Job Description:

About Organization

This role leads R&D projects funded by government initiatives to drive technological innovation at Rakuten Mobile. Specifically, the role encompasses a wide range of activities, from planning and proposing projects that leverage communication technologies and group company technical assets in conjunction with national grant programs, to large-scale project management post-adoption, social implementation of deliverables, and international standardization.

The individual will collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, applying technical expertise to provide high-quality, reliable solutions, and aiming for future business contributions.

Why We Hire

Currently, the multiple critical projects promoted by our department demand deep insight into complex communication technologies and rapidly evolving cutting-edge technologies, as well as advanced capabilities to strategically oversee, manage, and coordinate entire projects. Securing personnel who meet these requirements is extremely important for the efficient and effective promotion of projects.

Furthermore, our department's activities are primarily centered around R&D projects utilizing national grants. For sustainable business growth, the stable acquisition of grant projects and the strengthening of proposal capabilities for this purpose are indispensable. The creation of proposals for grant acquisition requires high-level technical expertise and a strategic perspective that anticipates future business contributions. Strengthening our system in this area is an urgent task.

Against this backdrop, the new recruitment is positioned as an indispensable strategic investment to further accelerate Rakuten Mobile's technological innovation and establish a competitive advantage. Through this recruitment, we aim to further strengthen both project promotion capabilities and grant acquisition capabilities, realizing the continuous growth and expansion of our department.

Job Duties

1. Job Summary

This position involves acquiring national projects and managing acquired projects soundly from start to finish, based on mobile communication and advanced technology knowledge. Regarding mobile communication knowledge, you will be expected to acquire knowledge and promote research on currently implemented technologies and next-generation communications such as 6G. Furthermore, as the research will not be limited to communication alone but will involve combining communication with advanced technologies, the acquisition of relevant combined technologies will be required as needed.

2. Job Details

■ Planning Phase

・Collaborate with technical teams to create public offering proposals aligned with Rakuten Mobile and Rakuten Group strategies.

・Develop R&D implementation plans tailored to R&D requirements, define R&D objectives and content, set milestones, define the number of research outcomes, and create related documentation.

・Plan R&D budgets.

・Negotiate and coordinate with engineers (network, device, wireless, cloud, etc.).

・Create selection criteria for partner companies, select partners, draft contracts, and execute agreements.

・Quality control, including reviewing proposals and budgets.

■ Execution Phase

・Stakeholder management, issue management, and issue resolution to achieve research outcomes.

・Schedule management, issue management, budget management.

・Management of contract fulfillment status with partner companies.

・Creation of work proposals and work instructions for partner companies.

・Management of partner companies' operations.

・Operation and facilitation of regular meetings, progress management, etc.

・Creation of manuals and work procedures for PoC/verification (clarifying objectives, who, when, where, and what to do).

・Negotiations with government ministries and research institutions.

・Presentation materials.

・Quality control, including reviewing various documents.

■ Reporting Phase

・Creation and reporting of regular information sharing materials for internal and external stakeholders.

・Creation and reporting of materials to government ministries and research institutions.

・Creation and reporting of annual achievement reports.

・Quality control, including reviewing report content.

3. Stakeholders

・Internal Teams: RAN Development Team, Network Operations Team, Core Network Team, Quality Assurance Team, AI/ML Engineering Team, Product Management, Rakuten Group companies.

・External Partners: Universities, research institutions, Edge AI vendors, autonomous vehicle vendors, consortium members formed upon project acquisition.

4. Work Procedures

Before Adoption

・Prior coordination with each institution.

・Formation of a system for proposals, adjustment of content, and creation of proposals (internal/external).

After Adoption

・Implementation plan and contract execution.

・Ordering to external cooperating companies.

・Detailed planning and execution to fulfill the proposed content.

・Management of internal and external tech members.

・Execution of plan verification, etc.

・Organization of site visits and reporting meetings.

5. Scope of Responsibility

・Implementation of content described in proposals and implementation plans.

6. English Usage

This role frequently uses English in various situations:

・Written Communication: Technical documents, email correspondence with international teams and vendors, bug reports, project progress reports.

・Verbal Communication: Participation in global team meetings, discussions with international vendors, presentations, technical deep dives.

Working Environment

This department consists of 5 sections and has approximately 50 employees.

Minimum Qualification

・3+ years of experience in R&D project management or network development project management.

・Experience managing projects involving both internal and external stakeholders.

・Experience managing projects involving 10 or more people.

・Excellent communication and interpersonal skills in Japanese (native level) and English.

・Experience resolving issues between stakeholders.

・Experience involving a wide range of teams such as tech teams and PR teams, and proactively driving projects.

・Basic knowledge of 5G and mobile communications.

・Experience in creating contractual documents such as RFQ, RFI, RFP, and SoW.

・Experience in creating project-related materials using PPT, etc.

Preferred Qualification

・Experience in creating proposals for government ministries and research institutions.

・Experience in industry-academia-government collaboration project management.

・Knowledge of 6G and Beyond 5G.

・Knowledge of international standard specifications such as 3GPP.

・Experience in proposing standardization to 3GPP, ITU-T, ITU-R, ETSI, O-RAN Alliance, etc.

・Experience in patent consideration and application related to communication networks.

・Knowledge of AI and experience in solving problems using AI.

・Experience in smart device or M2M module development projects.

・Experience in smartphone application development projects.

・Experience in web application development projects.

・Ability to work independently and autonomously across multiple teams and functions.

・Ability to think strategically, solve problems, and demonstrate leadership.

・Problem-solving/strategic thinking/hypothesis design capabilities.

・Experience using project management tools (JIRA, Confluence, etc.).

・Experience in planning and executing PoC.

・Experience in international project team management, progress management, etc.

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