Product Manager

Situated in the heart of Singapore's Central Business District, Rakuten Asia Pte. Ltd. is Rakuten's Asia Regional headquarters. Established in August 2012 as part of Rakuten's global expansion strategy, Rakuten Asia comprises various businesses that provide essential value-added services to Rakuten's global ecosystem. Through advertisement product development, product strategy, and data management, among others, Rakuten Asia is strengthening Rakuten Group's core competencies to take the lead in an increasingly digitalized world.

Rakuten is a global tech company leveraging its membership ecosystem and data to benefit society. Our AI for Business Department (AI4B) develops and deploys innovative AI solutions to enhance our Commerce & Marketing, FinTech, and Mobile units. We seek talented professionals passionate about impactful, pioneering projects.

As a Product Manager, Generative AI you will lead the development and deployment of AI solutions across Rakuten’s business units. This role requires a blend of AI expertise and business acumen to integrate advanced AI technologies into our products. The ideal candidate has a strong product management background, a proven track record of bringing innovative tech solutions to market, and experience with data science, machine learning, and natural language processing. This strategic role demands navigating product development from conception to launch while leveraging AI innovations.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with technical and business leaders to align the AI for Business Department's strategic direction with organization-wide Generative AI initiatives.
• Define product vision, strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals and market needs.
• Assume or support the product owner role, identify and prioritize high-potential, innovative and impactful Generative AI use cases or application features, in close coordination with business experts, accelerating their development and implementation.
• Define and oversee the creation of rapid prototypes and proof-of-concepts for Generative AI applications, ensuring they meet business needs.
• Lead the planning to scale and develop successful Generative AI experiments, prototypes and proof-of-concepts into robust AI solutions.
• Engage with cross-functional teams to ensure product requirements are fully understood and integrated into the development process.
• Monitor product performance and user feedback to continuously refine and improve product offerings.
• Maintain high-quality documentation and thought leadership materials for Generative AI initiatives to engage internal and external stakeholders.
• Facilitate strategic planning sessions and coaching workshops to foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within the team. This includes mentoring team members on best practices in product management and agile methodologies, ensuring the team remains agile and adaptable in the face of evolving market trends and technology advancements.

Mandatory Qualifications:

• 3+ years of experience in product management
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, capable of effectively collaborating with both technical and non-technical teams.
• Proficient in Agile development methodologies and familiar with project management tools like JIRA and Confluence.
• Independent and autonomous work style, capable of navigating complex organizational structures and driving results.
• Strategic thinker with a problem-solving mindset, demonstrating the ability to lead through innovation and critical analysis.
• A strong passion for leveraging technology to address real-world challenges and make a meaningful societal impact.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience in product management of technology or AI-driven products.
• Proven expertise in leading and successfully executing complex technology programs or products from concept through to launch.
• Experience in setting strategic direction and uncovering new opportunities for impact within large organizations.
• Experience in developing or contributing to data science or analytics projects, including prior hands-on experience with AI/ML model development, showcasing a comprehensive understanding of the entire product development lifecycle—from initial planning and analysis through to deployment and optimization of machine learning models.
• Any proficiency in Japanese language will be advantageous.

Rakuten is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications regardless of sex, marital status, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religious belief or age.