Product Manager (GORA) - Life & Leisure Service Development(LLSD)

Job Description:

Department Overview

The Golf Product Management Group is one of the teams within the Life & Leisure Service Development , and is developing the "Rakuten GORA" service for golfers (https://gora.golf.rakuten.co.jp/). In addition to Rakuten GORA, the Life & Leisure Service Development is responsible for several products that enrich and make users' lifestyles more enjoyable, such as Rakuten Beauty and Car.

Rakuten GORA is the No.1 website in Japan for golf course reservations, with approximately 1,900 golf courses affiliated with the site across Japan. In addition to domestic services, the company is expanding overseas, with outbound services in Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Thailand and Vietnam, and inbound services in China and Korea (as of May 2025). The company has also launched a membership service for golfers, and plans to continue to provide new services that go beyond the scope of golf course reservations, while expanding its service area. In the process of enjoying golf, users experience various "inconveniences". They may not know which golf course to book, not have any golfing buddies to go with, have a hard time coordinating events, face high hurdles when wanting to start golfing, or struggle to improve even after practicing. We develop products every day with the desire to improve this industry which still retains old customs, provide new value and experiences to users, increase the number of people who enjoy golf through our services, and liven up the industry.
 

Position:

Why We Hire

The product managers in our department are mainly made up of new graduates. As the number of users increases and their needs become more diverse, we want to hire people with a variety of experiences and skills to bring new perspectives to the team. We welcome applications from people who have a clear vision and passion for what kind of products they want to create in the future, people who want to provide new value and experiences to users and the world through their services, and people who want to step up from project manager/project leader.

Position Details

As a product manager at Rakuten GORA, you will be responsible for product construction and execution (project management) to provide users with new experiences and solve various problems that users currently face. You will create concepts such as "What should this product be like in the first place?" and "What do users really want?", and work with engineers and QA to cover all processes related to this product from actual development to release. This position is characterized by the fact that there are many opportunities to create new products from scratch, not just improve existing products. You will be involved in building impactful products that can change the industry.

Specific work examples

- Future industry forecasting and analysis

- Competitor analysis and product goal definition

- Product KPI setting

- Roadmap creation (short to long term)

- Requirements definition

- Task identification and management, overall schedule management

- Bug triage

- Release judgment

Work Environment

It is a very lively team with many young members in their late 20s to early 30s. There are no boundaries between job titles or services in charge, and the entire department has an open atmosphere. We are very active in holding exchanges with other groups, such as information sharing sessions and problem solving. We also hold many events, such as drinking parties, bowling tournaments, and golf competitions, and there are opportunities to meet colleagues beyond work.
Regarding work-life balance, our team has a culture of "working efficiently", and some employees are working mothers and fathers who go home on time every day. Many employees are motivated to switch on and off between work and private life efficiently and have a fulfilling private life and work life.
Interview articles with team members:

https://commerce-engineer.rakuten.careers/entry/workstyle/0043

Mandatory Qualifications:

- Experience in upstream processes (requirements definition and above) in system development.

- Experience in project management as a PM or PL.

- TOEIC Score 800 above or possess equivalent abilities. *If you do not have a score, you can take the test for free during the selection process.
 

Desired Qualifications:

- Experience in market trend analysis.

- Experience in system development (regardless of language).

- Experience in building native app products.

- Experience in user research and UI/UX improvements based on the research.

- Experience in building product strategies.

- Interest in the sports industry.

Other Information:

Additional information on English Qualification

English (Comprehensive-1-Beginner), Japanese (Comprehensive-4-Fluent)

Additional Message from Hiring Manager 　

Rakuten GORA is a service with the largest number of users in Japan. Therefore, we receive feedback from many users and realize every day that there are many problems. We would like to solve these problems by developing our service and building products that allow users to feel more fulfilled while spending their leisure time. The value we can provide is diverse, including "products that make golf more enjoyable", "products that create an environment where you can concentrate on golf", and "products that allow you to meet many golf friends". If you have a desire to launch a new service or want to collect user feedback at a more upstream stage and reflect it in the UI, this is a position where you can feel very rewarded and grow. In addition, more than past experiences, we are looking for people who are passionate about what kind of products they want to create in the future. If you want to change the industry with us, please apply.

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