UX Director (Product/Development Direction) - Customer Strategy Department, Platform Strategy Supervisory Department (PFSD)

Job Description: Business Overview Rakuten Group is headquartered in Japan and serves approximately 100 million domestic customers and 2 billion customers across 30 countries worldwide. We provide more than 70 services across various fields including e-commerce, payment services, financial services, telecommunications, media, and sports. Department Overview Rakuten has expanded its business scale with core businesses such as the online shopping mall service Rakuten Ichiba and the credit card business Rakuten Card, achieving consolidated revenue of 2.2 trillion yen and domestic gross transaction value of 6.0 trillion yen. Looking ahead, Rakuten aims to create a new business model that establishes a stronger Rakuten Ecosystem, including offline aspects of daily life, by fully leveraging assets cultivated primarily through online services, such as Rakuten membership, Rakuten Points, brand strength, and member data. This position is part of the Platform Strategy Supervisory Department, which belongs to a corporate organization directly under the COO and Vice President. Rather than operating a specific service, this department is responsible for driving ecosystem growth strategies and initiatives centered on cross-group marketing across the Rakuten Group. As the only division within Rakuten Group that executes initiatives based on company-wide strategy, it offers a unique opportunity to build a broad perspective while being involved in both strategic planning and execution. The work of the Platform Strategy Supervisory Department is broad and diverse, ranging from proposals to top management on company-wide strategies, to planning concrete initiatives based on those strategies, creating innovative and attractive programs and products, and designing operations that enable customers to use our services with confidence. Position: Why We Hire We are currently looking for a UX Director who will help drive business growth together with the team as we create new services and expand existing ones. Our team consists of professionals from diverse disciplines, including business strategists, marketers, analysts, researchers, and designers, all working together to enhance service value every day. This position goes beyond general web direction or UI improvement work. It is a role that leads requirements definition, specification planning, and development execution in product development, while working closely with engineers and taking responsibility through to release. You will be involved end-to-end, from requirements definition and specification planning to development direction, project management, and quality assurance, ensuring that products are successfully delivered. In addition, the Experience Section is also working on creating new user experiences and improving development processes through the use of generative AI, opening up new possibilities together with the team. This is a highly rewarding role for someone who wants to oversee both strategy and execution, act as a bridge between UX and development, and move the business forward through direction and delivery. Why not use your experience to help us create compelling products together? Business/organizational appeal - This organization promotes initiatives based on Rakuten Group-wide strategy, offering the opportunity to work on user experience design and product development across multiple businesses rather than being limited to a single service. - By leveraging Rakuten’s extensive assets, such as Rakuten membership, Rakuten Points, and member data, you can contribute to creating new experiences and services that connect online and offline touchpoints. Role/scope of responsibility - Although the title is UX Director, the role goes beyond planning and design and covers the full process from requirements definition and specification planning to development direction and release. - As a hub connecting business, design, and development, you will be involved in decision-making and take direct responsibility for product outcomes. - As part of an organization directly under the COO, you will also have opportunities to work on decisions and initiatives closely linked to company-wide strategy. Skills and career development - In addition to UX design and direction, you will be able to develop cross-functional skills in product management, development direction, and data-driven decision-making. - Through experience working on large-scale services and multiple products, you will build the ability to make decisions and drive execution at scale. Position Details - Lead UX direction for products and services related to the Rakuten Ecosystem - Plan experience design and initiatives based on business and service strategy - Organize user issues and business requirements and translate them into product requirements, leading the requirements definition process - Define specifications, including screen design, information architecture, transition design, and interaction design, and create related documentation - Lead development direction and project management in close collaboration with engineers - Support decision-making and prioritization within sprint and development processes - Drive projects as a hub across design, engineering, and business teams - Review implementations and ensure quality from both UX and specification perspectives - Lead end-to-end execution and issue resolution toward product release - Identify issues and plan and execute improvement initiatives based on user research and data analysis Work Environment - Expected Assignment: Platform Strategy Supervisory Department → Customer Strategy Department → Experience Section - Platform Strategy Supervisory Department has approximately 60 members, balanced gender ratio, average age in the mid-30s - Many members joined mid-career, and the division welcomes diverse backgrounds such as consulting, IT, platform companies, venture companies, telecommunications, and content operations - The Experience Section consists of approximately 15 members (Web Directors, UX Designers, UI Designers, Front-end Engineers), with similar demographics Examples of mid-career employees and their backgrounds can be found here: (opens in new window) Mandatory Qualifications: Desired Candidate Profile - Strong ownership and the ability to take responsibility for deliverables and drive them through to release - A collaborative mindset and the ability to work across functions to achieve results - Strong communication and coordination skills, with the ability to organize complex stakeholder interests - The ability to think beyond UX alone and integrate business, development, and data perspectives - Flexibility in fast-changing environments and the ability to move decision-making forward - The ability to manage and drive multiple projects and tasks in parallel Required Skills / Experience - At least 3 years of experience in UX direction or product direction for web services or app-based products - Hands-on experience in requirements definition and specification planning, including screen design, information architecture, and user flow / transition design - Experience leading the full development process from requirements definition through release in collaboration with engineers - Experience driving projects through to release, including end-to-end involvement from development to launch - Practical experience in UX design, such as persona creation, customer journey design, and user flow design - Experience identifying issues and improving products through user research and usability testing - Experience using design tools such as Figma and Adobe CC Business-level Japanese proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing Submission Japanese Resume Desired Qualifications: - Business-level English proficiency - Practical experience with Scrum or Agile development - Experience collaborating with Product Managers or in product management-related work - Experience using data analysis, such as access analysis or A/B testing, to drive improvements - Experience launching new services or leading large-scale renewal / redesign projects - Basic knowledge of front-end technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript - Experience involved in the development or improvement of iOS / Android applications - Experience designing and facilitating workshops - Experience applying new technologies such as generative AI to product or experience design Other Information: Additional information on Location Rakuten Crimson House 1-14-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo Additional information on English Qualification A TOEIC score of 800 or above is required, or an equivalent certification demonstrating comparable English proficiency, or proof of graduation from a university in an English-speaking country. Proof of qualification must be submitted by the time of the job offer notification. If you do not have a score or certification, you will be invited to take the TOEIC IP test hosted by Rakuten during the selection process. Related Pages - Employee Benefits: (opens in new window) - Employee Conditions: (opens in new window) - Culture: (opens in new window) #corporate #director #projectmanager #producer #productmanager #WebDirector #operationdiv Languages: English (Overall - 2 - Intermediate), Japanese (Overall - 4 - Fluent)