Intern - Corporate Communications

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:

As a Corporate Communications Intern, you will gain hands-on exposure to how a global technology company manages reputation, narrative development, and cross-functional communications. You will support Rakuten International's External Communications team across media relations, executive communications, owned media, and strategic storytelling initiatives.

The Intern Experience: Rakuten is committed to providing our interns with mentorship, meaningful work that supports real company priorities, and exposure to senior leaders. You can also expect curated events to build your professional development, including workshops, regular interactions with Rakuten leadership, and relationship building opportunities with other interns and professionals. Visit our company website and profile on The Muse to learn more about Rakuten's culture and values, as well as hear from last year's interns.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide support for various projects, including development of communications materials like press releases, media lists, executive briefs, and more.
• Monitor and analyze media coverage, corporate owned media channel performance, and industry trends.
• Assist in developing content for the company's blog and social media channels.
• Conduct research on industry trends, competitors, and relevant topics to support corporate narrative priorities.
• Participate in meetings with teams from multiple Rakuten businesses.

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.

• Willingness to learn and excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• Ability to work effectively independently, as well as part of a highly collaborative, geographically dispersed team.
• Act with discretion when handling sensitive and confidential company information.
• Ability to manage multiple assignments under guidance from the team.
• A blend of curiosity, analytical thinking, creativity, flexibility, adaptability, and follow-through.
• Commitment to providing timely, high-quality work - sometimes under pressure.
• Experience building or drafting content and using social media programs strongly preferred.

Minimum Requirements:

• Degree in progress in Communications, Journalism, English, Media Studies or comparable liberal arts major.

At the time of posting, Rakuten expects the hourly rate for this role will be between $20-$25 per hour. 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.

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.

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

Job ID: Rakuten-RakutenAmericas-1031925

Employment Type: INTERN

Posted: 2026-02-19T19:55:03