Product Manager (Middle level) - Backoffice… at Rakuten · Tokyo

Product Manager (Middle level) - Backoffice Business Support Section, Business Support Development Department (BSD) Location: Tokyo, Japan Job Description: Business Overview Rakuten Group, under the mission of "Empowering People and Society through Innovation," operates a wide range of businesses both domestically and internationally, including e-commerce, travel, digital content, telecommunications, FinTech, and professional sports. Department Overview The Business Support Development Department (BSD) is a development organization that supports the diverse business operations and systems of the Rakuten Group through the power of products, AI, and data. It optimizes complex business processes and provides the foundation that supports business growth. Within that, our department is a product development organization specializing in advancing the DX of the customer support domain. Our mission is to plan, develop, and improve products that support end users, merchants, and internal operators, thereby enhancing customer experience, response quality, and productivity in customer support. Products we work on include inquiry response tools, AI-assisted chat tools, and inquiry analysis dashboards. It is a challenging environment where we tackle massive data and complex business operations to evolve the very nature of customer support through the power of technology. Position: Why We Hire For large-scale services centered on Rakuten Ichiba and Rakuten Travel, the standards of quality, speed, and productivity required in customer support are rising year by year. In addition, enhancing inquiry response sophistication, improving self-resolution rates, improving operator productivity, and realizing new support experiences using generative AI have become important themes. Against this background, in addition to the continuous improvement of existing products, we are recruiting a Product Manager who can lead the planning and introduction of new AI features and new business support functions. As the owner of the assigned products, we expect you to handle everything end-to-end — from discovering field issues to requirements definition, prioritization, development advancement, and effectiveness verification - delivering solutions that improve both CS quality and operational efficiency. Position Details This is a Product Manager role responsible for planning, problem definition, requirements gathering, development advancement, and improvement of products in the customer support domain. You will deeply understand the challenges of CS operators, administrators, and related business departments, and collaborate with diverse stakeholders such as engineers and QA to drive business transformation and improve customer experience through products. Key Responsibilities 1) Product Owner Responsibilities - Take ownership and drive one or more products in the customer support domain - Manage the prioritization of projects and backlogs based on business goals, CS strategy, and field challenges - Develop and continuously review the product roadmap 2) Problem Discovery / Requirements Definition - Identify issues and needs through interviews and on-site observation of CS operators, administrators, and related departments - Analyze operational KPIs such as inquiry data, resolution rates, processing time, and usage to identify areas for improvement - Organize business requirements and translate them into feasible system requirements and specifications - Design ideal business flows and user experiences through hypothesis formulation, requirements definition, and specification development 3) Solution Planning / Development Advancement - Collaborate with engineering teams to ensure the validity, feasibility, and quality of requirements - Participate in design and specification reviews, making proposals from the perspective of usability and operational ease - Drive the planning, evaluation, and introduction of CS support features utilizing generative AI, machine learning, and natural language processing - Organize development progress, issues, and dependencies, and drive through to release 4) Stakeholder Management - Build consensus and coordinate with diverse stakeholders including CS departments, development, QA, and related business units - Clearly communicate requirements, changes, progress, risks, and decision items to stakeholders - Provide appropriate situation summaries and reporting to decision-makers 5) Effectiveness Verification / Improvement - Design KPIs post-release, monitor, and measure effectiveness - Drive continuous improvement PDCA based on data and field feedback - Plan and execute improvement measures to maximize product value Mandatory Qualifications: - Over 3 years of practical experience in product management or equivalent roles - Experience conducting interviews with users and business departments to perform issue organization, requirements definition, and specification development - Experience translating business challenges into actionable solutions while engaging stakeholders - Experience collaborating with engineering teams to advance development - Foundational knowledge of product planning and project management - Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with both technical and non-technical teams - Problem-solving ability and the capacity to structure and organize challenges - Proactive and collaborative mindset; ability to identify issues independently and contribute beyond one's defined role - Ability to build consensus among multiple stakeholders including CS departments, development, QA, and data teams - Business-level proficiency or above in both Japanese and English Desired Qualifications: - Experience in product development or business improvement in customer support, CRM, or contact center domains - Experience planning and introducing products utilizing AI / machine learning / natural language processing - Experience in data analysis, KPI design, and effectiveness verification using SQL, BI tools, etc. - Product management experience with EC platforms or B2B SaaS - Experience in reducing waste and improving productivity through business process analysis - Experience in change management or developing new processes/policies - Experience translating complex business requirements into initial technical requirements and specifications - Practical experience in Agile/Scrum environments - Basic knowledge of resource management including budget and personnel in project operations Other Information: Additional information on Location Rakuten Crimson House (Head office) Additional information on English Qualification TOEIC Score 800 above or possess equivalent abilities #engineer #productmanager #commerce #RakutenIchiba Languages: Japanese (Overall - 4 - Fluent)