Network Engineer

Rakuten’s CPSD (Cloud Platform Supervisory Department) team is part of a global IT ecosystem across Japan, the US and Europe. You will join the EU team based in Paris.

The team manages Rakuten’s private Cloud platform, by supporting the global backbone and network infrastructure of the group’s multiple datacenters, catering to all the business needs of its various companies.

Within the team, your responsibilities will be handling operations, implementing and maintaining existing networks, defining and designing new networks as well as the integration of new technologies. You’ll be involved in projects ranging from deployment of new datacenters, monitoring, capacity planning and overall infrastructure expansions.

We also provide 24/7 support thanks to the team’s global presence and are responsible of all network services.

You’ll collaborate and interact with various of the group’s subsidiaries and Business Units on all these aspects.

The Mission

As a part of the CPSD team, your responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Network administration and engineering for Rakuten’s global platforms.

• Monitoring of our IT infrastructure and platforms, troubleshooting, and solving the emerging problems, possibly in collaboration with the developers of various applications.

• Development of the new tools and frameworks for the operations, or improvement of the existing tools and frameworks, to facilitate or improve automatic operations of our platforms and infrastructure.

• Investigating and improving open-source technologies relevant for the operations of our platforms and infrastructure.

• Understanding the requirements of the potential customers and developing demos and prototypes.

• Planning the operations process, executing the operations according to the plan, and reporting the progress to the management.

• You’ll work closely with the network teams in Japan and the United States.

• You’ll be part of the global oncall rotation in the long term.

• Travels to Japan and the United States are to be considered.

Your Profile

You hold a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in IT and have 3–5 years of proven experience as a network engineer.

You are skilled in deploying and managing networks in a follow-the-sun environment, with hands-on expertise in incident management and change requests.

You understand the critical role of IT in business success and are committed to delivering high-quality solutions that support performance and customer satisfaction.

You are naturally curious, continuously seeking knowledge, and staying current with emerging technologies.

You’ll be part of an international team, so fluent English is mandatory.

Required skills:

• Experience configuring and troubleshooting complex network environments made of routers, switches, load-balancers, firewalls

• Good understanding of IP routing protocols such as BGP and OSPF for IPv4 and IPv6, switching, MPLS (L2/L3 VPN), VRFs, NAT, ACLs, VLANs, MLAG/LAG, SNMP

• Good understanding of datacenter networking technologies such as VXLAN EVPN

• Experience with some of the following platforms: Cisco Nexus, Juniper MX, Arista, Dell

• Solid understanding of 1G/10G/40G physical cabling/transceiver standards: fiber optic types/sizes/capabilities, transceiver types/options

• Fundamental knowledge of Linux operating systems

• Exposure to open-source networking technologies is a plus (FRR, Cumulus Linux, SONiC, whitebox switches)

• Strong understanding of network technologies, including capacity and bandwidth management, network automation, and AIOps

• Ability to work effectively in global, cross-functional team environments

• Knowledge and experience in implementing best operational practices to improve network service quality

Optional:

• Some experience with major cloud providers (AWS/GCP/Azure), especially on network features

• Python scripting or another programming language

• Network automation with Ansible or Chef

• Some experience with flow analysis, metering, trace analysis with Wireshark

• Proficiency in Japanese would be a great plus 😊

As an employer, Rakuten Tech in Europe is committed to developing an inclusive working environment. Access to employment is open to all, regardless of gender, age, disability, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or social status.