Vice President, Strategic Accounts

About Rakuten Symphony

Rakuten Symphony is transforming telecommunications by innovating supply chain practices and challenging traditional norms, enabling fast and cost-effective deployment of advanced mobile services without sacrificing network quality or security. Operating globally with presence in Japan, the US, Singapore, India, South Korea, Europe, and the Middle East & Africa, Rakuten Symphony builds on technology that powered Japan’s newest mobile network to offer cloud-native telco platforms worldwide.

Rakuten Group, Inc., established in 1997, is a global internet services leader with operations across 30 countries and over 30,000 employees, offering e-commerce, fintech, digital content, and communications to 2 billion members.

Role Purpose

The Vice President of Strategic Pursuits leads the identification, development, and closure of Rakuten Symphony’s most significant and transformative engagements with Tier-1 telecom operators. This role orchestrates cross-functional teams spanning sales, engineering, product, delivery, and partners to secure multi-product complex deals involving Open RAN, OSS transformation, AI-driven operations, autonomous networks, cloud-native infrastructure, and network modernization.

Main Responsibilities

• Discover and cultivate high-value transformation initiatives within targeted operator accounts, influencing their strategy and technology roadmap ahead of procurement.
• Develop compelling executive business cases around network modernization, automation, cloud transformation, and operational efficiency, forming multi-year growth plans.
• Lead full pursuit lifecycle strategies for opportunities typically surpassing $25 million total contract value, defining winning commercial and competitive approaches.
• Coordinate multi-disciplinary pursuit teams across sales, product, engineering, finance, legal, and delivery with structured governance and risk management.
• Establish trusted partnerships with C-level executives including CTOs, CIOs, CDOs, and operational leaders, facilitating workshops and transformation discussions.
• Position Rakuten Symphony as a strategic partner, not just a technology supplier, and align with hyperscalers, system integrators, and technology partners for joint strategic pursuits.
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of operator priorities, market competitors, regulations, and technology trends, providing valuable insights to product and go-to-market leadership.

Success Metrics

• Generation of a strategic pipeline and securing large-scale deal bookings exceeding $25 million.
• Winning rate on strategic pursuits and strengthening executive relationships within target operators.
• Expansion of Rakuten Symphony's presence in assigned accounts contributing to regional revenue growth.

Experience and Qualifications

• More than 15 years of experience across telecommunications, technology, consulting, cloud, OSS/BSS, network infrastructure, or digital transformation domains.
• Proven track record leading and negotiating complex deals exceeding $25 million.
• Deep understanding of telecom operator business models, network modernization programs, and strategic decision-making engagement with C-level executives.
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams without direct authority.
• Preferred expertise in areas including Open RAN, OSS/BSS, telecom cloud, AI-driven network operations, network automation, or digital transformation consulting.
• Background from telecom operators, vendors, consulting firms, cloud providers, or tech companies serving communication service providers is highly valued.

Rakuten Shugi Principles

• Embrace continuous improvement and aim for complete success through Kaizen.
• Maintain passionate professionalism, striving to be the best in your work.
• Utilize a cycle of hypothesizing, practicing, validating, and systematizing (Shikumika) for success in new challenges.
• Focus relentlessly on maximizing customer satisfaction.
• Prioritize speed by taking ownership, setting clear goals, and actively engaging teams.