Project Manager - Artificial Intelligence Office, Travel & Mobility Business (C&M)

Job Description:

Department Overview

• The Rakuten Travel AI Office is committed to delivering AI that benefits everyone across the travel ecosystem-including travelers, accommodation partners, and industry stakeholders.
• Our mission is to enhance the travel experience by leveraging AI to improve search experience, streamline hotel operations, and advance personalization and recommendations.

The appeal lies in being able to contribute to creating new standards for "AI × Travel" in an environment where the scale supporting one of Japan's largest travel services coexists with a developing phase that offers significant room for AI utilization.

Position:

Why We Hire

Multiple AI initiatives—such as traveler-focused AI Agents, operational support tools for accommodation partners, search experience optimization, advanced demand forecasting models, and personalization enhancement—are progressing in parallel.

• To successfully bring AI-powered solutions into real services and translate them into tangible user and business value, a Project Manager who can bridge the business and technical teams is essential.
• As the AI Office continues to expand and project demand grows, we are seeking PMs capable of collaborating with diverse stakeholders and leading value creation across the organization.

• Business & Organizational Opportunities
• - Work on diverse AI themes across one of Japan’s largest travel platforms, including search optimization, personalization, and operational efficiency for accommodations
• - Contribute directly to improving the travel experience using cutting-edge technologies such as NLP, machine learning, and generative AI
• - Experience both 0→1 and 1→10 phases of AI-driven product development in a fast-growing environment

• Role-Specific Appeal
• - Lead AI projects end-to-end—including planning, requirement definition, development coordination, and impact evaluation
• - Serve as the bridge between business teams and the AI Office, driving the integration of AI solutions into real services
• - Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, designers, and business stakeholders in a highly cross-functional environment
• - Work with substantial autonomy in a culture that values ownership, initiative, and proactive problem-solving

• Growth & Career Development
• - Develop deep expertise in AI implementation and data utilization while enhancing advanced PM capabilities
• - Build career pathways toward Product Manager, AI program lead, data product roles, and other strategic positions
• - Leverage Rakuten Group’s extensive data assets and ecosystem to execute AI initiatives at a scale rarely seen elsewhere

Position Details

As a Project Manager, you will lead AI projects within the AI Office, driving initiatives from planning and requirement definition to implementation, evaluation, and rollout across business units.

• - Collecting business requirements, identifying problems, and forming hypotheses
• - Planning AI-driven features and initiatives utilizing data and machine learning models
• - Creating project plans, managing schedules, and monitoring risks
• - Coordinating specifications and implementation with engineers, data scientists, designers, and business stakeholders
• - Conducting impact evaluation through data and logs, and proposing improvements
• - Preparing necessary documentation and contributing to project governance

Your role will go beyond project coordination-you will design how AI technology should be applied to which problems in order to maximize business value.

Work Environment

• - Artificial Intelligence Office: 11 members
• - Project Team: PMs, engineers, data scientists, and analysts
• - Age range: late 20s to early 40s, with members from diverse nationalities and professional backgrounds
• - New graduate to mid-career ratio: approx. 70% : 30%
• - A collaborative environment where technical, data, and business expertise intersect

• Mid-career joiner backgrounds include
• - Web consultants (marketing / digital strategy)

• Example skillset
• - Current-state analysis and issue identification through access/log analytics
• - KPI design and strategic planning
• - Executing improvement initiatives (site optimization, ads, SNS operations)
• - Measurement and continuous improvement through PDCA cycles

• Career path examples
• - Gained experience as a Marketing Manager at Rakuten Travel, then transferred to the AI Office.
• - As a Project Manager for AI projects, led planning, promotion, and improvement proposals.

Mandatory Qualifications:

• - Experience in project management (PM) or equivalent leadership role
• - Proven ability to manage and drive multiple projects concurrently
• - Strong communication and consensus-building skills with diverse stakeholders
• - Ability to structure problems and plan/execute effective solutions
• - Ability to conduct basic data/log analysis and perform impact evaluation leading to improvement proposals

*For candidates with less technical background, strong interest and willingness to deepen understanding of AI/Data domains is essential

Desired Qualifications:

• - Experience working on AI or data utilization projects
• - Ability to write simple scripts using Python or SQL for data extraction, processing, and validation
• - Ability to think from the end-user perspective and design service experiences
• - Experience in marketing, customer support (CS), or other business-side operations

Other Information:

Additional information on Location

• Rakuten Crimson House
• 1-14-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

Additional information on English Qualification

• TOEIC Score exceeding 800 (or similar level of English ability) or a University Degree earned in an English-speaking country.
• Proof of qualifications will be required by the time of the job offer.
• If no evidence is available to prove the qualifications denoted above, taking an IP test, organized by Rakuten, during selection process is required.

• Rakuten Group, Inc. Homepage Link
• - Benefits: https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/benefit/
• -Recruitment: https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/information/ * Employment type is detailed
• - Rakuten Culture: https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/culture/

#business #projectmanager #AI #commerce #RakutenTravel