Director, Marketing Strategy & Operations

About Rakuten International   

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 over 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio comprises 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.  

About Rakuten Rewards 

Rakuten is a leading shopping platform that offers Cash Back on purchases from all your favorite brands. By partnering with thousands of brands in apparel, beauty and wellness, dining, grocery, travel, on-demand services, subscription boxes, and more, Rakuten helps members save and get more on everyday purchases. Since its founding in 1999, Rakuten has become the largest and most rewarding shopping experience, and its members have earned $4.6 billion in Cash Back just for shopping through Rakuten. For more information, visit Rakuten.com. 

Job Summary 
We’re seeking a Director of Marketing Strategy & Operations to serve as the strategic and operational hub of the Rakuten Rewards Marketing organization. This role sits at the intersection of strategy, analytics, and execution, ensuring that marketing priorities, investments, and operating rhythms are tightly aligned with business outcomes. 

Reporting directly to the CMO, this leader will help define what matters most, translate strategy into action, and ensure the organization is well-resourced, effectively measured, and held accountable. You will work closely with senior marketing leaders, Finance, Analytics, Product, and Revenue teams to drive clarity, rigor, and momentum across a complex, fast-moving environment. 

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can zoom out to set direction and zoom in to solve problems—using data, structured thinking, and strong operational judgment. 

Key Responsibilities 
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

Strategic Planning & Road Mapping 

• Own the end-to-end marketing planning process (annual, quarterly, and in-quarter), including setting priorities, sequencing initiatives, and driving alignment across Brand, Growth, Product Marketing, Loyalty, Partnerships, and Retention. 

• Translate business objectives into clear, actionable marketing strategies, with defined success metrics and resource implications. 

• Pressure-test assumptions, surface trade-offs, and recommend where to invest, where to pull back, and why. 

• Establish clear operating rhythms that connect strategy to execution (planning cycles, reviews, decision forums). 

Performance Analytics & Operational Discipline 

• Define and own the marketing performance framework, including KPIs, dashboards, and leading indicators tied to growth, efficiency, and LTV. 

• Partner with Analytics to move beyond reporting into insight generation—diagnosing performance, identifying root causes, and recommending action. 

• Proactively identify risks, bottlenecks, and underperformance, and drive cross-functional resolution. 

• Lead quarterly business reviews, executive readouts, and post-mortems with a focus on learning and course correction. 

Budgeting, ROI, & Financial Rigor 

• Own the marketing investment framework, partnering with Finance to forecast spend, model scenarios, and ensure disciplined resource allocation. 

• Evaluate ROI across channels, programs, and initiatives—making clear recommendations on optimization and reallocation. 

• Develop forward-looking views on efficiency, scalability, and return, not just historical performance. 

• Help leadership balance growth ambitions with financial discipline. 

Cross-Functional Leadership 

• Act as a trusted strategic partner to Marketing leadership, Product, Finance, Sales, and Analytics. 

• Lead complex, ambiguous initiatives that cut across teams (e.g., GTM prioritization, operating model changes, tooling and process evolution). 

• Create clarity where there is ambiguity; bring structure to fast-moving problems. 

Executive Storytelling  

• Synthesize complex analyses into clear, concise executive narratives. 

• Lead with the “so what” before diving into detail. 

• Develop frameworks and point-of-view documents that guide decision-making at the CMO and executive level. 

• Support the CMO in preparing executive and board-level discussions as needed. 

Qualifications  

• 8–12+ years of experience in strategy, marketing operations, business planning, growth strategy, or management consulting, ideally in a consumer-facing digital business. 

• Demonstrated ability to operate as a strategic thought partner to senior leaders. 

• Strong analytical skills with a track record of turning data into decisions. 

• Comfort navigating ambiguity, driving prioritization, and holding teams accountable. 

• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint required; fluency in BI tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.) is strongly preferred. 

• Exceptional written and verbal communicator with executive presence. 

• Experience reporting directly to a CMO, GM, or business unit leader strongly preferred. 

• Bachelor's Degree Required, master's degree Preferred