Senior Manager QA - Travel Development Department(TDD)

Job Description: Business Overview Rakuten is one of the leading e-commerce companies in the world. Our mission is to empower people and society through the internet while aiming at becoming the Global Innovation Company. Department Overview This QA team is responsible of the Quality Assurance of the Commerce & Marketing services. You can be involved in leading e-commerce services, and develop your skills in a global environment. Position: Why We Hire “Speed up Japan’s largest business ecosystem through quality.” The mission of this position is to oversee the quality strategy for dozens of diverse commerce services, including Rakuten Travel, and to lead our global QA organization of approximately 120 members. We are not just looking for someone to 'manage testing'; we are seeking a leader who can maximize business growth through technical innovation, such as driving test automation using AI and elevating the engineering capabilities of the entire organization. We are currently in a pivotal phase of redefining what QA means. Together with our 120 team members, let’s build world-class quality assurance. Your leadership has the power to transform the future of Rakuten’s services and, by extension, the future of services in Japan. We look forward to receiving your application. Attractiveness - Huge business scale and real impact: You will oversee dozens of services - from Rakuten Travel and other services that support daily life in Japan, to booking and leisure businesses. Your decisions will directly affect a very large number of users - Leading a strong team of 120 people: You will lead a global team of about 120 people (mostly full-time employees) with many nationalities and backgrounds. This is a rare and valuable leadership experience for your career - Investment in cutting-edge tech and fast execution: With Rakuten Group’s strong infrastructure, you can build, customize, and roll out tools like Playwright and AI tools in-house, with a lot of technical freedom and speed Position Details As a “manager of managers” leading about 10 managers, you will have these broad responsibilities: - Create and execute org strategy: Formulating mid- to long-term QA roadmaps and optimizing resources for an organization of 120 members - People management: Develop and grow managers (mentoring/coaching) and build the next generation of leaders - Driving AI-powered QA: Introduce Rakuten’s AI tools and the latest automation tech to teams, and lead QA process efficiency improvements - Stakeholder management: Aligned QA strategies with business requirements through close collaboration with development leadership - Global Governance: Cultivating a unified culture across cross-border teams (Japan/China) and establishing global QA standards Work Environment Team Structure - Total QA organization: about 120 people - Age range: mostly in their 30s to 40s - Team size: each QA team has about 5 to 10 people. It’s a global environment where both English and Japanese are used, and people actively share opinions while doing QA work - Continuous learning culture: the org strongly supports ongoing growth as QA professionals, through weekly section meetings for technical sharing and support for speaking at overseas conferences - Psychological safety: regular 1-on-1s, and a flat environment where anyone can speak openly regardless of title Employee Background - Managers and QA leads who have experience leading QA organizations at global tech companies - Test engineers who used to manage large projects at SI/system integrator companies and then moved into Agile/DevOps ways of working - Specialists with deep expertise in test automation and SDET (Software Engineer in Test), who have improved and transformed organizations through technology Development Tools - Test automation: Playwright, Appium - CI/CD: Jenkins - AI/tools: Rakuten AI (our in-house AI platform), an internally built test management tool - Collaboration: Jira, Confluence Mandatory Qualifications: - Large-team management experience: Experience managing a team of 20+ people, or 5+ years of experience managing managers (a “manager of managers” role) - Global communication: Business-level communication skills in English (about TOEIC 800+ level) - Change management: A track record of improving and transforming an organization by not sticking to old processes and by adopting new technologies (like AI) and new ways of working Desired Qualifications: - Experience doing QA for a large e-commerce or travel service - Experience in architecting test automation frameworks from scratch, as well as driving large-scale modernization of existing systems - Experience collaborating with and managing overseas offices (offshore/nearshore) - Advanced certifications such as ISTQB Advanced Level - Deep QA expertise: 10+ years of experience creating and running QA strategies based on software testing theory (like ISTQB) - At least 6 years of experience in system test management, including planning, test design, test implementation, and quality assessment for both manual and automated system tests - At least 5 years of experience leading multiple projects simultaneously in QA or development - Business level communication in Japanese Other Information: Additional information on Location Rakuten Crimson House (Head office) 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: - Recruitment Information: - Rakuten Culture: #engineer #producer #productmanager #commerce #RakutenTravel