Data Science Manager: Conversational AI & LLM Strategy

Rakuten Kobo Inc.; Singapore; On-site; SGD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Rakuten Asia in Singapore leads the CXD data science function to drive the intelligence layer of our conversational AI platform. As Data Science Manager, you will build and mentor a team of data scientists and ML engineers, setting the strategic roadmap and ensuring rigorous scientific sign-off on production solutions.

You will partner with Product and Engineering across Japan and APAC to align science priorities with platform goals, driving measurable improvements in model quality, retrieval

Qualifications

• 7+ years in applied ML or NLP with leadership experience.
• Deep hands-on experience with LLMs, RAG, and production retrieval pipelines.
• Ability to provide mathematical sign-off on system design decisions.
• Experience with agentic reasoning evaluation and multi-step orchestration.
• Strong track record running online experiments (A/B, bandits).
• Experience building data science teams; hiring and mentoring.
• Synthesize analytics into clear product priorities for leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of data scientists and ML engineers and define the science roadmap.
• Own end-to-end lifecycle of LLMs and model deployment across BU deployments.
• Advance RAG architecture, retrieval quality, and knowledge base health.
• Define evaluation framework and VoC analytics for product impact.
• Drive memory, personalization, and privacy-compliant production systems.

Skills

Applied ML/NLP leadership

LLMs & RAG production

Python

Cloud ML infrastructure

Vector search

Experimentation (A/B, bandits)

Cross-cultural leadership

Communication to leadership

Education

PhD in CS/ML/NLP or equivalent

Tools

GCP

Vector search

Embedding models

Job description

Rakuten Asia in Singapore leads the CXD data science function to drive the intelligence layer of our conversational AI platform. As Data Science Manager, you will build and mentor a team of data scientists and ML engineers, setting the strategic roadmap and ensuring rigorous scientific sign-off on production solutions.

You will partner with Product and Engineering across Japan and APAC to align science priorities with platform goals, driving measurable improvements in model quality, retrieval