Technical Lead, PAM & Secret Management - Cloud Management Department (CMD)

Job Description

Business Overview

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.

Department Overview

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.

Within CMD, the Access Management Group is newly formed to build, integrate, and maintain a centralized Privileged Access Management (PAM) and Secret Management platform, replacing fragmented legacy access solutions with Zero Standing Privileges, Just-in-Time access, Break-the-Glass emergency access, and centralized secret management across on-premises infrastructure and public cloud.

Position

This is a newly created team and a build-from-scratch initiative. We are hiring a Technical Lead to be the team's senior technical reference from day one, setting the architecture and engineering standards for the platform and growing the team around it.

Position Details

<As Technical Lead, you will>

・Own the end-to-end technical architecture of the PAM and Secret Management platform, covering on-premise infrastructure, Rakuten's internal cloud (OneCloud), and public multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure, GCP)

・Design and implement Just-in-Time access, Zero Standing Privileges, and Break-the-Glass workflows, including integration with identity providers (Okta, Entra ID) and ticketing systems (e.g., Jira) for approval workflows

・Write production code and infrastructure-as-code, and review the team's implementations, holding a high bar for security, reliability, and maintainability

・Define and enforce secure development, DevOps, and operational practices (CI/CD, secrets handling, audit logging, incident response) across the team

・Collaborate closely with QA engineers to define test strategy and acceptance criteria for a security-critical system, without owning QA execution directly

・Lead technical evaluation of vendors and tools, and represent the team in architecture and vendor discussions

・Mentor and grow junior and mid-level Dev/DevOps engineers, and act as technical escalation point for the team

・Partner with the Group Manager, Project Manager, and stakeholders across CPSD to align technical delivery with project timelines and budget

・Ensure the platform meets high-availability and disaster-recovery requirements across regions

Work Environment

You'll lead a cross-functional team composed of Development, DevOps, and QA members, spanning a range of seniority levels, and you will report to the Group Manager. Your technical decisions will have direct and lasting impact on a strategic platform, with visibility to senior stakeholders across the organization.

Mandatory Qualifications

・More than 5 years of experience in software engineering and/or DevOps roles, including prior technical leadership or mentoring experience

・Strong hands-on skills across development, DevOps/infrastructure, and security, comfortable being the most senior engineering voice on all three fronts

・Solid understanding of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, and/or GCP), Rakuten's internal cloud (OneCloud), and on-premise/hybrid infrastructure

・Experience with identity and access concepts

IAM, SSO/IdP integration (Okta, Entra ID), RBAC, Just-in-Time access, Zero Trust principles

・Working knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and how privileged access and secrets intersect with build and deploy workflows

・Comfortable working with and reviewing the output of QA engineers, with familiarity with test strategy for security-critical systems

・Strong communication skills, able to explain technical trade-offs to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders

Desired Qualifications

・Practical experience with secret management and/or privileged access management technologies (e.g., HashiCorp Vault, Boundary, CyberArk, Teleport, Delinea, BeyondTrust, or similar)

・Experience building a security or access management platform from scratch, rather than only operating an existing one

・Exposure to compliance frameworks relevant to financial services (e.g., PCI-DSS, FSA requirements)

・Experience with Kubernetes and service-account/machine-to-machine credential management

・Japanese language proficiency, a plus but not required

#engineer #infrastructureengineer #technologyplatformdiv

Languages

English (Overall - 3 - Advanced)