Senior UX Designer

Job Description:

(Japanese language fluency required for this position)

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:

Japanese language fluency (native-level) is required for this position.

Rakuten’s America AI & Data Division is seeking a passionate and experienced UX Designer to shape engaging and effective user experiences across a variety of our services and platforms. You will play a crucial role in driving user-centered design, from conducting user research and developing UX strategies to designing user interfaces and managing web content. Your expertise will be critical in driving UX quality and achieving business objectives, providing innovative UX and UI design solutions across diverse business areas, including potential contributions to AI-driven products and services. This role offers the opportunity to work on projects spanning various industries and contribute to a leading technology company in a fast-paced, global environment.

Key Responsibilities:
 

UX Strategy & UI Design:

• Lead UX strategy and design concept development for key projects, balancing KPI achievement with enhanced user experience. This may include projects related to AI-driven products and services.
• Design user interfaces that are intuitive, visually appealing, consistent with brand guidelines and with a focus on usability and accessibility.
• Create wireframes, mockups, and prototypes to effectively communicate design ideas.

UX Research & Data Analysis:

• Plan, conduct, and analyze user research, including usability testing, user interviews, surveys, A/B testing, and other research methods.
• Translate research findings into actionable design recommendations.
• Analyze user data and feedback to identify areas for improvement and optimize design performance.

Web Content Management & Optimization:

• Create, edit, and manage web content to ensure clarity, accuracy, and alignment with brand voice and organizational objectives.
• Administer content workflows to ensure timely and accurate delivery of web materials.
• Coordinate publishing schedules to align with marketing campaigns and business objectives.
• Edit web copy to maintain consistency with brand voice, style guides, and quality standards.
• Apply knowledge of SEO best practices to optimize web content for search visibility and rankings.

Collaboration & Communication:

• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams, including product managers, engineers, AI specialists, marketing stakeholders, and legal teams, to ensure alignment on UX goals. Collaboration with diverse stakeholders is essential, including Japan-based teams. Incumbent will need to have a deep understanding of Japanese business etiquette communication style, and decision making processes.
• Communicate research findings and design solutions effectively to stakeholders.
• Champion user-centered design principles throughout the product development lifecycle.

Quality Assurance & Global Collaboration:

• Ensure the quality of the user experience through usability testing, heuristic evaluations, and other quality assurance activities.
• Collaborate with international teams to align and drive UX quality assurance initiatives.

Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. 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.

• Knowledge of and strong understanding of user-centered design principles, interaction design, and information architecture.
• Strong writing, grammatical, and proofreading skills with the ability to be creative in writing product descriptions and user interface copy.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to translate research findings into actionable design and content recommendations.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and presentation skills, with the ability to effectively communicate research findings and design/content solutions to stakeholders.
• Knowledge of SEO best practices and web analytics tools such as Google Analytics is a plus.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with diverse teams and functions.
• Ability to speak, write, and communicate in both English and Japanese.
• Proficiency in UX design tools such as Figma, FigJam, Adobe Creative Suite, or similar.
• Proven experience conducting a variety of user research methods (e.g., usability testing, A/B testing, user interviews, surveys).

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience as a UX Designer or in a related role.
• Experience partnering with Product, Engineering, Research, and Marketing to craft broader product strategies.
• Native-level Japanese language proficiency is required. This role involves frequent communication and collaboration with our Tokyo Headquarters and core Japanese business units, which includes frequent and nuanced interactions with our Japan-based engineering, product, and marketing operations.
• Experience working in an international environment.

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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.