Network Engineer

Rakuten Tech Center Europe; Paris; On-site; EUR 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Rakuten Asia Pte Ltd in Paris oversees a European Cloud Platform Supervisory Department network team. You will manage network operations across data centers, deploy and maintain networks, and collaborate with Japan and US teams on 24/7 support initiatives.

You will contribute to capacity planning, oncall rotations, and future infrastructure expansions while using open‑source technologies and automation to improve service quality.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in IT and 3–5 years proven experience as a network engineer.
• Fluent English.
• Experience deploying and managing networks in follow‑the‑sun environments.

Responsibilities

• Network administration and engineering for Rakuten’s global platforms.
• Monitoring IT infrastructure and platforms, troubleshooting with developers as needed.
• Developing tools/frameworks to automate operations and improve existing processes.

Skills

BGP

OSPF

VXLAN EVPN

Nexus/Cisco

Juniper MX

Arista

Dell

Linux

FRR

Cumulus Linux

SONiC

Flow analysis

Wireshark

Python

Ansible

Chef

Network automation

AIOps

English fluency

Team collaboration

Japanese language (nice to have)

Education

Master’s degree in IT

Tools

Cisco Nexus

Juniper MX

Arista

Dell

Job description

Job Description:

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.

Mission

• 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

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.

Within the Rakuten Group, we are part of the Global Innovation Hub, called Technology Divisions, represented by almost 6,000 people, present in Japan, India, China, America and Europe. Rakuten Tech in Europe is the regional organization for the members of the technology divisions based in Europe. This organization provides global platforms to support the businesses in the Rakuten ecosystem and enhances these global platforms according to the use cases of the businesses, within Europe and worldwide. More than 70% of Rakuten Tech projects in Europe support businesses in Japan, including Ichiba, Rakuten’s e‑commerce marketplace. Rakuten Tech offers the opportunity to collaborate with all of Rakuten's technical teams around the world, and to play a key role in the success and evolution of the group's businesses. The first global technical team in Europe was created in 2012 and initially had 3 members. Today, Rakuten Tech in Europe represents over 130 members, present in 7 countries and 12 offices. We are present in France (Paris), Spain (Barcelona), UK (Belfast), Estonia (Tallin), and Germany (Berlin). We represent a multicultural team, 5 official languages and 3 time zones. We collaborate daily with the teams in Japan. Each person can collaborate with the whole world as English is the common language adopted by Rakuten globally. Rakuten Tech in Europe teams work on product/platform development, service delivery/integration and service operations for a range of products/platforms and services covering e-commerce, big data, search, product recommendations, blockchain, data science, business intelligence, information security, user identity management, corporate IT, and data centers and infrastructure. We are looking for talent that supports the achievement of Rakuten's business strategies and sustainable growth. As a learning organization, you will have the opportunity to develop your potential and grow within the group.