Marketing Research Director - Sales & Client Direction Section, Marketing Partner Business (A&M)

Job Description:

Business Overview
Ad & Media Company provides advertising and marketing services, including digital advertising, research, and influencer business.

Its appeal lies in its ability to offer end-to-end solutions for all aspects of marketing, from upstream strategy formulation to downstream execution such as ad operations, performance measurement, and data analysis.

Marketing-related businesses include "Rakuten Marketing / LinkShare," which provides general digital marketing solutions, "Rakuten Data Marketing," which offers marketing solutions utilizing Rakuten's big data, and "Rakuten Insight," which provides marketing research services, among other wide-ranging marketing businesses.

This environment allows you to place yourself in an organization that forms the core of Rakuten Group, leading to your personal growth and career advancement.

Department Overview
In an era characterized by the increasing diversification of lifestyles and values, the challenges in marketing research are becoming ever more sophisticated and complex. To address these shifts and derive deeper, more fundamental insights, our mission is to provide new value across the entire customer marketing process by leveraging over 100 million big data points connected by Rakuten Group's common ID through composite utilization.

Within the Rakuten Group, expectations are growing for new data businesses that capitalize on our unique and vast data assets. In December 2024, we executed an organizational restructuring, integrating Rakuten Insight, Inc., Rakuten Insight Global, Inc., and the Cho-Mini Job business. This move established a stronger synergy creation system for data utilization.

Under this new structure, we aim to further accelerate the application of AI technology. Our goal is to achieve automation and sophistication in data analysis, enable real-time insights, and enhance the quality of decision-making support. Through these efforts, we strive to create new value that innovates corporate marketing activities.

About the Department
The Research Direction Section within the Data Solutions Department of the Marketing Solutions Business plays a crucial role in supporting Rakuten Insight's business by gathering the data required by our clients. This organization is also responsible for budget and resource management, as well as the mission of improving productivity and quality.
To maintain the efficiency of our business processes, we are committed to challenges in productivity improvement through automation and the creation of smarter and simpler outputs.

The research results produced by our Research Directors, who are the main professionals in this section, become vital data contributing to the planning and decision-making of corporate product and service strategies. Through this series of tasks, you will acquire logical thinking skills, multitasking capabilities, negotiation skills with stakeholders, and marketing research knowledge, among others.

We encourage and support our Research Directors in their challenges and growth, and those who strive to build their own careers. Concurrently, you can expand your professional scope as a career path, or you can pursue specialized skills to aim for a managerial position.

Position:
Why We Hire
To realize our future business growth strategy, it is essential to strengthen our team of Research Directors to support the expansion of our industry share.
We are looking for you to leverage your proactive approach, not only contributing directly to client work through direction with internal sales teams, researchers, and partner companies, but also to build robust operational frameworks.

Position Details
You will mediate between clients, sales teams, and various internal departments, handling the entire process of internet research projects. You will experience a sense of accomplishment and growth as the products and services you've researched are launched and gain traction in the market.

Our clients include general corporations such as manufacturers, advertising agencies, think tanks, research firms, and government agencies. We receive numerous inquiries from leading companies in various industries as their trusted partners. While keeping internal sales strategies in mind, Research Directors are expected to contribute value directly through client work.

Specifically, you will direct the internet research process from survey questionnaire confirmation, questionnaire screen creation, distribution, tabulation, to delivery of results.

1. Upon receiving a research project request from sales, you will grasp the overall outline of the survey.
2. You will thoroughly review the questionnaire containing survey questions and confirm with the client.
3. Once the questionnaire is finalized, you will instruct the team responsible for creating the questionnaire screen to proceed.
4. After the questionnaire screen is uploaded, you will check the survey specifications and content, request confirmation from the client, and make any necessary revisions.
5. You will distribute the questionnaire to survey panelists and collect responses.
6. If data tabulation is required, you will request it from the tabulation team, and the Director will deliver the results after tabulation.
7. If a report is needed, the researcher will create the report, and it will be delivered to the client.
*The entire process from steps 1 to 7 can be completed in as little as 2-3 business days. Accuracy and speedy execution are key.
*Multiple in-house systems are used for project progression.

Work Environment
The Research Direction Section is an organization of 35 people, and this position will be assigned to a department where approximately 70% of the members are Research Directors.
Including domestic and international partner companies, our organizational structure comprises over 120 individuals. We highly value smooth communication and teamwork in advancing our operations.

Career Path Examples
- Upon Joining: You will acquire the necessary skills and knowledge for research operations through classroom training and on-the-job training (for approximately 6 months to 1 year).
Thereafter, you will continue to grow by tackling more challenging research projects, improving the quality of your work, and taking on a core role within the department.
- Year 3: Assistant Manager (leading a team of around 5 members)
- Year 5: Group Manager (managing approximately 10 members across multiple teams)

Other
As you can build a strong foundation through Research Direction work, it is also possible to envision a career path towards data analysis or service-related fields in the future.
No prior marketing or research experience is required, and over three-quarters of the employees in this department are mid-career hires.
We actively recruit individuals new to the industry, and indeed, our current Research Directors come from a wide variety of professional backgrounds.
Given our comprehensive training and robust support system, we place a greater emphasis on your eagerness and attitude towards self-improvement.

Mandatory Qualifications:
- Approximately 3 years or more of experience in coordinating and handling projects/cases by mediating between clients and internal members (e.g., in editing, production, or as a Web Director).
- High communication skills (ability to explain clearly with logical and well-organized writing and speaking; ability to understand conversations and the flow of discussions).

Desired Qualifications:
- Practical operational experience at a research company is welcome, but above all, a strong interest in marketing research is essential.

Other
- Ability to perform multitasking.
- Experience in training new employees.
- Ability to collaborate with team members and work towards achieving business goals."

Others Information:
Additional information on Location
Futako Tamagawa Rise Office
2-21-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo

Additional information on Secondment
Seconded to Rakuten Insight, Inc.

Additional information on English Qualification
English Requirement: Yes
*TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS, etc.
*Details will be provided if you proceed to the selection process.

#business #director #projectmanager #commerce #RakutenInsight

Languages:

English (Overall - 3 - Advanced), Japanese (Overall - 4 - Fluent)