Head of Procedure Growth:
The Head of Procedure Growth Ophthalmology (Carl Zeiss Meditec India) will own the clinical-commercial engine of the Ophthalmology SBU — driving surgical platform adoption, building surgeon-level procedure preference, and converting equipment placements into a sustainable consumable annuity that underpins the SBU’s long-term revenue model.
This is the most clinically demanding commercial leadership role in the organization. It requires someone who is equally credible in an operating theatre supporting a senior surgeon and in a boardroom presenting a consumable revenue plan.
Purpose of the Role:
- Own surgical procedure adoption across phaco, vitreoretinal, and refractive segments — driving platform utilization, clinical workflow integration, and surgeon preference through OT-level clinical presence and structured engagement programs.
- Own consumable revenue as a primary P&L accountability — not as a downstream outcome of capital sales, but as a managed commercial line with its own targets, contract architecture, and recovery programs.
- Build and lead the sales and application specialist team —Surgical Sales and Application Specialists, and Consumable Specialists — as the OT-level commercial force that converts equipment placements into long-term procedure partnerships.
- Act as the clinical-commercial bridge between surgical science and revenue outcomes — ensuring that every clinical relationship, OT visit, and education program is connected to a defined commercial objective and tracked to a commercial outcome.
Key Responsibilities :
1. Consumable Revenue Ownership
- Own consumable revenue as a standalone P&L line with full accountability — target trajectory from current baseline toward xx% of surgical segment revenue over 36 months.
- Conduct a complete installed base audit within the first 60 days — mapping every ZEISS surgical platform in India against consumable attach status, current consumable brand in use, and annualized consumable revenue per account.
- Design and negotiate consumable commitment agreements — 12 to 24 month contracted consumable supply tied to service agreements or equipment arrangements — converting transactional consumable revenue into contracted annuity.
- Coordinate with the Head of Key Accounts and Regional Sales Head to ensure every equipment placement in any account has a consumable conversion plan activated within 60 days of installation — equipment placement without consumable follow-through is an incomplete commercial outcome.
- Track consumable attach rate by account, by platform, and by region — identify declining attach rates before they appear in revenue data and intervene with a clinical or commercial recovery action.
- Provide monthly consumable revenue reporting to the SBU head — covering revenue vs. target, attach rate trends, recovery program status, and contracted annuity pipeline.
2. Surgical Procedure Adoption — Phaco and Vitreoretinal
- Own phaco / DORC Vitro platform utilization per installed machine — track utilization data account by account against benchmark, identify underutilization patterns, and design clinical improvement programs that address the root cause.
- Build and lead the Surgical Sales & Clinical Application Specialist team — deploying specialists in priority accounts with the mandate of clinical partnership, not product demonstration; specialists are evaluated on utilization improvement and consumable attach, not visit frequency.
- Develop and execute surgeon-level procedure engagement programs for phaco — technique optimization clinics, outcomes data sharing, consumable quality argumentation, and case support that builds clinical dependency on ZEISS consumable quality.
- Own the vitreoretinal procedure business — drive VR platform adoption and consumable penetration among the top 30 vitreoretinal surgeons in India;
- Coordinate with the Head of Key Accounts on ZEISS Cataract Suite adoption in anchor accounts — workflow integration from IOL Master biometry through CALLISTO surgical planning to AT IOL implantation is the deepest switching cost ZEISS can build; this role owns the clinical workflow integration component.
- Work with the Head of IOL Business to ensure phaco platform and IOL relationships are commercially coordinated in shared accounts — a surgeon using ZEISS phaco should be a priority IOL conversion target; a surgeon committed to ZEISS IOL should be a priority phaco utilization improvement target.
3. Refractive Procedure Development
- Own VisuMax SMILE procedure volume growth — the refractive segment is a premium niche where procedure support, outcomes data, and patient pathway optimization are the primary commercial drivers.
- Drive SMILE adoption among the refractive surgeons — structured procedure support programs, India-specific outcomes data, comparative clinical evidence, and patient conversion toolkit development.
- Manage refractive Practice development consultants — deploying and developing a small, high-quality team focused on depth of engagement with priority refractive surgeons rather than broad coverage.
4. Drive Premium Workflow adoption
- Own Premium Workflow installations across the country.
- Pre-Sales Technical & Clinical Consultation: Deliver expert technical guidance and compelling product demonstrations to assist customers in selecting workflow solutions, aligning product benefits with clinical workflows and patient outcomes to drive successful deal closures.
- Value-Based Solution Selling: Engage in superior technical and clinical discussions with customers to identify pain points and deliver tailored solutions that drive premiumization and workflow sales.
5. ZEISS Surgical Education and Fellowship Programs
- Own the surgical education component of ZEISS Academy India — wet labs, simulation programs, structured surgical curricula for phaco and VR, and hands-on training programs.
- Design and launch the ZEISS Surgical Fellowship Program — targeting a first cohort of 6 to 8 surgeon fellows in phaco and VR in Year 1, creating a long-term clinical advocacy and reference network.
- Coordinate with the Head of Strategic Marketing and Professional Education on the overall ZEISS Academy India calendar — this role owns the surgical clinical content and quality; Marketing owns the program design, surgeon experience, and advocacy architecture.
6. Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Attend and contribute to the Weekly SBU commercial review — own the surgical and consumables segment, presenting utilization trends, consumable attach progress, recovery program status, and clinical activation updates requiring commercial follow-through.
- Ensure every clinical activation — OT specialist visit, surgical support case, fellowship placement, or consumable trial — is logged in CRM within 24 hours and handed off to the relevant commercial head within 48 hours with full context and commercial readiness information
- Respond to commercial blocker requests from the Head of Key Accounts and Regional Sales Head within 5 working days — deploy OT specialist support, clinical evidence packages, or personal clinical engagement as required to unblock commercially stalled situations.
7. Governance, Compliance, and Reporting
- Ensure all clinical specialist / Practice development consultants / Premium workflow specialist activities comply with ZEISS policies, MCI guidelines on healthcare professional engagement, local healthcare regulations, and ethical standards.
- Maintain accurate documentation of clinical visits, surgical support cases, fellowship programs, and consumable contract negotiations.
- Provide structured monthly reporting to the SBU head — covering consumable revenue vs. target, attach rate by account and platform, recovery program progress, utilization trends, specialist team performance, and education program outcomes.
- Manage the procedure growth and consumables budget — tracking investment per program against commercial return, and actively reallocating from low-return activities to high-return ones on a rolling basis.
Qualifications and Experience
Education :
Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Optometry, or related field
MBA or postgraduate qualification in Business or Healthcare Management preferred
Experience
- 12 to 16 years of experience in ophthalmic medical devices with specific experience in surgical platforms, IOL, or consumables; ophthalmology-specific experience is non-negotiable — adjacent surgical experience in other specialties is insufficient for the clinical credibility this role requires
- Direct OT-level clinical application experience in phaco and ideally VR — has personally supported cataract and/or retinal surgical cases in a clinical capacity; this is verified through reference checks and is a hard requirement, not a preferred qualification
- Proven track record in consumable revenue management — has owned consumable attach rate targets, negotiated consumable contracts with hospital procurement, and managed consumable recovery programs with documented outcomes
- Demonstrated experience building and leading clinical specialist teams — minimum 6 to 8 specialists with evidence of team development, retention outcomes, and capability building programs
- Experience with surgical education program design and delivery — wet labs, fellowship programs, or structured clinical training that surgeons value on genuine clinical merit
- Prior experience in platform utilization management — has identified underutilized accounts, diagnosed root causes, and executed improvement programs with measurable consumable revenue outcomes