Sr. Manager, Software Engineering

Job Description:

Rakuten Group, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is a global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to 2 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has around 30,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions. For more information visit https://global.rakuten.com/corp/.

Job Summary:

Rakuten Americas' AI & Data Division (AIDD) is seeking a passionate and experienced Sr. Manager, Software Engineering to play a pivotal role in bridging business needs with cutting-edge AI capabilities. As part of AIDD, our mission is to build world-class AI experiences that serve as the digital core for Rakuten's global ecosystem. In this role, you will work on AI for agents, search, recommendation, personalization, and the broader customer experience - delivering meaningful impact for nearly 2 billion Rakuten users. You'll join a team inspired by our CEO's passion and strategic direction: "No AI, No Rakuten." This mindset means that AI is not an optional extra-it's at the heart of everything we do.

In this role, you will lead a team of engineers to deliver high-quality, scalable, and innovative AI solutions that align with business objectives. You will take ownership of the planning, design, development, and deployment of global projects, ensuring timelines and quality standards are met. You will grow and mentor your team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. You will define technical strategies, managing stakeholder expectations, and ensuring adherence to best practices in software development. By leveraging your leadership and deep technical expertise, you will drive operational excellence and contribute to the organization's technological advancements.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and mentor a high-performing team of software engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning, including performance management and career development.
• Drive the end-to-end software development lifecycle for AI-powered products and features, from architectural design and technical specification to implementation, testing, deployment, and ongoing maintenance.
• Define and implement technical strategies and best practices for building scalable, reliable, and secure AI systems, ensuring alignment with AIDD's overall architectural vision.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Design, Data Science, and Research teams to translate business needs and research insights into actionable engineering roadmaps and deliver robust, user-centric AI solutions and products
• Oversee project planning, resource allocation, and execution, ensuring timely delivery, adherence to quality standards, and effective mitigation of technical risks for global AI initiatives.
• Champion modern engineering practices including robust coding standards, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and comprehensive monitoring for AI/ML systems.
• Ensure operational excellence of deployed AI solutions, addressing performance, scalability, and stability requirements in a production environment.
• Communicate technical direction, progress, and challenges effectively to stakeholders across various departments and leadership levels.
• Recruit, develop, and retain top engineering talent across global teams.
• Collaborate effectively across time zones and cultures, managing distributed engineering teams.
• Be willing and able to travel for business, as required.

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.

• Proven track record of successfully leading, mentoring, and scaling high-performing software engineering teams specifically focused on the development and delivery of AI/ML-powered products or platforms.
• Deep expertise in the full software development lifecycle (SDLC) within an AI/ML context, including architectural design, robust coding standards, CI/CD, automated testing, monitoring, and operational excellence for large-scale production systems.
• Strong technical acumen and hands-on experience in building and deploying AI/ML systems, with specific proficiency in areas such as Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs), conversational AI, search, or recommendation systems.
• Extensive experience with cloud technologies (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and architectural best practices for building scalable, reliable, and secure cloud-native AI applications.
• Exceptional leadership skills in fostering a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement within engineering teams.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional stakeholders including Product Management, Data Science, AI Research, and Operations, to translate complex requirements into technical solutions and drive alignment in a matrixed, international environment.
• Strategic thinker capable of balancing big-picture technical vision with hands-on execution and detailed problem-solving.
• Excellent communication skills, able to articulate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience operating effectively in fast-paced, international environments, comfortable managing global initiatives.
• Fluency in English is required; proficiency in Japanese is a plus.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field. Master's degree preferred.
• A minimum of 8+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, with at least 3+ years in a leadership role managing engineers.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience in the design, development, and deployment of AI/ML-powered software systems.
• Strong technical foundation and hands-on experience with Python and modern software development practices.
• Proven ability to lead teams toward high-impact technical outcomes.
• Experience working with or within Japanese organizations or teams preferred.

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 $138,600.00 - $239,360.00 annually

Client-provided location(s): Bellevue, WA

Job ID: Rakuten-RakutenAmericas-1029218

Employment Type: FULL_TIME

Posted: 2025-09-30T20:36:41