Is Rakuten a good company to work for?

Rakuten has an overall rating of 3.6 out of 5, based on over 4,202 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 72% of employees would recommend working at Rakuten to a friend and 56% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Rakuten have been left by employees working as Manager , Software Engineer and Account Manager .

Does Rakuten pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Rakuten employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.3 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Rakuten. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Rakuten?

72% of Rakuten employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Rakuten 3.8 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.6 for culture and values and 3.4 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Rakuten?

Software Engineer (473) , Senior Software Engineer (176) , Applications Engineer (129) , Product Manager (94) , Project Manager (80) , Data Scientist (62) , Manager (59) , Associate Software Engineer (51) , Account Manager (45) , Software Developer (39) , Technical Intern (33) , Intern (29) , Systems Engineer (29) , Devops Engineer (27) , Internship (26)

What are the pros of working at Rakuten according to real employee reviews?

"Also good work life balance because products are not profitable which leads to no major development work." ((in 247 reviews)); "Free food for 3 meals per day (you have to arrive early and leave late for breakfast and dinner)." ((in 212 reviews)); "People are nice in my department" ((in 189 reviews)); "Good benefits including some paid lunches each week and you cant forget the In" ((in 127 reviews)); "Free meals and snacks" ((in 109 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Rakuten according to real employee reviews?

"1. Salary is low for fresh graduate (I heard that the salary of mid" ((in 292 reviews)); "Management is bad and HRs are not friendly." ((in 191 reviews)); "Some groups have very high attrition for senior managers due to lack of clarity of role." ((in 132 reviews)); "Leadership is weak and only knows how to emulate their Japanese counterpart which doesn't seem to work in the US." ((in 43 reviews)); "Bad upper management." ((in 34 reviews))

What are employees saying about Rakuten layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Rakuten layoffs and their outlook for job security at Rakuten in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Rakuten locations?

San Mateo , New York , Boston , San Francisco , Beloit , Aliso Viejo , Salt Lake City , Chicago , San Diego , Tampa , Japan , Midvale , Henderson , Seattle , Austin , Houston , Los Angeles , Denver , Las Vegas , Japan , Layton , Norfolk , Lansing , Dallas , Grand Prairie , Fresno , Costa Mesa , San Jose , Quincy , Wilkes Barre

Rakuten reviews

3.6

72% would recommend to a friend

(3,548 total reviews)

Hiroshi Mikitani

76% approve of CEO

56% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.0

Diversity & inclusion

3.8

Work/Life balance

3.6

Culture & values

3.4

Career opportunities

3.3

Compensation and benefits

3.0

Senior management

Rakuten has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 3,548 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Rakuten employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Information Technology industry (3.9 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

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Reviews by job title

4K reviews

5.0

Nov 11, 2014

Rakuten Marketing Europe (UK) is a wonderful place to work!

Client development manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

There are many pros about working at Rakuten Marketing Europe, firstly you will work amongst great colleagues who are always wanting to help, collaborate and share ideas. The staff is a mixture of experienced Account Managers and Directors and those looking to start a career in Affiliate, Display and Attribution. Each division of Rakuten Marketing have a very impressive list of clients, with many retaining their partnerships year on year or expanding into becoming an Omni channel partner. They look after their staff by providing breakfast once a week, free Friday lunch and give you an unlimited supply of 'naughty' snacks and fruit. The culture us sociable, young and diverse and because you're based in Central London you will be spoilt for choice when it comes to lunch and going out for after work drinks with your colleagues. Finally, Rakuten Marketing has a great vision ahead and are quickly becoming leaders and innovators within the performance marketing space and would recommend it to anyone who wants to start their career or want their vision to be listened to.

Cons

You will find yourself working long hours. The work can be challenging and demanding but very rewarding.

2.0

Nov 5, 2014

Not an international internet company -- a domestic advertising company with a big website

Web developer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

~free lunch ~interesting international community, with an increasing number of foreign hires from many backgrounds ~opportunities to interact with many aspects of a large corporation

Cons

~Englishnization is not real. Most domestic businesses are Japanese only. ~Power harassment, sexual harassment are common. Not addressed by HR. ~Extremely dense political climate - promotions and projects are decided much more by personal connections than by merit. Decision making is extremely top-down ~All KPIs are based on instant gratification metrics without concern for sustainable growth. Anything not related to ad sales and immediate revenue is ignored. (Working in a technical position unrelated to ad sales meant little chance to be noticed or evaluated fairly)

1.0

Nov 2, 2014

You'll regret working here

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

They offer free lunch every day The office is in a good location (in South Station) The benefits include a free membership to Hubway

Cons

CTO basically runs the company and leads with threats and pitting groups and people against each other. They hire smart people, but throw them in a toxic environment where they either leave quickly (~3 people per week) or stay and hate working there. Everyone is expected to work 50-60 hours and performance is based on hours, rather than quality of work. Also, the long hours are caused by poor planning by management, rather than actual amount of work. (With the CTO constantly changing schedules and priorities without discussing it with anyone, that's bound to happen.) Management (including HR) doesn't care about your career growth or advancement, they're too busy worrying about kissing up to the CTO. There were issues with sexism while I was there.

Viewing 3376 - 3378 of 3,548 Reviews

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Intern - Data Science

Intern - Business Development

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Intern - Graphic Design, Internal Communications

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Rakuten Marketing Europe (UK) is a wonderful place to work!

Not an international internet company -- a domestic advertising company with a big website

You'll regret working here

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