Lead, Standards & Compliance

Why should you choose us

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/.

Job Summary:

We are seeking a highly experienced and technically astute Lead Standards Delegate to represent Rakuten Symphony in various industry standards bodies, with a primary focus on Orchestration and Management domains catering to the OSS product portfolio (RIO, Site Manager & AI Platform). The ideal candidate will possess 8-12 years of hands-on experience in telecommunications, deep expertise in network orchestration, service management, and a comprehensive understanding of O-RAN, 3GPP, and TMF standards. This role requires a strategic thinker who can influence the evolution of standards, drive our company's technical agenda, and translate complex technical discussions into actionable strategies.

Key Responsibilities:

• Standards Body Representation & Influence:
• Actively participate in and represent Rakuten Symphony in relevant working groups and committees within O-RAN Alliance, 3GPP (especially SA5, SA2), and TMF (e.g., Open Digital Architecture, Open APIs, Autonomous Networks).
• Propose, contribute to, and drive the adoption of new specifications, technical reports, and white papers that align with Rakuten Symphony's strategic objectives and product roadmap.
• Influence the direction of standards development to ensure our technologies and architectural choices are well-represented and adopted.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with delegates from other member companies, fostering collaboration and consensus.
• Technical Expertise & Advocacy:
• Serve as a subject matter expert on Orchestration and Management architecture, principles, and technologies, particularly within a cloud-native and virtualized network context.
• Provide in-depth technical analysis of proposed standards, identifying opportunities and potential risks for Rakuten Symphony.
• Advocate for Rakuten Symphony's technical positions, presenting clear and concise arguments to standards bodies.
• Internal Alignment & Strategy:
• Collaborate closely with internal R&D, Product Management, Engineering, and Strategy teams to gather input, define company positions, and ensure internal alignment with external standards activities.
• Translate complex standards discussions and outcomes into clear, actionable recommendations and strategies for internal stakeholders.
• Provide regular updates and reports to senior management on the progress and impact of standards activities.
• Identify emerging trends and potential disruptions in the orchestration and management space within standards, informing internal product development and strategic planning.
• Documentation & Knowledge Transfer:
• Prepare and submit high-quality technical contributions, liaison statements, and formal documents to standards bodies.
• Maintain comprehensive records of standards discussions, decisions, and action items.
• Develop and deliver internal training and awareness sessions on relevant standards to upskill technical teams.
• Innovation & Future Vision:
• Contribute to the long-term vision and strategy for Rakuten Symphony's involvement in industry standards.
• Identify opportunities for innovation driven by evolving standards and influence their adoption within our product portfolio.

Required Skills & Experience:

• Experience: 8-12 years of progressive experience in telecommunications, with a significant portion focused on network orchestration, service management, and standards development in the field of Service Management & Orchestration Framework.
• Domain Expertise (Mandatory):
• Orchestration & Management: Deep understanding of end-to-end service orchestration, resource orchestration, network function virtualization (NFV), orchestration (NFVO, VNFM, VIM), MANO (Management & Network Orchestration) service assurance, fault management, performance management, and configuration management.
• O-RAN: Comprehensive knowledge of O-RAN architecture, interfaces (e.g., R1, O1, O2, A1, E2, F1), O-RAN SMO (Service Management and Orchestration), RIC (Radio Intelligent Controller) - rApps, xApps, TE&IV (Topology & Inventory management), & Transport and associated working groups (WGs). Experience with O-RAN specifications and contributions is highly desirable. Having delegate experience is a plus.
• 3GPP: Strong familiarity with 3GPP standards, particularly those related to 5G core network architecture, network slicing, service-based architecture (SBA), and management aspects (e.g., SA5 specifications for management and orchestration of 5G networks, network slicing management, charging).
• TMF: Solid understanding of TMF Open Digital Architecture (ODA), Open APIs (e.g., TMF 641, 642, 637, 632, 628, 656, 921A, 639, 638 etc), Autonomous Networks (AN), and other relevant TMF standards for BSS/OSS. Experience with TMF Catalyst projects is a plus.
• Technical Skills:
• Proficiency in network virtualization technologies (e.g., OpenStack, Kubernetes, VMWare).
• Understanding of cloud-native principles, microservices architectures, and containerization.
• Familiarity with data models (e.g., YANG, SID etc) and API definitions (e.g., TM Forum APIs, RESTful, gRPC etc).
• Knowledge of automation frameworks and tools.
• Soft Skills:
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and negotiation skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences (technical and non-technical).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Proven ability to work independently and as part of a distributed team and work cohesively with a cross functional organization.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to build consensus and influence outcomes in a multi-stakeholder environment.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines effectively.
• High degree of professionalism and ethical conduct.

Education:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical / Electronics Engineering, Computer Science, Telecommunications, or a related technical field.
• PhD is a plus.

Additional Skills

• Virtualization, Cloud native architectures, Kubernetes and Cloud environments.
• Good understanding of Agile principles and processes.
• Understanding of AI/ML
• Experience working in a fluid, start-up-like environment.

RAKUTEN SHUGI PRINCIPLES:

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.