Retail Project Manager/Extended Reality (Japan)

About ZEISS

The ZEISS Group traces its origins to 1846, when founder Carl Zeiss established a precision mechanics and optics workshop in Jena, Germany. What began as a small workshop has grown into a global leader in optical and optoelectronic technology.

In Japan, ZEISS has been a trusted partner since 1911. Today, Carl Zeiss Co., Ltd. operates with approximately 400 employees across five locations, delivering cutting-edge solutions and dedicated service to customers nationwide.

ZEISS Japan serves as a strategic partner across diverse industries—including semiconductors, automotive, mechanical engineering, biomedical research, and medical technology. We are also a leading manufacturer of eyeglass lenses, camera lenses, and binoculars, bringing precision optics into everyday life.

Role & Responsibilities

The Extended Reality Product & Marketing Manager   is responsible for   the localization and translation of global XR solutions into a clear market offer,   a strong   local customer experience, and effective commercial execution in the market. The role connects   global   XR strategy with local implementation by aligning cross-functional stakeholders, supporting rollout readiness, and driving adoption across online and offline channels.  

• Lead or support go-to-market planning, including launch readiness, channel activation,   system set-up,   marketing   coordination, and cross-functional execution.  

• Conduct market, customer, competitor, and operational analysis   and   identify   adoption barriers, localization needs,   market   constraints   and operational gaps   

• Translate market insights into recommendations for product roadmap, commercialization priorities, and market improvement actions  

• Develop and adapt product positioning, messaging, and value propositions for the local market in alignment with the global XR   team  

• Align cross-functional local stakeholders, including sales, marketing,   operations,   commercial,   customer service, and regulatory  

• Local project management for market enablement incl. tracking readiness, launch progress, and execution qualit y  

• Lead coordination of   the local rollout of online journey  

• Steer offline retail enablement in the market, including ECP selection, onboarding, staff training, and quality audits.  

• Create sales enablement tools such as product narratives, training materials, launch toolkits, and competitive guidance for commercial teams.  

• Handle customer escalation cases in alignment with local stakeholders, for example customer service, regulatory, and marketing.  

• Monitor customer feedback, adoption performance, and business KPIs after launch, and refine local execution accordingly.  

• Lead implementation of local improvement initiatives and   informs   XRX about improvement needs.  

• Ensure close alignment with the   global   team to define support needs  

  Education / Professional   Certification  

• Bachelor’s or   Master’s degree in Business , Marketing, Digital Commerce, or related field  

Experience  

• 3 + years of   relevant professional   experience managing   omnichannel retail,   product marketing,   product management, online / offline retail , omnichannel operations,   project management , stakeholder management  

• Proven   track record   in   optical or health care industry a plus   

• Experience with international rollouts and omnichannel strategies  

• Optional: Experience with consumer tech, medical device, optical retail  

Knowledge   /   Skill s /   Other   characteristics  

• Proven   track record   in successfully managing multi-workstream initiatives or roadmap-related programs in a retail or B2B2C context  

• Experience managing local rollouts and coordinating cross-functional stakeholders in a matrix organization.  

• Strong understanding of product marketing fundamentals, including segmentation, positioning, messaging, launch planning, and go-to-market execution.  

• Excellent communication and cross-functional leadership skills; capable of influencing at multiple levels  

• Ability to   identify   operational gaps, localization needs, and market constraints and translate them into practical actions.  

• Strong stakeholder management skills across sales, marketing, customer service, regulatory, retail operations, and global teams.  

• Analytical mindset with the ability to track readiness, execution quality, launch performance, and customer issues in a structured way.  

• Optional: Experience in offline retail enablement, including partner or store onboarding, training coordination, and quality follow-up.  

• Commercial orientation, customer focus, and the ability to work effectively in fast-changing and ambiguous environments  

• Analytical and commercially minded; able to connect data-driven insights with strategic decision-making  

• Entrepreneurial and curious, comfortable navigating ambiguity and building new processes in a corporate environment  

• High degree of accountability and ownership – able to own topics end-to-end, make decisions within scope, and deliver results independently   

• Comfortable working in fast-changing, ambiguous settings and taking ownership to move topics forward  

• Strong verbal and written   Japanese &   English skills (C1-C2)  

Working   conditions   & Other Attributes.  

Hybrid working   

Holidays and Leave  

Paid Leave: 2–14 days in the first year, increasing to 21–25 days based on years of service  

Public Holidays: Approximately 125 days per year, including Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays, and year-end/New Year holidays (December 29–January 4).   Additional   special leave for celebrations and bereavement.  

Working Hours  

Standard Hours: 9:00–17:30 (including 1-hour break; 7.5 hours of actual work per day)  

Overtime: Required based on business needs; overtime allowance provided  

Benefits  

Celebration/condolence allowance, retirement benefit plan, defined contribution pension, cafeteria point system  

Transportation allowance: Up to ¥50,000/month  

Insurance: Employment insurance, workers' compensation insurance, health insurance, group life insurance  

Welfare club membership, household medicine discounts, flu vaccination subsidy, eyewear purchase discount  

Company club activities  

Smoking policy: Smoke-free premises  

Contract Period  

Permanent (indefinite term)  

Probation Period  

3 months (may be extended up to 6 months; no change in terms and conditions)  

Work Location  

Osaka Office   or   Rinku  

Scope of change: Any ZEISS location nationwide  

Business Travel  

Required  

Compensation  

Annual Salary: ¥5,500,000–¥7,500,000 (including bonus and allowances; based on skills and experience)  

Monthly Salary: ¥400,000–¥520,000  

Bonus: Yes  

Salary Increase: Yes  

Your ZEISS Recruiting Team:

Ami Takeno （竹野 碧海）, Hiroko Okuda （奥田 裕子 - オクダ ヒロコ）, Hisayo Kemmotsu （剱物 ひ沙代）, Maho Hatabayashi （畑林 真帆 - ハタバヤシ マホ）