Trust the other reviews - Anonymous employee Rakuten Employee Review

1.0
Jul 30, 2018
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Free breakfast and lunch and dinner after 7pm Gym onsite Travel opportunities Warriors partnership

Cons

Everything USA office does has to go through Japan, whether it's engineering, IT, finance, etc that causes blockage and delay so there's a lot of disengaged, uncoordinated work going on. Management is hired/placed without true consideration into their ability to manage and cultural fit so bad management trickles down to everyone below, causing a lot of frustration and disappointment. Rakuten really underpays compared to the SF market, which equals to low quality hires (if you're looking for more money than you're making currently, don't go here). Because of the low quality hires or difficulty in hiring, they keep transferring people from Japan or Europe to run the US office. Executives are lazy and ignorant of the problems going on and letting the people below them run around putting out fires.

Explore other reviews about Rakuten

5.0
Mar 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Rakuten Rewards has great life balance. Too bad the economy was getting rocked.

Cons

Don't really have any cons. I understand that the market's been hard so had to downsize the force, so that was kinda challenging. Hopefully AI will increase everyone's output.

3.0
Jan 28, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company offers great benefits and perks, and the overall work culture can be fun and social. When I first joined, it felt like a positive place to work and a good environment to learn. It’s a solid company to start your career, especially if you’re early on and want exposure to the role.

Cons

While the experience started off strong, there was very little room for growth long term. Opportunities were not distributed equally across the team, and favoritism was noticeable at times. The same individuals were consistently praised for simply doing their jobs, while others’ contributions were rarely acknowledged. The team culture could feel very cliquey, and if you weren’t part of the “favorites,” it was difficult to be recognized or considered for new opportunities. Although leadership often spoke about internal growth and mobility, in reality those opportunities felt extremely limited. Once you’re placed on a team, it’s very hard to move into something new or grow beyond that role. This is a good place to start your career and gain experience, but not a place I would recommend staying long term. If you’re looking for growth, development, and mobility within the company, you may find yourself feeling stuck.

3
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