Influencer Marketing Manager

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. 

  
Rakuten is the most rewarding way to shop, giving millions of members Cash Back when they buy from their favorite brands. As a leading shopping platform, Rakuten partners with thousands of top brands across apparel, beauty and wellness, grocery, travel, on-demand services, subscriptions, and dining, helping members save on everyday purchases. Since 1999, Rakuten members have earned more than $4.6 billion in Cash Back, making it the largest Cash Back platform of its kind. Learn more at Rakuten.com.

Job Summary:

Reporting into Sr. Manager, Influencer Marketing, Rakuten is looking for a performance-minded influencer marketer to help scale our Refer-a-Friend (RAF) program. This is a hands-on role for someone who can blend strong creative instincts with rigorous measurement, build trusted relationships with creators, and run a tight operating rhythm with internal partners and agency support.

If you love building programs that creators genuinely want to participate in and you care deeply about performance, this is a chance to shape how Rakuten scales a creator channel tied directly to business growth.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own RAF influencer execution end-to-end: from creator sourcing and organic outreach to briefing, launch, optimization, and executing paid/sponsored partnerships.

• Support influencer program marketing: lead briefing and execution for relevant marketing placements in partnership with Product and/or Creative, including but not limited to site/app and email.

• Manage creator relationships + roster health: maintain a high-quality CRM/roster, vet new talent, measure and assess effectiveness of partners against program goals and benchmarks and invest in retaining top creators.

• Partner with our influencer agency: lead day-to-day collaboration (briefs, casting, creative reviews, timelines, status) ensuring timely and best-in-class execution.

• Deliver insights that move the business: analyze RAF influencer marketing performance to optimize strategies and execution. Make strategic recommendations to optimize strategies and produce reports and recaps.

• Collaborate cross-functionally: work closely with Creative, Growth, Product Marketing, Product, Marketing Analytics and Strategy within the organization. Foster relationships and provide RAF influencer marketing expertise while meeting mutual goals.

• Support creator moments that build loyalty: help execute creator experiences/events to deepen relationships with top RAF influencer partners.

• Contribute to our Influencer Center of Excellence: share best practices, improve processes, and support brand influencer marketing initiatives when needed.

• Service as an influencer marketing expert: have fluency in all social platforms, tools, KPIs. Stay abreast of trends in the social landscape and pop culture. Provide best practices and recommendations to internal and external partners.

What success looks like:

• You grow RAF influencer outcomes (first time buyers, volume of active creators) through a clear creator strategy and disciplined optimization.

• You build a roster that’s healthier over time: higher activation, stronger retention of top performers, cleaner data.

• You create a repeatable operating system: consistent briefs, clear POV on paid vs. organic, and reporting that leadership trusts.

Minimum Requirements:

• 5+ years of influencer marketing experience with performance or growth outcomes (acquisition/conversion/revenue).

• Strong creative judgment: you can write sharp briefs and give actionable feedback that improves content.

• Strong analytical skills: comfortable with KPIs, dashboards, and using data to make decisions.

• Proven ability to manage multiple stakeholders (creators, agency, internal teams) with excellent communication and follow-through.

#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.

USD $78,651.00 - $135,216.00 annually