Vice President, Strategic Accounts

Role Purpose

The Vice President, Strategic Pursuits is responsible for originating, shaping, and winning Rakuten Symphony's largest and most strategic transformation opportunities with Tier‑1 telecommunications operators. This role leads complex, multi‑product pursuits spanning Open RAN, OSS Transformation, AI‑Driven Operations, Autonomous Networks, Cloud‑Native Infrastructure, and Network Modernization. The VP acts as the executive orchestrator across Sales, Product, Engineering, Pre‑Sales, Delivery, Partners, and Customer Leadership to secure transformational programs and long‑term strategic partnerships.

• Strategic Opportunity Creation:
  Identify and develop high‑value transformation opportunities within target operators; influence customer strategy and technology roadmaps before formal procurement processes begin; build executive‑level business cases around network modernization, automation, cloud transformation, and operational efficiency; create multi‑year growth plans for strategic accounts.
• Pursuit Leadership:
  Lead end‑to‑end pursuit strategy for opportunities typically exceeding $25M TCV; define winning themes, competitive positioning, and commercial strategies; establish and manage pursuit governance, risk reviews, and executive checkpoints; coordinate cross‑functional pursuit teams across sales, product, engineering, finance, legal, and delivery.
• Executive Engagement:
  Develop trusted relationships with CTO, CIO, CDO, CNO, and Operations leadership; facilitate executive workshops and transformation discussions; position Rakuten Symphony as a strategic transformation partner rather than a technology vendor.
• Ecosystem & Partner Engagement:
  Align Hyperscale®, system integrator, and technology partner participation in strategic pursuits; drive joint value propositions and partner‑led opportunities where appropriate.
• Market Intelligence:
  Maintain deep understanding of operator priorities, competitive dynamics, regulatory developments, and technology trends; provide market feedback to Product and GTM leadership.

• Strategic pipeline creation.
• Large‑deal bookings and TCV won.
• Win rate on strategic pursuits.
• Executive relationships established within target operators.
• Expansion of Rakuten Symphony footprint within assigned accounts.
• Contribution to regional revenue growth.

15+ years of experience in telecommunications, technology, consulting, cloud, OSS/BSS, network infrastructure, or digital transformation; demonstrated success leading pursuits and negotiations exceeding $25M; strong understanding of telecom operator business models and network transformation programs; experience engaging C‑level executives and influencing strategic decisions; proven ability to lead cross‑functional teams without direct authority.

• Experience with Open RAN, OSS/BSS, Telecom Cloud, AI for Network Operations, Network Automation, Digital Transformation Consulting.
• Background from telecom operators, telecom vendors, consulting firms, cloud providers, or technology companies serving communications service providers.