment improvement and technology selection experience to improve speed and quality **Other Information:** **Additional information on Location** Rakuten Crimson House: Futako-Tamagawa **Related Pages** \- Employee Benefits: [https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/benefit/(opens in new window)](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/benefit/) \- Employee Conditions: [https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/information/(opens in new window)](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/information/) \- Culture: [https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/culture/(opens in new window)](https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/culture/) #business #director #projectmanager #technologymanagement #developmentsupport #serviceplanner #operationdiv