EC Design Lead (Web Director) - D2C Fulfillment Section, Commerce & Marketing Company (C&M)

Job Description:

Business Overview

The Marketplace business is the development of Rakuten Ichiba, Rakuten's founding business.

Since Rakuten’s establishment in 1997, Rakuten Ichiba has continued to grow, embodying Rakuten's mission of empowering people and society through innovation, and has delivered the joy of shopping to users across Japan by creating a system that allows those who are good at business to easily open a store, transcending the limits of the marketplace. We have been delivering the joy of shopping to users all over Japan.

Today, Rakuten Ichiba is one of the largest e-commerce sites in Japan, with more than 50,000 merchants (as of May, 2026), more than 100 million user accounts, and many users.

Department Overview

Our D2C Fulfillment Section serves as a strategic partner for major manufacturers, operating their official brand stores on the Rakuten Ichiba platform as a dedicated team of e-commerce professionals.

We go beyond simple operational outsourcing. We act as a collaborative partner, working hand-in-hand with our clients to craft their e-commerce strategy. By providing an end-to-end service across the entire value chain—including site development, marketing, media planning, logistics, and customer support—we fulfill a dual role: maximizing sales while ensuring the realization of the brand’s unique vision and identity.

Origins of Our Service

The D2C Fulfillment Section was established to address two major hurdles that manufacturers often face in e-commerce. The first is a structural challenge: in certain industries, traditional customs or regulations have historically prevented manufacturers from engaging in direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, hindering their entry into the e-commerce market. The second is a resource and knowledge challenge: many companies struggle to launch or scale because they lack the necessary in-house production resources or operational expertise. We were founded with the mission to overcome these barriers and accelerate our clients' business growth.

Our Strength: An End-to-End Professional Approach

Typically, agencies operate with a Project Manager (PM) acting as a buffer between the client and specialized staff. We believe this structure creates distance, leading to misaligned expectations, compromised creative quality, and slower execution.

Instead, we employ a streamlined, two-person leadership model: an EC Store Manager and an EC Design Lead (Web Director). By removing the PM layer, these professionals work directly with the client, possessing the autonomy to make swift, optimal decisions aligned with shared goals. Furthermore, our in-house design and coding team ensures that both speed and quality are maintained-a point frequently praised by our clients.

Leveraging Rakuten Ichiba’s extensive data, we formulate long-term growth strategies backed by objective evidence. By rapidly iterating through the PDCA cycle for every promotion, we identify winning patterns and accelerate the achievement of sales targets.

Position:

Why We Hire

Since our launch in 2019, we have achieved double-digit annual growth, expanding our organization to over 50 professionals. Thanks to the continued trust of national-level clients, our project pipeline continues to grow year after year.

As we scale, we are at a pivotal stage where we must simultaneously drive strategic revenue growth and operational excellence. We are urgently seeking to optimize our resources and bring in top-tier talent to meet this demand. We are currently in the process of defining a new organizational model by refining workflows and leveraging AI to boost productivity. However, even as we modernize our processes, the core of our service remains unchanged: the relentless pursuit of maximizing brand value.

We are looking for true e-commerce partners - individuals who go beyond simple operational management and are capable of working hand-in-hand with clients to achieve shared goals. If you are someone who thrives on both strategic thinking and hands-on execution, we invite you to help us shape the future of our business.

Why Join Us / What You Will Experience

Data-Driven Creative Strategy: Develop the ability to formulate and validate hypotheses based on hard data, uncovering the why behind high-performing designs.

Strategic Partnership with Iconic Brands: Collaborate directly with Japan’s most renowned brands as a key creative partner, shaping their digital presence and strategy.

Creative Leadership, Not Just Execution: Move beyond being an order-taker. As an EC professional, you will lead the creative direction through direct, high-level communication with clients.

Leveraging Rakuten’s Ecosystem: Gain access to Rakuten Ichiba’s exclusive data and assets, empowering you to make informed, data-driven decisions that impact business outcomes.

Innovation & AI Integration: Proactively integrate AI into your workflow to boost productivity and implement cutting-edge initiatives directly into our service offerings.

Our Culture

Flat & Open: We maintain a flat organizational structure where communication is casual and accessible, regardless of age, background, or seniority.

Challenge-Driven: We embrace a fail-forward mindset, valuing bold challenges over the fear of failure.

Growth & Collaboration: Our culture is built on mutual support and knowledge sharing. We believe in providing honest, constructive feedback to help each other grow.

Who We Are Looking For

We are not just an outsourcing agency. We are a group of strategic partners dedicated to co-creating winning formulas for our clients' e-commerce businesses.

Proactive Problem Solvers: You thrive in an environment where you can formulate, execute, and validate your own hypotheses.

Continuous Learners: You are committed to constantly updating your skills and absorbing new industry insights.

Essentialist Thinkers: You have the ability to identify the root cause and focus your resources on solving the most critical challenges.

Hands-on Leaders: You enjoy leading teams and projects while remaining deeply involved in the execution process.

Change-Makers: You find excitement in the process of scaling and evolving an organization, and you want to be a key player in building our future.

Position Details

As an EC Design Lead, you will manage 3–4 official brand stores for our major clients, taking end-to-end responsibility for creative strategy and execution to maximize sales. You will go beyond simply fulfilling client requests; you will act as a consultant who identifies how design can solve business challenges and drive growth. Working in close partnership with an EC Store Manager and our in-house design team, you will ensure that every creative output aligns with the brand’s identity while delivering measurable business results.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Planning: Develop short- and long-term creative strategies to maximize both sales and brand equity.

Data Analysis: Utilize Rakuten Ichiba’s big data to identify key challenges and formulate data-backed improvement initiatives.

Execution & Project Management: Lead web production and optimization for EC store operations; manage client proposals, negotiations, and expectations.

Organizational Development: Improve existing workflows, implement AI/automation tools, and scale best practices across the team.

Typical Daily Schedule

09:00 – Review and provide feedback on design tasks.

10:00 – Create proposal drafts and adjust project schedules.

11:00 – Hands-on production and creative execution.

12:00 – Lunch break.

13:00 – Internal team meetings.

14:00 – Client meetings (strategy sessions/progress reports).

15:00 – Data analysis and report generation.

16:00 – Hands-on production and creative execution.

17:00 – Review remaining tasks and plan for the next day.

17:30 – End of workday.

Work Environment

Organization Structure

Total Headcount: Approx. 50 employees

Shop Managers: 11

Web Directors: 15

Web Designers: 7