My Rakuten Experience : Joy
Joy is Vice Assistant Manager for the Ad Reporting team in the Global Ad Technology Department in Japan.
Background
Prior to joining Rakuten, I worked as a project manager and software engineer on projects that involved business software, such as warehouse and production management systems, and mobile apps that interfaced with multifunctional printers and a visual search engine. I was also a lecturer at my alma mater. I taught courses such as systems analysis and design, and web applications while also acting as a thesis advisor to graduating students on their final software projects.
Why Rakuten?
Three things drew me to Rakuten—its global innovation, online ecosystem and the diversity of the people.
First, with over 70+ services worldwide, I believe that Rakuten itself already manifests the vision of a global innovation company. Second, I really like the idea of an online ecosystem with a marketplace that connects both buyers and sellers in a borderless world. It’s not only because I’ve been an online shopper myself, but also because I grew up with my grandparents owning a small grocery store where we sold various items, ranging from sacks of rice and cases of soft drinks to frozen foods and other basic commodities. It’s how the wide array of items are managed in online inventories, as well as how the customers coming from different places are drawn into the marketplace, that really caught my interest. Third, after talking to former colleagues who were already employed at Rakuten, I knew that the company indeed valued the diversity of its people. I came to believe that Rakuten is a nice place to work with multicultural collaborations made possible.
Current responsibilities
I am a Vice Assistant Manager in the Global Ad Technology Department, specifically for the Tracking & Reporting Group. Currently, I am mainly responsible for product and project management of the UI (User Interface) component of our Ad performance tracking consolidation platform. The UI serves as the interface for Ad business users to register for our platform and to help them confirm their Ad campaign’s performance via the reporting functionality and other features. I create and manage the high-level roadmap, prioritize the requirements while aligning with different stakeholders, work on the UI specifications, and sync up with the tech leads and Quality Assurance to ensure everything can be delivered as scheduled. The Ad marketing business itself is very large, so the scope of the teams that I interface with is also quite large.
What makes the work worthwhile
I feel it’s rewarding for me to build the product together with other members and to see the users actually using our product. From the very beginning, in the product ideation phase, you go into planning and brainstorming, then go all the way to design, development, testing and finally the release. Then you can see the users registering into the system, asking questions and giving feedback. I really like working on UI because you can immediately see it and visualize its features. Before, I was working on the back end for tracking, and usually, some components interface with other systems, but this time I’m more involved with the front end as well.
What sets Rakuten apart
The best part about Rakuten is the diversity because you get to see different perspectives. There’s usually not just one single approach to each problem you’re trying to solve. At the same time, you’re able to learn and appreciate the uniqueness of each member of your team. We have different cultures and different backgrounds, and we get to learn about those by working together. We have a common goal, but each person has their own unique capabilities.
I think it’s good that the company values diversity and promotes this culture. Rakuten also allows all of its employees to take different kinds of training and courses. Every week there’s something new to learn. Moreover, we try to have a sharing culture, sharing learning experiences in our team.
Career growth and next steps
Before I joined Rakuten, I had to become familiar with advertising because my background wasn’t directly related to advertising. I’ve since improved my skills for dealing with these kinds of situations and ensuring that we’re always aligned with the objectives we have set. When you interact with other people, you create connections, and you are also able to build relationships.
I’m really excited, as our platform grows, that we also get to support more services. I’m looking forward to other business users being onboarded onto our platform. Our platform will expand, and we will get more users. We’ll see how we can help them in their marketing efforts.
For more information about available positions, click here.
