Global Category Development Manager

HOYA is one of the world’s largest eyeglass lens manufacturers. The company aims to expand this category in close collaboration with its customers. By translating data into compelling insights decks and personalized selling stories, the Global Category Development Manager plays a crucial role in realizing this ambition.

About HOYA

Many eyeglass wearers have HOYA lenses, often without being aware of it. This aligns with the humble, no-nonsense culture of the Japanese-origin company, where product and quality take precedence. With their vast wealth of knowledge and expertise, HOYA provides eye care specialists with the necessary support to deliver the best eye care and service to their customers and patients. For over eighty years, the company has been dedicated to safeguarding and assisting eyeglass wearers throughout their lives. HOYA employs over 35,000 people worldwide, operating in 160 offices and subsidiaries. Around 150 employees are based at the company’s global hub in Amsterdam.

Customer & Shopper Marketing Team
The newly established Global Customer & Shopper Marketing team plays a pivotal role in HOYA’s ongoing pursuit of maintaining its leadership position in eye care. This team operates within the Global Marketing department, reports directly to the CMO, and maintains a close collaboration with Sales. The team’s primary goal is to promote category growth by providing customers – primarily independent opticians and retail chains – with insights into the category and shopper behavior. They aim to identify growth opportunities and determine the most effective strategies to capitalize on them. This team translates global company strategies into pragmatic highly personalized customer needs and is a collaborative effort between global teams, like brand, category and comms, and the local marketing and sales teams in the many markets in which HOYA is active.

Vacancy: Global Category Development Manager

In HOYA’s new approach, the customer and shopper take center stage. For the Global Category Development Manager, this customer-centric focus is the foundation of everything they do. Their primary goal is to ensure that all HOYA customers have a comprehensive understanding of their shoppers. They stay attuned to what’s happening on the shop floor and are in tune with consumer needs, translating these insights into an assortment, presentation, activation, and channel strategies that align best with them.

The Global Category Development Manager collects data from various sources, striving to gather as much information as possible. When certain data isn’t readily available, they display creativity and resourcefulness in obtaining the necessary information. The Global Category Development Manager doesn’t conduct research themselves, but they collaborate closely with the global research department. Their role involves collecting and translating data and research into valuable analyses and insights, resulting in customized retail advice and sales narratives.

“In our industry, there’s room for much smarter utilization of big data. As Category Development Manager, you can be the trailblazer, adding significant value for our customers and their shoppers.” – Marjolein Offerein-Fikkers, Global Strategic Customer & Shopper Marketing Director

The ideal candidate is a commercial data cruncher who can convincingly craft and convey a story, both to colleagues through training and workshops, as well as to customers they visit. These visits contribute to an even better understanding of what’s happening on the shop floor and to building an excellent customer relationship. This role is highly versatile, encompassing various responsibilities and domains, including category management, stakeholder management, and assortment strategy. It presents a great opportunity for a driven, entrepreneurial professional to make a difference, not only for HOYA and its customers but for an entire category.

Interested?

HOYA is working with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, please contact Marc Mohr at marc.mohr@topofminds.com.