Head of Relational Marketing Intelligence - Ad & Media Company(A&M)

Job Description:

Business Overview

Rakuten Group provides more than 70 services in Japan and around the world. By organically connecting these services through a membership-based ecosystem centered on Rakuten members, we have built the unique and unparalleled Rakuten Ecosystem.

Since our founding in 1997, we have continuously expanded our business, with our core businesses including the online marketplace “Rakuten Ichiba” and the credit card business “Rakuten Card.” We have also successfully launched and grown our telecommunications business, “Rakuten Mobile,” establishing three key business pillars. Driven by these businesses, Rakuten Group has grown to achieve consolidated revenue of approximately JPY 2.3 trillion in fiscal year 2024.

Department Overview

The Ad & Media Company is positioned as Rakuten Group’s fourth key business pillar and is expected to play an important role in driving the Group’s future growth through the expansion and development of its advertising business.

Building on our established businesses -including the internet advertising business “Rakuten Marketing / LinkShare,” the marketing research business “Rakuten Insight,” and the marketing solutions business “Rakuten Data Marketing”- we aim to further leverage advertising opportunities across Rakuten Group’s more than 70 services.

Our vision is to create new business models by maximizing the value of Rakuten’s unique assets, including Rakuten members, Rakuten Points, strong brand recognition, and extensive member data, while generating synergies across the Rakuten Ecosystem. Through these strengths, we strive to become an unparalleled marketing partner that delivers unique value to our clients.

Position:

Why We Hire

Through the Rakuten Ecosystem, Rakuten Group has accumulated more than 100 million member IDs and a vast amount of purchasing data. Yet, we believe the full potential of these unparalleled assets has not yet been realized.

Our next challenge is to redefine and unlock the value of these powerful assets through advertising, transforming the business into Rakuten Group’s “fourth pillar” and a key driver of future growth. We are looking for leaders who can take the lead in this unprecedented challenge.

To achieve this ambition, we need the expertise, extensive industry experience, and strong professional networks of accomplished leaders. We are seeking individuals who are motivated by the opportunity to drive business growth at the forefront of management and make a significant contribution to Rakuten Group’s next stage of growth.

1. Achieving exponential growth by combining advertising with "Rakuten’s assets and AI"

You will have the opportunity to build a pioneering business model by leveraging assets unique to Japan - specifically, a user base of over 100 million IDs, extensive purchase data, and advanced AI technology.

2. Expanding your career and professional influence

For those with deep industry knowledge and connections, this role offers the chance to drive the growth of Rakuten’s "fourth pillar" while working closely with senior management.

You can elevate your career to the next level in terms of personal aspirations, professional growth stages, and the scale of your impact.

Position Details

As the Head of Relational Marketing Intelligence, you will be responsible for conceptualizing and driving new customer and marketing strategies by connecting client companies' management, business, and marketing challenges with the data, insights, customer touchpoints, and marketing solutions inherent in the Rakuten ecosystem.

This role does not begin with questions like "which data should be analyzed?" or "what products should be proposed?"

Instead, the starting point is the question: "How should relationships with specific customers be transformed to drive the client's business growth?" You will be required to derive the necessary insights based on this inquiry and translate them into concrete management and marketing actions.

Through dialogue with client executives, CMOs, and marketing leaders, you will identify and structure issues related to business strategy, customer composition, CRM, LTV, branding, customer experience, and data utilization, subsequently formulating strategies to enhance customer value over the medium to long term.

You will then integrate insights gained from Rakuten Group’s diverse customer touchpoints - including purchasing, payments, loyalty points, finance, telecommunications, and media - to develop a tailored "Relational Marketing" strategy specific to each client.

Beyond providing strategic recommendations to individual clients, a key part of your mission will be to systematize the knowledge gained from multiple projects and evolve it into Rakuten’s proprietary "Relational Marketing Intelligence" - developing methodologies, frameworks, solutions, and products.

By collaborating across diverse specialized teams - including sales, marketing research, data science, product development, media, and consulting - you will transform Rakuten Group’s "data" into "insights," and those "insights" into "intelligence," ultimately driving tangible management and business results for the client.

・Identifying and structuring management, business, and marketing challenges for major clients

・Engaging in strategic dialogue and providing advisory services to executive leadership, CMOs, and marketing heads

・Formulating medium- to long-term customer strategies centered on increasing Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

・Designing CRM, customer portfolio, and loyalty strategies

・Building integrated customer strategies covering the entire lifecycle: acquisition, nurturing, retention, cross-selling, and fostering loyalty

・Deepening customer understanding by leveraging data, insights, and intelligence from the Rakuten ecosystem

・Designing customer segmentation, customer value models, and customer journeys

・Conceptualizing marketing strategies that combine client first-party data with Rakuten assets

・Building marketing intelligence by integrating data on customer behavior, market trends, brand perception, purchasing patterns, etc.

・Deriving management and marketing implications from data and insights, and translating them into concrete decisions and actions

・Designing KPIs that link marketing investments to business outcomes such as sales, profit, LTV, and customer value

・Planning integrated strategies that combine Rakuten Group’s media, data, commerce, fintech, mobile, and loyalty point services

・Leading strategic projects that span specialized teams such as sales, data, research, product, and media

・Planning and proposing large-scale strategic initiatives for key clients

・Systematizing methodologies, frameworks, and solutions for "Relational Marketing Intelligence"

・Developing new services and business models based on "Relational Marketing Intelligence"

・Communicating the concepts and value of "Relational Marketing Intelligence" both internally and externally

・Developing the next generation of talent in marketing strategy and intelligence

Work Environment

*As of September 2026

・Headcount: 690

・Average age: Mid-30s

・New graduate vs. mid-career hire ratio: 30% new graduates / 70% mid-career hires

・Experience at a consulting firm, advertising agency, or operating company

・Experience leading strategy formulation and project execution aimed at business growth within a corporate management or business planning department

Mandatory Qualifications:

Candidates possessing any of the following experience or qualities:

・Practical experience in a position of responsibility within an operating company, consulting firm, or the advertising/marketing industry

・Analytical thinking skills to identify core issues within complex situations and evaluate solutions from multiple perspectives

・Communication and project management skills to build smooth relationships and foster consensus among diverse stakeholders (e.g., executive management, division heads, operational staff)

・Ability to accurately articulate and visualize abstract concepts or insights

・Strong interest in creating new value and businesses by leveraging the diverse assets of the Rakuten Group

Desired Qualifications:

Candidates should possess one or more of the following experiences or qualifications:

・Experience driving business growth as a business head, product lead, or sales leader

・Experience leading strategy formulation for executive management or large-scale operational transformation, such as at a consulting firm

・Experience leading the entire process - from strategic planning to execution and validation - for a business with a scale of tens of billions of yen

・Deep practical expertise in advertising, digital marketing, or marketing research

・Experience in business operations with a focus on P&L (Profit and Loss), as well as formulating medium- to long-term business plans and budgets

・Experience driving data-driven decision-making using tools such as SQL and Excel

・Experience negotiating with overseas stakeholders in English and driving global projects

Other Information:

Additional information on Location

Futako Tamagawa Rise Office

2-21-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

Additional information on English Qualification

English Requirement: Yes

・Examples include TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS, etc.

・Details will be provided if you proceed to the selection stage.

If you do not have a score or a certificate, we will arrange for you to take the TOEIC IP test administered by our company during the selection process.

Rakuten Group, Inc. Homepage Link

・Benefits:https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/benefit/

・Recruitment Information:https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/information/ * Employment type is detailed 

・Rakuten Culture:https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/culture/

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