Sales Director

1. Commercial Strategy & Business Leadership

• Develop and execute short-term, mid-term, and long-term commercial strategies aligned with CooperVision's global, regional, and Japan business objectives.
• Own and deliver revenue, market share, profit, and customer growth targets.
• Lead development of annual and multi-year business plans across key customer segments and channels.
• Identify emerging market opportunities, competitive threats, and changing customer needs to drive business growth.
• Establish clear sales objectives, forecasts, and performance metrics, ensuring robust sales execution and accountability.
• Drive commercial innovation and new business models to accelerate sustainable growth.

2. Multi-Channel Sales Leadership

• Lead all customer-facing sales organizations across:
  • Key Accounts
  • National Sales
  • Strategic New Channels
• Optimize channel mix and customer investments to maximize customer lifetime value and return on investment.
• Expand distribution opportunities by identifying and onboarding new strategic partners and accounts.
• Drive excellence in customer execution, sell-in, sell-through, and customer development programs.
• Build differentiated customer plans that create competitive advantage and long-term partnerships.

3. Key Account & Customer Relationship Management

• Own executive relationships with strategic customers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and professional networks.
• Lead major customer negotiations, contract renewals, pricing discussions, and annual business planning processes.
• Establish Joint Business Plans with key accounts to drive mutual growth and value creation.
• Position CooperVision as a trusted long-term business partner through strong customer engagement and collaboration.
• Ensure customer satisfaction and support high-quality execution across all customer touchpoints.

4. Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Lead integrated Customer Business Teams in partnership with:
  • Marketing
  • Commercial Operations
  • Finance
  • Supply Chain
  • Regional and Global Teams
• Align sales plans with:
  • Product launches
  • Promotional activities
  • Pricing strategies
  • Demand planning
  • Inventory management
  • Customer engagement initiatives
• Provide market and customer insights to influence company strategy and investment decisions.

5. Commercial Excellence & Digital Transformation

• Drive data-driven decision making through effective use of analytics, dashboards, CRM systems, and KPI management.
• Improve forecasting accuracy and sales productivity.
• Implement best practices across sales operations, performance management, customer planning, and field execution.
• Continuously challenge the status quo and identify opportunities to improve organizational effectiveness.

6. Leadership & People Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing sales organization while fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous growth.
• Build strong organizational capability and succession pipelines by attracting, developing, and retaining top talent.
• Create and communicate a compelling vision for the future of the CooperVision Japan sales organization, inspiring teams around long-term growth opportunities and strategic priorities.
• Lead organizational transformation by challenging existing assumptions, driving change adoption, and building a future-ready commercial organization.
• Demonstrate an ownership mindset by delivering results despite ambiguity, resource constraints, and market challenges, while maintaining a strong focus on solutions and business outcomes.
• Demonstrate courage to make difficult decisions, elevate performance standards, and adapt leadership approaches based on feedback, learning, and evolving business needs.
• Serve as a role model for CooperVision values and leadership behaviors.

7. Financial & Operational Management

• Own sales budget management, forecasting, and resource allocation.
• Ensure effective deployment of commercial investments for maximum business impact.
• Review business performance regularly and implement corrective actions where necessary.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, contract governance requirements, legal standards, and industry regulations.
• Maintain strong business controls while supporting growth initiatives.

The Sales Director leads one of the largest and most strategically important functions within CooperVision Japan. The role carries responsibility for delivering commercial results across multiple channels and customer segments while developing a high-performing organization capable of sustaining long-term market leadership.

Success requires balancing strategic vision with operational excellence, influencing enterprise-wide decisions, and building strong partnerships with customers, employees, and internal stakeholders.

• Strong commercial and business acumen.

• Demonstrated track record of delivering significant sales growth.

• Exceptional strategic thinking and execution capability.

• Excellent negotiation and customer relationship management skills.

• Strong analytical skills with ability to translate data into actionable insights.

• Experience leading large, complex organizations and organizational transformation.

• Proven ability to build, develop, and retain top talent.

• Ability to influence across functions, cultures, and organizational levels.

• Strong executive presence and stakeholder management capability.

• Entrepreneurial mindset with a bias for action and problem solving.

• Exceptional organizational leadership and coaching capability.

• Strong presentation, communication, and storytelling skills.

• Excellent English and Japanese communication skills, both written and verbal.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, matrixed, multinational environment

• Demonstrated ownership mindset with a proven ability to deliver results despite ambiguity, resource constraints, and market challenges, while maintaining a strong focus on solutions, accountability, and business outcomes.

• Demonstrates learning agility, intellectual curiosity, and openness to new ideas, continuously adapting leadership approaches based on feedback, experience, and evolving business needs.

• Based in Tokyo, Japan.

• Regular travel within Japan.

• Periodic regional and global travel.

• Frequent interaction with APAC and Global leadership teams across multiple time zones.

• 20+ years of progressive experience in Sales, Key Account Management, Trade Marketing, Commercial Leadership, or related functions.

• Minimum 10 years leading large sales organizations (100+ employees preferred).

• Significant experience managing national and strategic customer relationships.

• Experience across multiple commercial channels including retail, key accounts, field sales, and e-commerce.

• Experience within healthcare, OTC, medical device, consumer healthcare, FMCG, or related industries preferred.

• Contact lens, ophthalmic, vision care, or medical products industry experience is advantageous but not required.

• Proven record of developing high-performing teams and achieving ambitious business goals.

• Bachelor's Degree required.

• MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred.

• International business exposure and/or overseas experience is advantageous.