Vice President, Strategic Accounts

Rakuten Symphony is reimagining telecom, changing supply chain norms and disrupting outmoded thinking that threatens the industry’s pursuit of rapid innovation and growth. Based on proven modern infrastructure practices, its open interface platforms make it possible to launch and operate advanced mobile services in a fraction of the time and cost of conventional approaches, with no compromise to network quality or security.

Rakuten Symphony has operations in Japan, the United States, Singapore, India, South Korea, Europe, and the Middle East Africa region. For more information, visit: https://symphony.rakuten.com.

Building on the technology Rakuten used to launch Japan’s newest mobile network, we are taking our mobile offering global.

To support our ambitions to provide an innovative cloud-native telco platform for our customers, Rakuten Symphony is looking to recruit and develop top talent from around the globe. We are looking for individuals to join our team across all functional areas of our business – from sales to engineering, support functions to product development.

Let’s build the future of mobile telecommunications together!

About Rakuten Group, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is a global leader in internet services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Founded in Tokyo in 1997 as an online marketplace, Rakuten has expanded to offer services in e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications to 2 billion members around the world. The Rakuten Group has over 30,000 employees, and operations in 30 countries and regions. For more information visit https://global.rakuten.com/corp/.

Role Purpose

The Vice President, Strategic Pursuits is responsible for originating, shaping, and winning Rakuten Symphony's largest and most strategic transformation opportunities with Tier-1 telecommunications operators.

This role leads complex, multi-product pursuits spanning Open RAN, OSS Transformation, AI-Driven Operations, Autonomous Networks, Cloud-Native Infrastructure, and Network Modernization. The VP acts as the executive orchestrator across Sales, Product, Engineering, Pre-Sales, Delivery, Partners, and Customer Leadership to secure transformational programs and long‑term strategic partnerships.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Opportunity Creation

• Identify and develop high‑value transformation opportunities within target operators.
• Influence customer strategy and technology roadmaps before formal procurement processes begin.
• Build executive‑level business cases around network modernization, automation, cloud transformation, and operational efficiency.
• Create multi‑year growth plans for strategic accounts.
• Lead end‑to‑end pursuit strategy for opportunities typically exceeding $25M TCV.
• Define winning themes, competitive positioning, and commercial strategies.
• Establish and manage pursuit governance, risk reviews, and executive checkpoints.
• Coordinate cross‑functional pursuit teams across sales, product, engineering, finance, legal, and delivery.

Executive Engagement

• Develop trusted relationships with CTO, CIO, CDO, CNO, and Operations leadership.
• Facilitate executive workshops and transformation discussions.
• Position Rakuten Symphony as a strategic transformation partner rather than a technology vendor.

Ecosystem & Partner Engagement

• Align Hyperscale's, system integrator, and technology partner participation in strategic pursuits.
• Drive joint value propositions and partner‑led opportunities where appropriate.
• Maintain deep understanding of operator priorities, competitive dynamics, regulatory developments, and technology trends.
• Provide market feedback to Product and GTM leadership.

Success Measures

• Strategic pipeline creation.
• Large‑deal bookings and TCV won.
• Win rate on strategic pursuits.
• Executive relationships established within target operators.
• Expansion of Rakuten Symphony footprint within assigned accounts.
• Contribution to regional revenue growth.

Experience & Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in telecommunications, technology, consulting, cloud, OSS/BSS, network infrastructure, or digital transformation.
• Demonstrated success leading pursuits and negotiations exceeding $25M.
• Strong understanding of telecom operator business models and network transformation programs.
• Experience engaging C‑level executives and influencing strategic decisions.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional teams without direct authority.

Preferred Background

Experience with one or more of:

• Open RAN
• OSS/BSS
• Telecom Cloud
• AI for Network Operations
• Network Automation
• Digital Transformation Consulting

Background from telecom operators, telecom vendors, consulting firms, cloud providers, or technology companies serving communications service providers is highly desirable.

Our worldwide practices describe specific behaviours 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.
• Be 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 success in unknown territory.
• Maximize Customer Satisfaction. The greatest satisfaction for workers in a service industry is to see their customers smile.
• Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! Always be conscious of time. Take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team.

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