Corporate Communications Manager

Job Description:

Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California with more than 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications and entertainment. We create products and services that provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that want to engage them in a shared community.

Job Summary:

Ideal opportunity for someone looking to build a career in communications for a large, matrixed international corporation.

The Corporate Communications Manager plays a pivotal role in shaping and executing external communications strategies that advance the company's corporate narrative, elevate its reputation, and support key business priorities. This newly created role is an exciting opportunity for a communications professional with strong media relations experience, sound judgment, and the ability to operate independently within a fast-paced, matrixed, international organization.

As part of the Corporate External Communications team, the Corporate Communications Manager will lead day-to-day execution of integrated communications programs, support executive visibility and thought leadership, and collaborate closely with cross-functional teams across multiple businesses. The role will focus on our performance marketing businesses and offer exposure to many of our most important current and future initiatives, including our Cash Back platform, affiliate publishing and card-linked offer networks, and others.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the development and execution of integrated external communications programs, including media relations, thought leadership, executive communications, and corporate storytelling, ensuring these programs contribute to a cohesive strategy for engaging stakeholders on relevant channels (e.g., earned media, owned platforms, and internal communications).
• Create and execute high-quality communications materials, including press releases, messaging frameworks, media pitches, executive talking points, and briefing documents.
• Serve as a primary media contact for designated beats or business areas; build and maintain strong relationships with journalists and industry influencers.
• Collaborate with multiple marketing, commercial, and leadership teams to align and execute communications strategies that help them meet their business objectives.
• Serve as our in-house expert on media coverage, industry trends, and issues that may impact the company's reputation, providing strategic insights and recommendations to proactively protect and enhance the company's reputation.
• Support executive visibility initiatives, including speaking engagements, bylined content, and conference participation.
• Lead project management for complex communications initiatives, including coordination of timelines, approvals, and deliverables.

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Direct experience or strong knowledge of B2B and B2C tech, e-commerce, retail and/or ad tech industries.
• Demonstrated success leading media relations programs, including pitching stories, managing press inquiries, preparing spokespeople, and building relationships with national, trade, and business media.
• Strong media relationships with top tier business and ad/marketing trades preferred.
• Willingness to learn and excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively independently, as well as part of a highly collaborative team. You will be part of a communications team distributed across multiple U.S. locations serving internal clientele worldwide.
• Act with discretion when handling sensitive and confidential company information.
• Ability to project manage multiple competing priorities and excellent time management.
• A blend of curiosity, analytical thinking, creativity, flexibility, adaptability, and the relentlessness to drive projects to completion.
• A passion for the truth well told and for delivering best-in-class customer service.
• This position may include domestic air travel to meet with team members and attend industry events.

Minimum Requirements:

• 5-7 years of public relations or related experience, in-house and/or agency.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience in communications, journalism, or a related field preferred.

#LI-TL1

Five Principles for Success
Our worldwide practices describe specific behaviors that make Rakuten unique and united across the world. We expect Rakuten employees to model these 5 Shugi Principles of Success.

Always improve, Always Advance - Only be satisfied with complete success - Kaizen
Passionately Professional - Take an uncompromising approach to your work and be determined to be the best
Hypothesize - Practice - Validate - Shikumika - Use the Rakuten Cycle to succeed in unknown territory
Maximize Customer Satisfaction - The greatest satisfaction for our teams is seeing their customers smile
Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! - Always be conscious of time - take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team

Rakuten provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. Rakuten considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, provincial or local laws.

At the time of posting, Rakuten expects the base compensation for this role to be within the range shown below. Individual compensation will vary based on job-related factors, including the skills, qualifications, and experience of the successful candidate as well as business need and geographic location. The successful applicant for this role will be eligible for discretionary bonus, health, vision, dental insurance, 401k matching, PTO, Volunteer Time Off (VTO), and other employee benefits as the company implements.

USD $78,651.00 - $135,216.00 annually

Client-provided location(s): San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, San Mateo, CA

Job ID: Rakuten-RakutenAmericas-1031846

Employment Type: FULL_TIME

Posted: 2026-02-14T19:55:18