Job Summary:Rakuten Rewards is seeking a Director of Data Science to lead our centralized data science organization, influence strategy and drive execution of machine learning and generative AI initiatives that deliver measurable, company-wide business impact. Reporting directly to the CTO, this role combines organizational leadership, technical depth, and business ownership, with a mandate to scale high-impact AI solutions from concept to production. You will be responsible for setting the technical vision, mentoring a high-performing team, and ensuring that our data science efforts directly translate into competitive advantages and improved member experiences.
Key Responsibilities:Organizational Leadership & Business Impact- Lead and grow a high-performing centralized data science organization, including managing managers, hiring top talent, and fostering a strong, accountable culture
- Help shape data science strategy and prioritize initiatives based on feasibility and expected business outcomes
- Translate ambiguous business problems into clear, actionable AI and machine learning strategies
- Own problem framing, success metrics, and end to end accountability to ensure data science efforts translate into measurable business outcomes
- Serve as a trusted partner to senior leaders, clearly communicating strategy, trade-offs, progress, and impact
AI & Machine Learning Execution- Own the end-to-end delivery and effectiveness of machine learning and generative AI solutions, ensuring successful progression from problem definition through production deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
- Set technical direction and quality standards for scalable ML, optimization, and GenAI systems that deliver measurable impact across domains such as campaign forecasting, campaign optimization, and member experience optimization
- Ensure solutions are production-ready, observable, and continuously improved, with a strong focus on reliability and business effectiveness
Foundations, Platforms & Innovation- Strengthen best practices and technical standards for applied AI across the organization
- Partner with engineering and platform teams to improve foundations for production AI, including experimentation, evaluation, model monitoring, and scalable infrastructure
- Stay current with advances in ML and generative AI and guide thoughtful, pragmatic adoption of new capabilities
Qualifications:- Strong foundation in machine learning, statistical modeling, optimization, and/or AI systems
- Experience leading the deployment and scaling of models in production environments
- Familiarity with modern data and ML ecosystems (Python, SQL, cloud platforms, and production ML tooling)
- Demonstrated ability to lead in ambiguous environments and define strategy from first principles
- Strong communication skills with experience influencing senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams
- Ability to balance technical depth with business pragmatism
- Preferred: Experience in e-commerce, ad-tech, marketing science, recommender systems, or related domains
- Preferred: Experience integrating AI into customer-facing products and internal workflows
- Preferred: Experience with LLM-based systems, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and evaluation of generative AI solutions
Minimum Requirements:- 10+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or applied AI in industry; 15+ years Preferred
- 5+ years of leadership experience, including managing managers and building scaled teams
- Proven track record of delivering measurable business impact through production-grade ML/AI systems
- Bachelor's Degree Required; Master's Degree Preferred
Five Principles for SuccessOur 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
