DevOps Engineer - Kobo Japan Technology Department (KJT)

Job Description:

Department Overview

Rakuten Kobo Inc. is a global leader in eReading, offering millions of eBooks and audiobooks to passionate readers in over 190 countries. We believe that reading is essential to a fulfilling life, and we're dedicated to providing innovative digital reading experiences. As a subsidiary of Rakuten Group, we benefit from the resources and reach of a global technology leader while maintaining the agility and innovation of a startup.

At Rakuten Kobo Japan, we are passionate about transforming the way the world reads. Our team develops innovative eReading devices, apps, and services that connect millions of book lovers to stories and knowledge. We foster a collaborative, diverse, and dynamic environment where creativity and technology come together to deliver exceptional experiences for our customers.

Position:

Position Details

We are seeking a DevOps Engineer to join our infrastructure team in Japan. In this role, you will work closely with application developers and global DevOps teams to maintain and evolve our Kubernetes-based platform.

Our workloads run on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) as well as on a private cloud environment using similar technologies. CI/CD is handled via GitHub Actions and ArgoCD, with some remaining Jenkins-based pipelines in transition.

This is a collaborative, hands-on role that bridges development and operations across Japan and international teams (notably in Canada), requiring both technical depth and strong communication skills.

Responsibilities

- Manage, support, and improve Kubernetes infrastructure on Azure AKS and private cloud

- Enhance and maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and ArgoCD

- Support the migration of legacy Jenkins-based jobs to modern CI/CD workflows

- Collaborate with application developers to provide tooling, guidance and infrastructure support

- Coordinate with global DevOps teams (e.g., in Canada) to align practices and ensure reliability across regions

- Improve observability, monitoring and alerting for platform health and service uptime

- Promote infrastructure automation and GitOps practices

- Contribute to documentation and internal knowledge sharing

Mandatory Qualifications:

- 5 + years of strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes (managing workloads, troubleshooting, Helm, etc.)

- 3 + years of experience working with Azure, especially Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

- 3 + years of experience working with proven track record with GitHub Actions and ArgoCD (or other GitOps tools)

- Familiarity with container technologies (e.g., Docker) and Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform, Helm)

- Ability to troubleshoot and modernize Jenkins pipelines

- Comfortable collaborating across time zones and cultural boundaries

Desired Qualifications:

- Experience working in hybrid cloud environments (Azure + on-prem/private cloud)

- Exposure to monitoring and logging tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, or Datadog)

- Scripting or automation skills (e.g., Bash, Python, Go)

- Understanding of security and compliance concerns in CI/CD pipelines

Other Information:

Additional information on Location

Rakuten Crimson House (Head office)

Additional information on English Qualification

Business Level English

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