Senior Financial Planning & Analysis Specialist, Cloud Service Economics - Cloud Strategy Office, Cloud Management Department (CMD)

The Technology Platforms Division (TPD) drives the growth of Rakuten's ecosystem by delivering innovative, high-quality technology platforms characterized by integrated control and strategic partnerships.

Within TPD, the Cloud Platform Supervisory Department (CPSD) develops and manages Rakuten's state-of-the-art cloud platform, empowering global scalability and accelerating innovation across its diverse business units.

The Cloud Management Department (CMD) leads Rakuten’s unified cloud infrastructure strategy by providing governance and essential tools to ensure seamless operation and high satisfaction among service providers and users. As the central point for strategy, planning, and process governance, we manage the cloud product portfolio, budgeting, quality, and security. Furthermore, we empower cross-departmental success through robust cloud foundation and management solutions.

The Cloud Strategy Office develops financial intelligence, governance, and decision-support products for internal-cloud service providers and private- and public-cloud buyers. We help stakeholders improve cost, pricing, investment, quality, and multi-cloud strategy through reliable data products and strong financial partnership.

Rakuten’s internal-cloud service providers manage complex combinations of infrastructure, hardware, depreciation, vendor contracts, shared-cost allocation, and internal pricing. As the platform and its financial tools expand, we need a senior finance partner who can own the financial model, raise forecast quality, challenge service-owner assumptions, and improve the quality and price of services. The role will also own financial evaluation and realization tracking for AI investments and productivity initiatives under guidelines set by the hiring manager.

Act as the senior finance partner to the people responsible for providing Rakuten’s internal-cloud services

Own the financial model, consolidation, quality controls, and decision support for budgets and forecasts while service owners remain accountable for their operational assumptions

Lead budget-versus-actual and forecast analysis, identify underlying drivers, and ensure that actions are followed through

Develop and challenge service unit economics, cost structures, allocation methods, chargeback or showback, and internal service pricing

Lead cost-savings and efficiency initiatives

Analyse fixed assets, capitalization, depreciation, hardware investment and lifecycle, and vendor cost structures

Build alternatives and recommendations that improve efficiency and customer value without weakening service quality or reliability

Challenge technical and operational stakeholders constructively using financial evidence, scenarios, and clearly stated tradeoffs

Own financial evaluation, benefit tracking, follow-up, and reporting for AI investments and productivity initiatives using guidelines established by the hiring manager.

Help improve the financial dashboards, simulations, automated reports, and management information used by service owners and leadership

Use English for cross-functional communication, documentation, review meetings, and decision support

You will join a newly formed, small cross-functional team in the Cloud Strategy Office. You will work with internal-cloud service providers, the Cloud Center of Excellence, data specialists, finance teams, senior leaders, and internal cloud buyers. Engineering specialists in the team will support reliable data and tooling so that you can focus on financial insight, challenge, and decisions.