Head of Vision Care Platform (f/m/x)

Step out of your comfort zone, excel and redefine the limits of what is possible. That's just what our employees are doing every single day – in order to set the pace through our innovations and enable outstanding achievements. After all, behind every successful company are many great fascinating people.

In a spacious modern setting full of opportunities for further development, ZEISS employees work in a place where expert knowledge and team spirit reign supreme. All of this is supported by a special ownership structure and the long-term goal of the Carl Zeiss Foundation: to bring science and society into the future together.

Join us today. Inspire people tomorrow.

Diversity is a part of ZEISS. We look forward to receiving your application regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion, philosophy of life, disability, age, sexual orientation or identity.

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Your Role

Platform Strategy & Architecture Leadership

As Head of Vision Care Platform you are responsible for defining and driving a cohesive, forward-looking technology vision and architectural strategy for Vision Care workflow platforms. This includes ensuring strong alignment with ZEISS global technology standards, product roadmaps, and long-term innovation objectives.

You will lead the design and evolution of cloud-native, containerized, microservices-based architectures that enable scalable, modular, and highly resilient digital workflows. A core accountability is the end-to-end ownership of the edge computing strategy, encompassing one-touch provisioning, remote lifecycle management, Zero Trust security principles, and cloud-based edge fleet management at global scale.

You will ensure seamless integration across heterogeneous environments, including precision optical and medical devices, retail and clinical systems, and enterprise platforms, thereby enabling consistent, secure, and high-quality user experiences across geographies.

Engineering Excellence & Platform Delivery

The Head of Vision Care Platform oversees end-to-end platform delivery, spanning architecture, design, implementation, deployment, and long-term operations. This includes establishing and institutionalizing robust DevSecOps practices, embedding security, quality, compliance, and automation by design across the entire software lifecycle.

You will be accountable for driving platform reliability, performance, observability, and cost efficiency across hybrid cloud and edge environments. Particular emphasis is placed on ensuring that all platforms meet data privacy, cybersecurity, and regulatory requirements relevant to healthcare and vision care ecosystems, while remaining adaptable to evolving compliance landscapes.

Technology Stack Ownership

The Head of Vision Care Platform maintains deep technical oversight and governance across the core technology stack, including:

• Hybrid cloud and on‑premise infrastructure environments

• Container orchestration platforms, including Kubernetes and associated ecosystems

• Windows and Linux operating systems across server and edge deployments

• CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure‑as‑code, and automated testing frameworks

This ownership ensures architectural consistency, technical debt management, and long-term sustainability of the platform ecosystem.

People Leadership and Engineering Culture

A critical dimension of this role is building, leading, and scaling high-performing engineering organizations. The position leads and mentors a team of Engineering Managers, with an overall span of approximately 20 engineers, fostering a culture of accountability, execution excellence, and continuous learning.

In this challenging role you are expected to develop future technical and people leaders, promote collaboration and knowledge sharing, and model hands-on technical leadership through architectural reviews, complex problem-solving, and critical decision-making. The role actively attracts, develops, and retains top engineering talent aligned with ZEISS values and standards of excellence.

Stakeholder Engagement & Global Collaboration

The Head of Vision Care Platforms partners closely with global ZEISS R&D organizations, product management, and business stakeholders to translate complex business and workflow requirements into scalable, platform-level capabilities.

Serving as a trusted technology advisor to Vision Care leadership, the role ensures transparency, alignment, and effective decision-making across global, matrixed teams, while balancing regional needs with global platform consistency.

Your Profile

• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline

• 15+ years of experience in software engineering and platform leadership, with demonstrated success in managing managers and scaling engineering organizations

• Deep hands-on expertise in cloud-native microservices, containerization, large-scale edge deployments, DevSecOps, and secure distributed systems with high availability and observability

• Prior experience in healthcare, med‑tech, industrial IoT, retail technology, or workflow platform environments is strongly preferred

• Experience operating within global, matrixed R&D organizations is a significant advantage

• Proven ability to balance hands-on technical depth with strategic leadership responsibilities

• Outcome-driven, with a strong passion for building platforms that enable measurable business growth

The position can be based in Aalen (Germany), Guangzhou (China), or Bangalore (India).