Strategic Business Operations Manager

Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader that empowers individuals, communities, businesses, and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, the business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications, and entertainment. Our products and services provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that wish to engage them in a shared community. Job Summary This role operates at the enterprise level and reports to the Chief of Staff to the CEO. It partners closely with senior leaders across the organization to strengthen how the company plans, decides, and executes. The focus is translating strategy into effective operating mechanisms, improving decision quality, and creating visibility across priorities, trade‑offs, and outcomes. This is not a people‑leadership, program‑management, or functional‑ownership role; it enables leaders to operate more effectively at scale through influence, structure, and clarity. Key Responsibilities Translate annual and multi‑year strategic priorities into clear operating plans, milestones, and review cadences that connect leadership intent to measurable outcomes. Structure executive and leadership discussions, including OKR and priority‑setting forums, to surface trade‑offs, drive decisions, and ensure commitments are documented and followed through. Own and continuously improve the company’s enterprise operating rhythm, including executive planning sessions, leadership off‑sites, all‑hands meetings, and quarterly and annual business reviews. Maintain enterprise‑level visibility into critical initiatives, dependencies, risks, and outcomes, surfacing issues early and aligning leaders on mitigation and course correction. Design and maintain KPI frameworks, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms that inform executive decision‑making and reinforce accountability. Develop executive‑ready insights, recommendations, and materials for senior leadership consumption. Contribute to competitive and market analyses in support of decision‑making, partnering with relevant internal teams and Rakuten international as needed. Use Claude and similar AI tools to produce first‑pass drafts of executive materials and rapid competitive scans; build simple, repeatable prompt/agent workflows to standardize outputs and reduce cycle time for exec cadence. Qualifications Proven ability to operate independently in highly ambiguous environments with limited precedent. Demonstrated experience partnering directly with senior executives and influencing outcomes without formal authority. Strong executive presence with the ability to adapt communication style and persuade diverse stakeholders. Experience shaping enterprise operating models, planning processes, or decision frameworks. Highly analytical, with the ability to synthesize complex information into clear, executive‑ready insights. Motivated by improving how an organization runs rather than owning a single function or team. Experience utilizing generative AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Bard) for content creation and workflow automation in a professional setting. Minimum Requirements Bachelor’s Degree required. 7+ years of experience in Strategy & Operations, Business Operations, Consulting, Corporate Strategy, or a Chief of Staff‑adjacent role; 8–10+ years preferred. Preferable Skills Regularly uses Claude for structured analysis and synthesis in executive‑facing work. Has built reusable Claude prompt libraries/“skills” and lightweight agent workflows for recurring operating tasks. Demonstrates disciplined AI usage: no sensitive data leakage, validates key claims, and cites/links sources for anything externally derived. Benefits USD $78,651.00 – $135,216.00 annually, plus discretionary bonus, health, vision, dental insurance, 401(k) matching, PTO, volunteer time off (VTO), and other employee benefits as the company implements. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement 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. #J-18808-Ljbffr SupportFinity™