Job Description:

Department Overview

The Global Travel Management Department of Rakuten Travel is accelerating Rakuten Travel's global business expansion, particularly services for international users traveling to Japan and future global business development. Through travel services centered on travel and accommodation booking, the department aims to connect users, accommodation facilities, travel-related partners, and internal and external stakeholders while balancing trusted service operations with sustainable business growth.
The Legal & Compliance function supports the global business by working closely with business strategy, product, marketing, customer support, finance, privacy/security, and Rakuten Group legal and compliance functions. The team is expected to enable practical governance and risk management required for global business expansion.

Position:

Why We Hire

Rakuten Travel is accelerating global business expansion, particularly in services for international users traveling to Japan and future global business development. To support this growth, we are seeking a manager candidate who can design and operate a global compliance regime that is practical, scalable, and aligned with business strategy.
This role is expected to serve as a bridge between business growth and responsible governance by partnering with leadership, product, marketing, customer support, finance, privacy/security, and Rakuten Group legal and compliance functions.

- You can help design and build the legal and compliance foundation for a growing global business from an early expansion phase.
- You will cover a broad range of topics, including travel/OTA regulations, consumer protection, advertising and direct marketing, privacy and data protection, platform terms, booking/cancellation terms, promotions, points/coupons/campaigns, SNS marketing, and cross-border operations.
- You will work close to the business and gain practical experience balancing risk control with the speed required for global business expansion.
- As a future manager candidate, you can contribute to member development, prioritization, process improvement, and the advancement of Legal Operations.

Position Details

The Legal and Compliance Manager (Candidate) will be a future candidate to manage the Legal & Compliance Group. This role is responsible for designing, implementing, and continuously improving legal and compliance governance for Rakuten Travel's global business. You will translate global business strategy into risk-based policies, review workflows, approval processes, legal operations, training programs, and monitoring controls. You will also coordinate external counsel in relevant jurisdictions and support sustainable business growth through pragmatic legal and compliance solutions.

Main responsibilities
- Design and implement a global compliance regime for Rakuten Travel's inbound and global business, including governance model, risk assessment, policies, controls, approval process, monitoring, and reporting.
- Lead the legal and compliance roadmap in alignment with global business strategy, market expansion, product development, marketing campaigns, partnerships, and operational changes.
- Advise on legal and compliance risks related to travel/OTA regulations, consumer protection, advertising and direct marketing, privacy and data protection, platform terms, booking/cancellation terms, promotions, points/coupons/campaigns, SNS marketing, and cross-border operations.
- Review and advise on business schemes, partnership structures, vendor and partner onboarding, contracts, campaign launches, user communications, service localization, and terms and conditions.
- Build legal operations foundations such as intake processes, review playbooks, contract and campaign templates, legal matter trackers, external counsel management, knowledge management, KPIs, and management reporting.
- Coordinate with Rakuten Group legal, compliance, privacy/security, accounting/finance, HR, customer support, marketing, product, and other functional teams to ensure consistent and practical risk management.
- Manage external counsel and local regulatory research in multiple jurisdictions, including scoping, budget management, quality control, and business-oriented output.
- Lead compliance training and communication for business teams to improve awareness and prevent recurring risks.
- Support escalation, investigation, remediation, and prevention of legal or compliance incidents.
- Mentor junior members and contribute to future team management, including prioritization, capability building, and performance improvement.

Example projects
- Create legal and compliance risk assessment and approval workflows for new market, service, or campaign launches.
- Work with overseas external counsel to research and advise on marketing initiatives, booking/cancellation terms, terms of use, campaign conditions, and privacy/data use across relevant jurisdictions.
- Standardize contract and campaign review through templates, matter tracking, and knowledge sharing to balance business speed and risk management.
- Implement controls, training, and monitoring required for global service operations in collaboration with product, marketing, customer support, finance, and other teams.

Main stakeholders
- Business leaders and management in the Global Travel Management Department
- Product, marketing, customer support, finance, HR, privacy/security, and Rakuten Group legal and compliance functions
- External counsel, local regulatory research partners, and overseas stakeholders

Preferred candidate persona
- A hands-on legal/compliance architect who can build a governance framework from ambiguity rather than only operating an existing process.
- A business partner who can balance risk control with the speed of global business expansion.
- A global generalist with strong issue-spotting ability across advertising, consumer protection, privacy, travel/OTA regulations, platform operations, and contract risk.
- A future people manager who enjoys developing junior members and improving team productivity through Legal Operations.

Work Environment

This is a specialist team environment that supports global business from a position close to business decision-making. The role will work with Japan-based internal teams as well as external counsel and global stakeholders, and will provide many opportunities to use English in practical business contexts.

Organization
- Expected assignment: Rakuten Travel, Global Travel Management Department / Legal & Compliance-related organization
- Expected reporting line: Head/Manager of Legal & Compliance Group or relevant department leadership
- 3 members including manager.

This position is well suited for candidates with experience in in-house legal affairs, compliance, risk management, corporate planning, project management, or related functions, where they can effectively leverage their expertise.

Mandatory Qualifications:

- 7+ years of experience in legal, compliance, regulatory, risk management, or related roles in a multinational company, technology/platform business, e-commerce, travel/OTA business, law firm, consulting firm, or equivalent environment.
- Experience designing, implementing, or significantly improving compliance frameworks, policies, review processes, or risk controls for cross-border or global business.
- Strong ability to analyze legal and compliance requirements and translate them into practical business processes, checklists, decision criteria, and operational controls.
- Experience partnering with senior business stakeholders and leading cross-functional projects in a fast-moving environment.
- Working knowledge in at least two of the following areas: consumer protection, advertising/marketing regulations, privacy and data protection, online platform services, travel/OTA regulations, contract management, or third-party risk management.
- Experience managing external counsel, regulatory research, or multi-jurisdictional legal projects.
- High level of communication skills in both Japanese and English, stakeholder management, problem-solving, and project management skills.
- High ownership, integrity, business acumen, and ability to operate independently in ambiguous situations.

Desired Qualifications:

- JD, LLM, BA/MA in Law, or equivalent legal education.
- Qualified attorney in any jurisdiction.
- Experience in travel, online travel agency, hospitality, e-commerce, marketplace, fintech/payment-adjacent, or global digital platform businesses.
- Experience with legal operations, contract lifecycle management, compliance monitoring, training design, or knowledge management.
- Experience working in an English-speaking global environment with multicultural stakeholders.
- Comfort using data, dashboards, KPIs, and process metrics to improve legal and compliance operations.

Other Information:

Additional information on Location

Rakuten Crimson House
1-14-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya, Tokyo

Additional information on English Qualification

TOEIC Score exceeding 800 (or similar level of English ability) or a University Degree earned in an English-speaking country.
Proof of qualifications will be required by the time of the job offer.
If no evidence is available to prove the qualifications denoted above, taking an IP test, organized by Rakuten, during selection process is required.

For this role, business-level or above English is expected, and fluent English is preferred for global stakeholder management and external counsel coordination. Advanced or business-level Japanese is preferred for communication with Japan-based stakeholders and understanding internal documents.

Language Levels
- English: Business level or above.
- Japanese: business level or above.

Rakuten Group, Inc. Homepage Link
- Benefits:https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/benefit/
- Recruitment Information:https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/information/ * Employment type is detailed
- Rakuten Culture:https://corp.rakuten.co.jp/careers/culture/

#corporate #legal #IP #audit #commerce #RakutenTravel

Legal & Compliance Group Manager (Candidate) - Global Travel Management Department, Travel & Mobility Business(C&M)