Description

Job Description:

Department Overview

Rakuten Group, Inc. is building its first AI Safety Operations Center (ASOC) to ensure safe, compliant, and trustworthy deployment of AI systems across our customer services and business units.
We are seeking AI Safety Technical Program Managers (TPMs) to drive program execution, governance, and cross-functional coordination for global AI safety. TPMs will translate safety strategy into concrete roadmaps, ensure operational discipline, and build alignment between engineers, product leaders, business units, and the Group CISO office.

Position:

Position Details
Key Responsibilities
Program Management & Governance:
- Define and maintain the AI safety program roadmap, aligning with ASOC leadership and business priorities.
- Establish and track KPIs (e.g., MTTR for safety incidents, % coverage of AI systems under monitoring, regulatory readiness milestones).
- Drive ASOC steering committee operations: schedule, prepare executive materials, ensure follow-ups are tracked and delivered.
- Coordinate quarterly tabletop exercises simulating AI incidents with BUs and Group CISO teams.
- Build and maintain the safety operations knowledge base, including policies, playbooks, and incident documentation.

Operational Execution:
- Oversee pre-launch safety reviews and evaluation gates, ensuring red- and blue-team feedback is integrated.
- Ensure dashboards, incident reports, and safety metrics are produced on time and shared with executives.
- Support post-incident reviews: drive root cause analysis, track remediation plans, and ensure lessons learned are institutionalized.
- Partner with engineers to integrate tooling and automation for monitoring, detection, and reporting.

Collaboration & Alignment:
- Work closely with Group CISO's SOC and red/blue teams for joint exercises, cross-escalations, and incident handling.
- Partner with PMs/TPMs across Rakuten BUs to embed "safety by default" in AI deployments.
- Act as program glue between safety engineers, red/blue teams, compliance/legal, and product leadership.
- Track and report on regulatory requirements (EU AI Act, Japan AI Guidelines, U.S. AI Executive Orders) and their impact on Rakuten's AI services.

Success in First 12 Months:
- Deliver the first generation of safety dashboards and reports for global AI systems.
- Ensure 50% of Rakuten Mobile AI applications are covered under ASOC monitoring and reporting.
- Run at least two tabletop safety exercises in partnership with Group CISO and BUs.
- Establish a repeatable pre-launch safety review process for AI deployments.
- Publish and maintain the AI Safety Operations Playbook for internal adoption.

Why Join
- Be part of one of the first global AI Safety Operations Centers in industry, shaping Rakuten's approach to trustworthy AI.
- Work at the intersection of AI, cybersecurity, compliance, and customer trust.
- Influence AI deployment across telecom, fintech, banking, e-commerce, securities, and media - at global Rakuten scale.
- Join a growing team of engineers, researchers, and TPMs working on both offensive (red-team) and defensive (blue-team) safety, supported by Rakuten's mature CISO organization.

Mandatory Qualifications:
- Experience: 3-5 years in technical program management, security operations, AI governance, or risk management.
-Technical Knowledge: Familiarity with LLMs, GenAI safety risks (prompt injection, hallucination, bias, PII leakage), or cybersecurity operations. Hands-on coding not required, but ability to understand technical discussions is expected.
- Program Skills: Strong background in program management, roadmapping, KPI tracking, and steering governance.
- Operational Skills: Experience running cross-functional programs, incident response processes, or compliance reviews.
- Communication: Strong executive reporting and stakeholder alignment skills; ability to explain safety risks to both engineers and business leaders.

Desired Qualifications:
- Familiarity with ISO/IEC 42001, ISO 27001/27701, or other governance frameworks.

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