Director, Internal Communications

Job Description:

Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California with more than 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications and entertainment. We create products and services that provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that want to engage them in a shared community. 
Job Summary:
 

Rakuten Rewards is in a period of transformation. This Director shapes how the company communicates to our employees through it, making strategy legible at every level and giving employees a clear line between their work and the company's direction.

You'll work closely with Rewards leadership. While this role will primarily focus on internal communications within Rewards, collaboration with its parent company Rakuten International will be essential to ensure alignment and support for broader initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

Executive & leadership partnership

• Define how information moves from the executive team through leaders and managers to employees: what gets communicated broadly, what flows through managers, what needs repetition, and through which channels.
• Advise Rewards leadership on communications strategy for key business moments such as product changes, organizational shifts, strategic pivots.
• Give leaders at all levels the messaging and tools to communicate strategy with their teams.
• Coordinate with Rakuten International communications on initiatives requiring a unified enterprise message.

Employee understanding & connection

• Build and execute a communications strategy that assures employees know the company's direction and can connect their own work to it.
• Develop "what this means for you" framing for major announcements and strategic updates.
• Partner with HR to ensure programs such as onboarding, career development, and role-change communications consistently tie individual work to company priorities.
• Measure employee understanding.

Organizational listening & measurement

• Build listening mechanisms (pulse surveys, channel analytics, manager feedback loops) to measure where communications are landing and identify gaps.
• Bring leadership a point of view. Go beyond the raw data to spotlight what employees understand, what isn't getting through, and what to do about it.
• Define KPIs around employee comprehension and whether strategy is actually getting through.

Programs & channels

• Own content strategy and execution for bi-weekly All Hands meetings and Leadership Summits. Designed around what employees need to understand.
• Take full responsibility for these programs: agenda management, speaker prep, slide production, run-of-show, follow-through. Build the systems so each runs better than the last.
• Manage and apply editorial discipline to internal channels (newsletters, intranet, video, etc.). Clear priorities, valuable content, consistent cadence.

Qualifications:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must satisfactorily perform each essential duty. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Exceptional writer, especially in plain language that makes strategy feel relevant to the person reading it.
• Business fluent. Enough understanding of the business to translate operating context into clear employee narratives without being hand-held. Consumer tech, ad tech, and e-commerce backgrounds preferred.
• Operationally disciplined. This role runs programs. You build repeatable systems for recurring programs, keep tight calendars, and follow through.
• Comfortable with data. You learn from survey results and channel metrics to adjust your approach.
• Strong executive presence. You can counsel senior leaders and push back when it's warranted.
• Tech literate. You use available tools to work faster and smarter, and can help employees navigate AI adoption with clarity and confidence.
• Able to earn trust across a complex organization without formal authority.

Measures of success

• Employee engagement and understanding of company strategy (survey-measured, year-over-year)
• Employee clarity on how their work connects to company priorities
• Leadership communication effectiveness as rated by employees
• Comprehension across key internal channels
• Employee clarity during major initiatives and transitions

Minimum Requirements:
 

• 7-12 years in internal or employee communications; experience advising senior leaders required.
• A track record of improving employee understanding or engagement.
• Background in a relevant industry such as consumer tech, digital advertising or technology, e-commerce, or a fast-moving product company.
• Global or multinational experience a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate complex organizational dynamics, balancing the varying needs of cross-functional teams in areas such as Product, Marketing, Technology, and Human Resources.

#LI-TL1

Five Principles for Success
Our worldwide practices describe specific behaviors that make Rakuten unique and united across the world. We expect Rakuten employees to model these 5 Shugi Principles of Success.
Always improve, Always Advance - Only be satisfied with complete success - Kaizen
Passionately Professional - Take an uncompromising approach to your work and be determined to be the best
Hypothesize - Practice - Validate – Shikumika - Use the Rakuten Cycle to succeed in unknown territory
Maximize Customer Satisfaction - The greatest satisfaction for our teams is seeing their customers smile
Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! - Always be conscious of time - take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team

At the time of posting, Rakuten expects the base compensation for this role to be within the range shown below. Individual compensation will vary based on job-related factors, including the skills, qualifications, and experience of the successful candidate as well as business need and geographic location. The successful applicant for this role will be eligible for discretionary bonus, health, vision, dental insurance, 401k matching, PTO, Volunteer Time Off (VTO), and other employee benefits as the company implements.