Senior Manager – Growth & Channel Marketing Manager

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.

Job purpose

The Sr. Manager – Growth & Channel Marketing Manager will be responsible for developing, executing, and scaling integrated marketing strategies across trade, channel, and partnership functions to drive transformative growth for Carl Zeiss India, Vision Care. This role will focus on maximizing brand presence, partner engagement, and channel performance through innovative marketing activations, strategic collaborations, and data-driven decision-making. The position will ensure alignment with business objectives and deliver best-in-class experiences for customers and partners across all touchpoints.

Main Accountabilities

• Strategic Leadership:
  Own end-to-end Go-to-Market planning for existing and new products, from launch strategy and channel readiness to field execution, performance review, and course correction across independent optical retail, hospital retail, national key accounts, and partnership programs.
• Channel & Trade Marketing:
  Develop and execute channel marketing plans, trade programs, and retail activations that improve premium lens mix, accelerate new product adoption, strengthen partner activation, and increase retail visibility across relevant customer segments.
• Partnership Program Management:
  Own marketing planning and execution for the business partner program, including flagship and mid-tier partner formats that require focused marketing support. Work cross-functionally to drive footfall generation, consumer engagement, commercial impact, and customer-facing NPS improvement for this customer group.
• Brand Custodianship:
  Plan and execute partner collaterals, in-store branding, campaign assets, co-branded communication, and retail activation initiatives in line with approved brand guidelines, working closely with the brand team for governance and approvals.
• In-Store Brand Experience:
  Lead initiatives that improve in-store consumer experience across the business partner program, with focused marketing support for flagship and mid-tier partner formats through merchandising, product storytelling, visibility, and experiential retail interventions.

• Eyewear Frames & Full Spectacle Marketing:
  Act as the central marketing SPOC for eyewear frames and full spectacle solutions. Collaborate with global teams on GTM strategy and own local execution with brand, trade, sales, and agency partners.
• Channel Schemes & Incentives:
  Own the full lifecycle of channel schemes and incentive programs, including design, internal approval, field communication, progress tracking, payout closure, and ROI review to drive partner motivation and measurable sales growth.
• Performance Analysis & Reporting:
  Monitor and analyze partner activation, premium mix movement, new product adoption, campaign ROI, scheme uptake, event ROI, retail visibility, and customer-facing NPS, providing actionable insights for continuous improvement.
• Budget & Calendar Ownership:
  Own the annual channel marketing calendar and budget plan as part of the overall marketing budget, ensuring quarterly phasing, effective resource allocation, timely execution, and reallocation based on performance and business priorities.
• Events and Engagement Programs:
  Plan and own the full funnel of B2B trade activations, customer meets, product launch events, exhibitions, optical engagement programs, and partner-facing initiatives as aligned with the marketing calendar.

Team Leadership:
Lead, coach, and develop direct reports, contract employees, and agency partners to build a high-performing execution culture with clear priorities, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration.

Job Specifications

• Education

• MBA from reputed B School

• Experience

• 8+ years overall experience in Sales and/or trade marketing with 4+ years in sales and distribution within consumer branding and retail environments

• Skills

• Strong Go-to-Market planning capability, including launch planning, channel readiness, field execution, performance review, and course correction.
• Proven channel and trade marketing capability across retail, distributor, key account, or partner-led business models.
• Strong commercial orientation with the ability to link marketing investments to premium mix, partner activation, new product adoption, retail visibility, and measurable ROI.
• Ability to design and execute retail activations, trade schemes, incentive programs, and partner-facing engagement initiatives.
• Understanding of retail visibility, merchandising, in-store communication, consumer journey, product storytelling, and point-of-sale activation.
• Strong analytical skills with comfort in sales data, dashboards, campaign ROI, scheme uptake, event ROI, customer-facing NPS, and  performance reviews.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills across sales, brand, finance, global teams, agencies, vendors, and external business partners.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to manage annual calendars, budgets, timelines, vendors, events, and multiple execution workstreams in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Creative problem-solving mindset with the ability to develop practical, scalable, and locally relevant marketing activations.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to create clear business presentations, field communication, and partner-facing messaging.
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint; comfort with CRM, reporting, or marketing automation tools will be an added advantage.
• Willingness to travel for partner meetings, retail visits, field reviews, launch activations, and events.
• Structured problem-solving ability and comfort working with ambiguity while balancing business priorities, field realities, and brand governance requirements

Your ZEISS Recruiting Team:

Itishree Pani