IT Strategy Lead - Company CIO Office

Job Description:

Business Overview

Rakuten is Japan’s largest marketplace and an internet ecosystem offering a wide range of over 70 services, including e-commerce, travel, banking, fintech, food delivery, golf, insurance, instant messaging, and mobile networks. While Rakuten operates more than 140 services worldwide, its Communications & Energy Company is the division responsible for providing communication platforms to information and communications technology (ICT) and international telecommunications operators—primarily in the mobile phone sector—as well as for power and energy-related businesses.

https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/about/company/communications_energy.html

Department Overview

- The CIO Office is working to strengthen IT strategy and governance at C&E Company, with the aim of accelerating business growth and ensuring sustainable development.

- By communicating not only with senior management but also with various stakeholders across the organization, we are working to optimize company-wide management and system administration.

Position:

Why We Hire

• With the launch of our brand-new organization, the CIO (Chief Information Officer) Office is seeking founding members to build company-wide IT strategic frameworks, formulate strategies, plan, and lead projects. Our mission is to optimize the IT environment and drive operational efficiency across Rakuten Mobile, Rakuten Symphony, and Rakuten Communications.
• In this position, you will be responsible for driving various IT projects and initiatives while optimizing IT processes and systems based on a mid-to-long-term strategic vision.

Position Details

- Role Overview

As a key member of the CIO Office—the core engine driving the Rakuten Group's IT strategy—you will lead hands-on initiatives to strengthen IT governance (risk mitigation), optimize IT investments (cost structures), and establish a data-driven decision-making infrastructure across the entire C&E Company, centered on Rakuten Mobile. Reporting directly to the CIO, you will collaborate with the CxO layer to synchronize corporate and technical strategies, establish alignment, and drive initiatives to embed this governance throughout the organization.

- Key Responsibilities

IT Infrastructure Advancement

Drive organization-wide standardization of IT infrastructure and lead the migration to modern development and operational environments.

Portfolio Management

Prioritize initiatives and track progress to maximize ROI across an IT investment budget scaling in tens of billions of yen.IT Cost Transparency & Optimization

Bring transparency to cloud consumption fees (AWS, GCP, etc.) and software licenses to drive cost efficiency from a FinOps perspective.

Resource Management

Optimize the allocation of thousands of engineering resources, map existing skill sets, and formulate talent development plans.

Data-Driven Operations

Construct executive dashboards using BI tools and quantify decision-making processes across various business units.

Organizational Management

Execute strategy formulation, KPI management, and next-generation leader cultivation initiatives within the CIO Office.

- Why Join Us? (Benefits & Growth Opportunities)

High-Impact Domain: Deliver tangible results at the intersection of technology and business within Rakuten Mobile—a massive and uniquely challenging enterprise.

Executive Visibility: Act as the CIO’s right hand, participating deeply in CxO-level corporate decision-making and developing a holistic, enterprise-wide strategic mindset.

Accelerated Growth

Maximize your market value across both technical acumen and management capabilities within a fast-paced, highly diverse global organization.

- Key Stakeholders

Internal: CIO, Business Unit CTOs/VPoEs, Finance, HR, and Product Development Teams.

External: Global IT Vendors, Consulting Firms, and External Auditing Firms.

- Working Style & Methodology

Agile Decision-Making: Facilitated through regular steering committee operations and real-time progress tracking via Slack and Jira.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Dissolving organizational silos by forming working groups with key stakeholders, driving corporate transformation through a combined top-down and bottom-up approach.

- English Usage Profile (Approx. 50% of Operations)Global Meetings: Leading strategy syncs and progress reporting with engineers and partners at overseas locations.

Documentation: Authoring executive presentation decks, investment Approval Requests (ARs), and technical policy documents.

Daily Communication: Navigating asynchronous communications via Slack and driving discussions within culturally diverse, multinational teams.

Work Environment

Company CIO Office as a whole has just under 20 members.

Our organization as a whole has many mid-career hires, including not only those with experience in the telecommunications industry but also many without any prior industry experience. As a result, the onboarding process for mid-career hires runs smoothly.

Mandatory Qualifications:

- 5+ years of experience in IT strategy, IT consulting, or establishing operational frameworks and systems within an IT/Information Systems organization.

- Business-level English proficiency

Desired Qualifications:

- Project experience in a large organization

- Management experience

Others Information:

Additional information on Location

Rakuten Crimson House

#business #communicationsandenergy #director #projectmanager

Languages:

English (Overall - 3 - Advanced), Japanese (Overall - 4 - Fluent)