Shop Governance & Strategy ‐ Strategic Business Compliance Support Department, Rakuten Total Solutions, Inc.(SBCSD)

Job Description:

Business Overview

Rakuten Group provides more than 70 services in a wide range of fields, including e-commerce, travel, digital content, and other Internet services in Japan and overseas, as well as financial services such as credit cards, banking, securities, electronic money, and smartphone app payments, mobile services such as mobile carrier services, and professional sports. By organically linking these services through a membership system centered on Rakuten members, Rakuten has created a unique “Rakuten ecosystem” that is unlike any other.

*Our Businesses Key Figures
https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/services/

Department Overview

The Business Controls Department supports the growth of Rakuten Mobile, a key part of the Rakuten Group strategy. By monitoring the mobile shops and providing on-site coaching, we have achieved the lowest legal violation rate in the industry for three years in a row.

We are now expanding our focus to all business areas, including corporate sales. We don’t see “controls” as a way to slow down sales. Instead, we aim for “offensive controls” that help our teams provide services with confidence.

We are looking for people who can use both data and real-world insights to help us prevent risks before they happen.

Position:

Why We Hire

We are strengthening our team as our work expands beyond shop and corporate sales control. We need more than just a “checker.” We are looking for a leader who can build a scalable risk-management system and help our organization evolve.

- Why Join Us:
A Bridge to Leadership: Act as a "command center." Use real feedback from the field to advise senior management.

- Build from Scratch:

Design new risk management models using AI and data, without being limited by old rules.

- Career Growth:

Become a risk expert and improve your business skills within Rakuten’s huge ecosystem.

Position Details

Role and Onboarding Support
- Role: Bridging the Gap Between Field Operations and Management
You will begin by gaining a deep understanding of frontline operations through site inspections and monitoring. Your mission is to uncover the "why" behind operational challenges and act as a bridge between management objectives and frontline realities, eventually leading improvement projects.

- Onboarding Support: From Novice to Professional
OJT Program (approx. 2 months): To master the core of our operations, you will undergo a comprehensive 2-month On-the-Job Training program focused on store inspections and interviews. By visiting multiple locations and experiencing our operational structure firsthand, you will learn to identify areas for improvement.

Collaborative Environment: After completing your OJT, you will be assigned to projects alongside managers and senior members. You will work in a supportive environment where guidance is always available.
Diverse Backgrounds: Our team is comprised of members with diverse professional backgrounds, including sales planning, HR development, quality management, and enterprise sales. We value how you leverage your unique experience as a "strategic asset for governance." With our systematized knowledge and dedicated support, you can quickly translate your strengths into results, even in areas where you may be a newcomer.

Future Role and Career Path
We expect you to evolve into a "Command Center for Governance"—a leader who manages the entire process from identifying root causes via data analysis to proposing strategies to the executive team and executing initiatives on the front lines. You will lead the creation of effective frameworks and drive business growth.

Key Responsibilities
1. Improvement Consulting for Sales Frontlines

Design and execute site inspections (audits) and mystery shopping, providing consulting to solve frontline issues.
Conduct data analysis via online/on-site monitoring and provide hands-on support using root cause analysis (e.g., 5-Why, RCA).
Design highly effective operational and control schemes that incorporate feedback from the field.

2. Executive Reporting and Decision-Making Support

Visualize sales quality and provide strategic recommendations to the executive team to support decision-making.
Maintain and manage continuous touchpoints with executives through monthly risk reports and strategic proposals.

3. Leading Cross-Functional Projects

Lead projects involving multiple departments, including Sales, Legal, HR, and Business Planning.
Facilitate organization-wide consensus to resolve compliance issues and drive the implementation and adoption of new measures.

4. Incident Investigation and Prevention Strategy

Conduct fact-finding investigations and root cause analysis in the event of regulatory violations or internal misconduct.
Collaborate with relevant departments to design prevention schemes and integrate them into operational workflows to strengthen our defense.

Work Environment

Organizational Structure
- Headcount: 9 total (3 Group Manager, 6 members)
- Age range: Mainly in their 30s
- Hiring mix: All mid-career hires

Backgrounds of Mid-Career Hires and What Motivated Them to Join the Company

Background
Our team includes members with diverse backgrounds—such as retail operations planning, sales planning, corporate sales, and operational quality control—including those with no prior experience in compliance. By combining the expertise of members with different specializations, we are able to implement controls from a multifaceted perspective.

What Motivated Them to Join
Many of our team members decided to make the career change for the reasons listed below, and we provide an environment where even those coming from different fields can steadily catch up with the help of managers and senior team members.

- My desire to work for a company that offers significant benefits to customers, which grew out of my daily use of Rakuten services
- A strong motivation to personally improve service quality at retail locations from a compliance and control perspective
- A career goal to systematically acquire expertise in compliance, governance, and legal regulations through hands-on experience

Career Path After Joining
Within the vast Rakuten Group ecosystem, you can not only aim to become a risk management professional but also hone your skills in business improvement and planning.

Mandatory Qualifications:

- 4+ years of professional work experience
- Skills in structuring and documenting work: able to interview frontline teams, identify issues, and translate them into manuals and workflows that anyone can execute
- Cross-functional coordination skills: experience aligning stakeholders across departments with differing interests and driving consensus as an organization
- Logical thinking and communication skills: able to articulate the need for rules and their risk-reduction impact based on objective evidence

Desired Qualifications:

- 3+ years of hands-on experience in a planning/management function: e.g., sales planning, corporate planning, HR, or other back-office planning roles, with experience defining frontline rules and business processes
- 3+ years of hands-on experience in risk/compliance: e.g., Legal, internal audit, or risk management, with experience contributing to practical rule design aligned with real operations
- Experience rolling out systems/processes: led the end-to-end introduction of new internal policies or operating rules, from explaining them to the field through adoption and stabilization
- Experience designing and running training programs: built curricula based on organizational issues, drove behavior change, and measured/improved outcomes
- Project management experience: independently led cross-functional projects, from schedule management through progress reporting

Other Information:

Additional information on Location

Rakuten Crimson House

1-14-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

Additional information on Secondment

Original domicile is Rakuten Group, Inc. to be secondment to Rakuten Total Solutions, Inc. after being hired.

Related Pages
- Employee Benefits: https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/benefit/

- Employee Conditions: https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/information/

- Culture: https://global.rakuten.com/corp/careers/culture/

#corporate #legal #IP #audit #operationdiv

Languages:

English (Overall - 2 - Intermediate), Japanese (Overall - 4 - Fluent)