Native Mobile Engineer, iOS/Android - Kobo Japan Technology Department (KJT)

Job Description:

Department Overview

At Rakuten Kobo, 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:

Why We Hire

We are looking for more members to improve/enhance our products.

　

Position Details

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Native Mobile Engineer to join our Kobo Japan Apps Group. You will play a key role in developing and enhancing our iOS and/or Android applications, ensuring a smooth, engaging, and culturally relevant reading experience for our Japanese users. A strong understanding of mobile development best practices, experience with Japanese content rendering, and a passion for delivering exceptional user experiences are essential for this role.

　

Work Environment

- We use English most of the time in the team, but the manual QA team cannot use English much.

- Engineers: 3 in Japan, 2 in India.

- Manual QAs: 3 members in Japan.

- Automation QAs: 2 members based in India - usually automate test cases created by manual team.

- Designer: 1 from Japan based in Toronto.

- Product Manager: 1 from US based in Japan.

- Engineer Manager: 1 from Vietnam based in Japan.

All are experienced (min 5 years), no new grads.

Desired Personality

- Collaborative: Enjoys working in a team, values open communication, and actively shares knowledge with colleagues.

- User-Centric: Passionate about delivering the best reading experience for Japanese users, attentive to local needs and feedback.

- Adaptable: Comfortable with change, eager to learn new technologies, and able to adjust to evolving requirements or priorities.

- Quality-Focused: Pays attention to detail, takes pride in writing clean, maintainable code, and is committed to delivering high-quality, bug-free apps.

- Proactive: Takes initiative to identify and solve problems, suggests improvements, and is not afraid to ask questions or challenge the status quo.

- Culturally Sensitive: Appreciates and respects Japanese culture and working styles, and is open to diverse perspectives.

- Growth-Oriented: Seeks opportunities for personal and professional development, welcomes feedback, and strives for continuous improvement.

- Customer-First Mindset: Thinks from the end-user’s perspective, prioritizes usability and accessibility, and is motivated by customer satisfaction.

Mandatory Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.

- 5+ years of experience in native iOS (Swift/Objective-C) and/or Android (Kotlin/Java) mobile application development.

- Strong understanding of mobile development principles, design patterns, and best practices.

- Experience with common mobile architectures (MVVM, MVP, etc.).

- Experience with RESTful APIs and JSON data.

- Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git).

- Experience with automated testing frameworks (e.g., Appium, Espresso, XCUITest).

- Experience with scripting languages for automation (e.g., Python, JavaScript).

- Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills.

- Strong communication and collaboration skills.

- As a mobile engineer in the team, you can focus on only either iOS or Android, but you are expected to support the other platform when needed.

　

Desired Qualifications:
- Experience with Japanese content rendering, including handling complex Japanese typography, vertical text, and ruby characters (furigana).

- Familiarity with Japanese language and culture.

- Experience with e-commerce or subscription-based applications.

- Experience with CI/CD pipelines.

- Experience with performance monitoring and profiling tools.

- Contributions to open-source projects.

- Experience with Jetpack Compose or SwiftUI.

　

Other Information:

Additional information on Location

Rakuten Crimson House (Head office)

　

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Languages:

English (Overall - 4 - Fluent)