Future Leader - Cross-Border Procurement Management Section, Procurement Operations Department, Procurement Operations Supervisory Department

Job Description:

Business Overview

The Rakuten Group's basic management philosophy is to "empower" people and society through innovation. Rakuten Group offers more than 70 diverse services, including the online shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba, e-commerce services such as the travel booking site Rakuten Travel, financial services such as Rakuten Bank, and professional sports.

※Rakuten business with key figures
https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/services/

Department Overview

The position reports directly to the head of Cross-Border Procurement Management Section, which is a part of Procurement Operations Supervisory Department at Rakuten Group, Inc.
The Group Procurement Operations Supervisory Department is responsible for procurement operations across the entire Rakuten Group.
Within this organization, the role will be responsible for designing and executing procurement organizational structures for overseas group companies and standardizing and streamlining procurement operations.

The mission of this role is to standardize procurement across the 97 overseas subsidiaries under Rakuten Group’s control (as of October 1, 2026).
The position will design the organizational structure required to operate procurement processes end-to-end from “source-to-contract” to “purchase-to-pay”, while implementing processes and systems that comply with the Group’s procurement regulations.
This enables us to bring consistency to procurement activities that are currently fragmented across individual companies, thereby strengthening governance and delivering greater value to the company.
It will also be responsible for planning and executing the rollout strategy. Execution is targeted for completion by around 2030, after which the role is expected to take on a leadership position overseeing global procurement operations from Japan or potentially to be seconded to an overseas subsidiary to directly oversee operations on-site.

Position:

Why We Hire

In addition to standardizing and streamlining domestic procurement processes, we plan to implement procurement standardization across our overseas subsidiaries in alignment with our new procurement system rollout. We are looking for founding members of a new team who will be responsible for designing the organization and operations, as well as executing this transformation plan.

Lead Global Organizational Transformation:
A massive, 3-5 year transformation project involving Rakuten Group’s overseas entities (approx. 100 companies). The designs created will become the new global standard for procurement processes.

The Thrill of 0 to 1:
A role offering high autonomy to break free from existing frameworks and build an optimal procurement organization and operational model from the ground up.

Rare Global Career Development:
An opportunity to develop high-level global communication skills while collaborating with multinational teams to implement industry-standard systems such as SAP Ariba.

Global Environment:
A chance to work at the forefront of global organizational management, collaborating with members from diverse cultural backgrounds across international offices.

Position Details

This role will lead and to be responsible for the following tasks to drive the standardization of procurement processes across our overseas subsidiaries:

・Collect, organize, and analyze information on procurement functions and related organizations within overseas group companies.
・Design and launch an organizational structure of regional operation centers which will provide Purchase to Pay (P2P) operational services for all overseas subsidiaries.
・Design and launch an organizational structure of sourcing teams which will provide Source to Contract (S2C) services for selected business related overseas subsidiaries.
・Plan and execute the implementation of the standard procurement system (SAP Ariba).
・Establish communication pathways with overseas procurement teams and build a community.
・Develop a collaboration framework with the domestic procurement organization.
・Estimate and manage costs and budgets required for operating overseas procurement organizations.

Work Environment

Establishing a team of ~5 people as a part of Procurement Operations Supervisory Department (~80 people) to drive this initiative in 2027.

The team brings together a wide variety of professional perspectives, with members joining us from industries such as manufacturing, consulting, media, and apparel.

Mandatory Qualifications:

・Experience working within a global reporting lines and/or leading cross-border project teams with international members. (5+ years)
・A mindset of enjoying the creation of newly developing rules, processes and organizations.
・A continuous improvement mindset, constantly seeking ways to improve existing approaches.
・Business-level English proficiency.

Desired Qualifications:

・Overseas assignment experience (short-term assignments acceptable).
・Experience in people management.
・Experience in sourcing (product category open).
・Experience in building organizations/foundations, such as procurement system implementation or operational design.

Other Information:

Additional information on Location

Rakuten Crimson House

Additional information on English Qualification

TOEIC score of 800 or above

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 #procurement #operationdiv

Languages:

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