Business Development Manager

Job Description:

Rakuten International oversees 7 businesses with over 4,000 employees globally. The brand is recognized for its leadership and innovation in e-commerce, digital content, advertising, entertainment and communications, bringing the joy of discovery and access to more than 1 billion members across the world. Our teams deliver on the company’s mission to delight merchants and customers through innovation, optimism, and teamwork.

Rakuten Viki is a global entertainment streaming platform that specializes in Asian content. Our platform enables millions of viewers to discover and enjoy primetime shows and movies, subtitled in over 150 languages. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, we also have offices in Singapore, Seoul, and Shanghai, ensuring a strong global presence and a deep connection to the heart of Asian entertainment.

Our platform is home to a large and loyal community of fans who share a passion for Asian culture and entertainment. Join us in our mission to bridge cultures and connect the world to Asian entertainment. At Rakuten Viki, we offer a chance to be part of a global community that celebrates culture, creativity, and connection.

Overview

We are seeking a highly motivated Business Development Manager to support Viki’s global partnership strategy, with a primary focus on growing Viki’s subscriber base and subscription revenue.

In this role, you will drive the identification, development, negotiation, and launch of strategic partnerships across telecommunications, digital platforms, connected TV, and the broader consumer ecosystem.

You will develop compelling bundling and distribution opportunities, explore new channels and monetization strategies, and build partnerships that accelerate growth while strengthening brand awareness and customer loyalty.

This role will be based in San Mateo, California, and report to the Director of Business Development.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute partnership strategies aligned with Viki’s growth priorities, with a focus on subscriber acquisition, engagement, retention, subscription revenue, and brand awareness.
• Conduct market and competitive research across priority regions to identify consumer trends, market dynamics, and emerging partnership opportunities, and use these insights to inform regional growth strategies.
• Identify, evaluate, and develop strategic partnership opportunities across telecommunications, digital platforms, connected TV, brands, and loyalty and rewards ecosystems.
• Build business cases, partnership proposals, presentations, and commercial recommendations to evaluate opportunities, align internal stakeholders, and support negotiations with prospective partners.
• Develop and negotiate commercial programs, including bundled subscriptions, loyalty and rewards offerings, and partner benefits, that create value for Viki and its partners and drive subscriber and revenue growth.
• Own partnerships from opportunity development through launch and ongoing management, including partner outreach, opportunity assessment, commercial structuring, negotiation, contracting, onboarding, launch coordination, and relationship management.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including content, marketing, legal, product, finance, and customer experience, to move partnership initiatives from agreement through implementation, launch, and optimization.
• Monitor partnership performance and KPIs, using data and partner feedback to identify opportunities to improve conversion, retention, revenue, and overall program performance.

Required Qualifications

• At least 5 or more years of experience in business development, partnerships, or related commercial roles with a track record of identifying, developing, negotiating, and closing strategic partnerships.
• Professional background within telecommunications, OTT, digital media, subscription, or consumer technology, with a strong understanding of subscription growth and monetization.
• Experience owning partnerships from agreement through implementation and launch, including contracting, partner onboarding, and ongoing relationship management.
• Strong commercial and analytical skills, with the ability to assess partnership opportunities, build business cases, evaluate financial and growth potential, and use data to inform investment and prioritization decisions.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and project-management skills, with experience working across functions such as legal, marketing, product, finance, content, and customer experience to execute partnership initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Established relationships with telcos, OTT platforms, digital services, subscription products, loyalty and rewards programs, and other consumer-facing businesses.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and relationship-building skills, with the ability to develop compelling proposals and presentations and effectively influence senior stakeholders and external partners.
• Strategic, entrepreneurial, and results-oriented mindset, with the ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, navigate ambiguity, and build momentum in a fast-paced environment.
• Passion for entertainment, technology, OTT, and digital media, with curiosity about evolving consumer behavior, subscription models, and emerging partnership opportunities.

Rakuten provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. Rakuten considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, provincial or local laws.

Five Principles for Success
Our worldwide practices describe specific behaviors that make Rakuten unique and united across the world. We expect Rakuten employees to model these 5 Shugi Principles of Success.

Always improve, Always Advance - Only be satisfied with complete success - Kaizen
Passionately Professional - Take an uncompromising approach to your work and be determined to be the best
Hypothesize - Practice - Validate – Shikumika - Use the Rakuten Cycle to succeed in unknown territory
Maximize Customer Satisfaction - The greatest satisfaction for our teams is seeing their customers smile
Speed!! Speed!! Speed!! - Always be conscious of time - take charge, set clear goals, and engage your team

Rakuten provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type. Rakuten considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, provincial or local laws.

As part of our Rakuten interview process, we encourage applicants to use their own words, rather than AI-generated content. Tell us your story in a way that's personal and authentic.

At the time of posting, Rakuten expects the base compensation for this role to be within the range shown below. Individual compensation will vary based on job-related factors, including the skills, qualifications, and experience of the successful candidate as well as business need and geographic location. The successful applicant for this role will be eligible for discretionary bonus, health, vision, dental insurance, 401k matching, PTO, Volunteer Time Off (VTO), and other employee benefits as the company implements.

USD $78,651.00 - $135,216.00 annually