Staff Software Engineer

Rakuten Rewards•Toronto, ON

36d

About The Position

Rakuten International is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc., a Japanese global technology leader in services that empower individuals, communities, businesses and society. Headquartered in San Mateo, California with more than 4,000 employees worldwide, the Rakuten International business portfolio includes market leaders in e-commerce, digital marketing, advertising, communications and entertainment. We create products and services that provide exceptional value by aligning members and the businesses that want to engage them in a shared community. Rakuten is the most rewarding way to shop, giving millions of members Cash Back when they buy from their favorite brands. As a leading shopping platform, Rakuten partners with thousands of top brands across apparel, beauty and wellness, grocery, travel, on-demand services, subscriptions, and dining, helping members save on everyday purchases. Since 1999, Rakuten members have earned more than $4.6 billion in Cash Back, making it the largest Cash Back platform of its kind. Learn more at Rakuten.com. Job Summary: Rakuten Rewards is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the Bastion Privacy Engineering team, which is responsible for building and maintaining systems that protect user data and ensure compliance with global privacy regulations. In this role, you will act as a technical leader, designing and implementing scalable privacy-focused systems that support secure data processing, regulatory compliance, and responsible data governance. You will collaborate closely with product, legal, and privacy teams to translate regulatory requirements into practical engineering solutions. This role offers the opportunity to drive architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and build privacy-by-design infrastructure that safeguards millions of users worldwide.

Requirements

Strong proficiency in Java, Spring Boot, JPA, and cloud-native services.
Extensive hands-on experience with AWS (S3, SQS, Lambda, DynamoDB, IAM), Docker, and Kubernetes.
Solid understanding of data privacy principles and regulations (GDPR, CCPA; HIPAA a plus).
Practical expertise in encryption, anonymization, and pseudonymization.
Proficiency with OLTP databases (Postgres/MySQL) and/or OLAP platforms (Snowflake).
Familiarity with distributed system components (Kafka, Redis, Elasticsearch).
Experience designing microservices and event-driven architectures.
Track record of mentoring engineers and working in Agile environments.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (Master's preferred).
10+ years of professional software engineering experience building scalable, reliable systems (Staff-level scope).

Nice To Haves

CIPP, CISSP certifications
experience in regulated industries (FinTech, Healthcare)
deep IAM experience
hands-on PIA/threat modeling
open-source contributions
strong communication and collaboration skills

Responsibilities

Lead the design, development, and implementation of scalable, reliable software for user data privacy and compliance.
Drive architectural decisions for sensitive data systems, embedding privacy-by-design principles.
Partner with product, legal, and privacy teams to define technical specifications from regulatory inputs.
Ensure privacy considerations throughout the SDLC for complex programs.
Mentor engineers in secure coding, privacy principles, and compliance.
Identify and remediate performance, scalability, security, and privacy issues.
Participate in on-call rotations, resolving incidents while maintaining security and privacy standards.
Champion engineering best practices, including secure code reviews and privacy-focused testing.
Research and evaluate new privacy-enhancing technologies.
Lead tooling and processes for automating Data Subject Rights (DSR) requests.
Conduct Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) and threat modeling.
Own end-to-end architecture for privacy-critical services.