Solution Category Owner – Consultation Solutions

ZEISS in India

ZEISS in India is headquartered in Bengaluru and present in the fields of Industrial Quality Solutions, Research Microscopy Solutions, Medical Technology, Vision Care and Sports & Cine Optics.

ZEISS India has 3 production facilities, R&D center, Global IT services and about 40 Sales & Service offices in almost all Tier I and Tier II cities in India. With 2200+ employees and continued investments over 25 years in India, ZEISS’ success story in India is continuing at a rapid pace. 

Further information at ZEISS India.

The role encompasses a broad range of responsibilities aimed at delivering innovative, high-quality software consultation solutions across hardware, software, and digital platforms:

Portfolio Strategy & Category Ownership in alignment with overall department structure

• Define and own the multi-year Consultations strategy, aligned with the company's vision care growth objectives and competitive positioning, explicitly covering In-Store Consultation categories.

• Establish and maintain the category roadmap, covering device-agnostic consultation workflows that guide ECPs from anamnesis and measurement inputs to the appropriate consultation pathway and product recommendation, independent of the devices connected to the digital connectivity platform.

• Build on continuous market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and voice-of-customer research with ECPs and retail chains to identify white spaces, emerging technology trends, portfolio gaps and unmet needs in guided, measurement-driven consultation workflows.

Product development oversight in alignment with overall department structure

• Provide indirect leadership to product development teams, aligning development priorities with category strategy and working closely with the Product Development team to reinforce the product vision, ensuring portfolio investments deliver competitive, market-ready solutions.

• Own the business requirements and commercial specifications that inform product development and engineering; represent the market perspective throughout the development lifecycle (concept through launch), ensuring clear and testable requirements are defined in close collaboration with Product Owners.

• Define business and workflow requirements that enable consultation guidance based on consumer anamnesis, device-sourced measurement data and workflow stage, ensuring the solution can recommend the right consultation path regardless of the measurement devices used in the store.

• Serve as senior sponsor for key development programs within the refraction category, ensuring cross-functional alignment and timely escalation of risks.

• Champion design-for-configurability, total cost of ownership, and regulatory strategy considerations from the earliest stages of development.

• Ensure products are designed for serviceability (ease to install, configure, upgrade), partnering with Service/Operations to incorporate field feedback early.

• Ensure products are designed to be secure, including cyber security and data privacy requirements, working with relevant security/compliance stakeholders across the lifecycle.

Product lifecycle management in alignment with overall department structure

• Own the full device lifecycle from concept and market entry through growth, maturity, and end-of-life planning.

• Define launch strategies in partnership with Marketing, Sales, and regional teams, including go-to-market approach, pricing, positioning, and key opinion leader engagement.

• Monitor post-launch performance against defined KPIs (revenue, margin, market share, customer satisfaction) and drive corrective actions where needed.

• Continuously validate post-launch whether the solution improves ECP guidance quality, consultation pathway selection, workflow consistency and consumer conversion across different device setups and store environments.

• Plan and execute product refresh, extension, and phase-out decisions, managing inventory implications in conjunction with Supply Chain and Finance.

Team leadership & people management

• Directly recruit, develop, and manage a team of Product Managers responsible for product implementation across geographies and customer segments.

• Set clear objectives, provide regular feedback, and build individual development plans that grow product management capability within the team.

• Foster a high-performance culture grounded in customer focus, analytical rigor, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Act as an indirect leader and integrating force for the extended cross-functional team – including product development engineers, supply chain managers, regulatory specialists, and clinical affairs – ensuring shared ownership of category outcomes.

Cross-functional collaboration & stakeholder management

• Serve as the primary interface between the Consultations category and global functions including Product Development, Operations, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Affairs, Marketing, and Sales.

• Partner with device, connectivity platform, clinical, workflow and UX stakeholders to ensure measurement data from different in-store devices can be translated into meaningful consultation guidance for ECPs.

• Partner with Regulatory Affairs to ensure all Consultation Software Solutions in the portfolio are developed and maintained in compliance with applicable requirements (FDA, EU MDR, ISO 10937, and relevant national standards).

• Collaborate with Clinical Affairs to define clinical evidence requirements and support generation of data that strengthens the clinical and commercial position of the portfolio.

• Present category strategy, portfolio performance, and investment cases to executive leadership and governance bodies.

Education / Professional Certification

Preferred level of education (unskilled/vocational training/bachelor/university degree); preferred Institutes if any.

• Degree in Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, or a related technical/scientific discipline; MBA or equivalent business qualification is an advantage.

Experience

• 7-10 years of progressive experience in product management, portfolio management, or category leadership within medical/ophthalmic devices or vision care.

• Proven track record owning and growing a product portfolio across the full lifecycle (sourcing, development oversight, launch and lifecycle optimization).

• Leadership experience managing Product Managers and influencing senior stakeholders in a global matrix organization.

• International launch experience across multiple geographies (e.g., EMEA, APAC, Americas) is preferred.

• Experience defining or managing digital workflow solutions that use anamnesis and measurement data to support clinical or commercial decision guidance, ideally in device-agnostic retail or healthcare environments.

Knowledge / Skills / Other characteristics

• Strong analytical and financial acumen; able to build business cases, manage P&L-related metrics and use data to drive decisions.

• Solid understanding of regulatory pathways and quality systems relevant to ophthalmic devices (e.g., FDA 510(k), EU MDR, ISO standards; ISO 13485).

• Excellent communication and executive stakeholder management; able to present strategy and performance to senior leadership and engage clinical stakeholders.

• Strong understanding of ECP consultation workflows, including how anamnesis, measurement data, device interoperability and workflow context can be translated into guided consultation recommendations.

• Fluent in English; additional languages are an asset.

Preferred experience

• Direct experience with refraction, centration, visual acuity testing, or ophthalmic diagnostic device categories and consultation software.

• Familiarity with integrated refraction, centration workflow platforms and digital health solutions for eye care professionals.

• Familiarity with device-agnostic data integration concepts and consultation decision-support workflows that guide ECPs through the consumer journey from anamnesis to recommendation.

• Experience engaging with eye care professionals (ECPs), optometrists, and ophthalmologists as primary customers or stakeholders.

• International product launch experience across multiple geographies including EMEA, APAC, or Americas.

• Experience in a global matrix organization with cross-cultural team leadership.

Knowledge / Skills / Other characteristics

Any Special Knowledge/Skill that is required for the function

• Sets direction with clarity and translates long-term category ambition into executable plans.: Strategic Vision

• Grounds every decision in a deep understanding of unmet customer and patient needs.: Customer Centricity

• Holds self and others accountable; takes ownership and removes obstacles to deliver outcomes.: Drive for Results

• Builds trust and aligns diverse stakeholders without relying on hierarchical authority.: Cross-Functional Influence

• Invests meaningfully in team capability, coaching and stretching talent across the organization.: Developing Others

• Makes evidence-based decisions; comfortable with complexity, ambiguity, and market data.: Analytical Rigor

• Experience in delivering projects on time and within budget, optimizing processes for resource efficiency.: Complex Project Management

Working conditions & Other Attributes.

List working conditions, health parameters, any other (legally) required information

• Willingness to travel internationally and work effectively across multiple time zones.

• Hybrid working conditions in line with local policies and business needs.

Your ZEISS Recruiting Team:

Itishree Pani