Optical Manager

JOB SUMMARYThe Optical Department Manager is responsible for the business performance, strategic growth, and long-term development of the optical service line across all Illinois Eye Center locations. This position serves as the business leader for the department, with a focus on financial performance, budgeting, retail and sales strategy, marketing, business development, vendor partnerships, merchandising, patient experience, and identifying opportunities to expand and enhance optical services. The manager uses data, market trends, and performance metrics to develop strategies that increase revenue, improve profitability, strengthen the patient experience, and support the continued growth of the optical service line.EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE· Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Healthcare Administration/Management, Retail Management, or a related field required.· Three to five (3-5) years of progressive experience in business operations, retail management, sales, marketing, healthcare operations, or a related business environment.· Demonstrated experience with budgeting, financial analysis, revenue growth, sales performance, and key performance indicator (KPI) reporting.· Demonstrated leadership experience managing people, projects, business functions, or multi-site operations.· Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office and the ability to learn practice management, point-of-sale, reporting, and other business systems.PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS· Experience leading a multi-location retail, healthcare, or consumer service business.· Experience developing and executing marketing, sales, or business-development strategies.· Experience with annual budgeting, forecasting, financial statements, and profit-and-loss performance.· Experience with vendor negotiations, purchasing strategy, merchandising, or product-line management.· Prior optical experience is not required. Optical products, terminology, workflows, insurance considerations, and industry-specific processes will be taught. ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES· Strong business acumen with the ability to connect operational decisions to revenue, expense, profitability, growth, and patient experience.· Knowledge of budgeting, forecasting, financial analysis, and performance reporting.· Knowledge of marketing principles, promotional strategy, customer engagement, and methods for measuring marketing effectiveness and return on investment.· Knowledge of retail and sales concepts, including pricing, merchandising, product mix, sales goals, conversion, and customer experience.· Ability to analyze data and trends, identify business opportunities, develop recommendations, and translate findings into measurable action plans.· Strong strategic planning, project management, problem-solving, and critical-thinking skills.· Excellent leadership, verbal and written communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.· Ability to lead through a supervisor by establishing clear expectations, defining accountability, providing resources, and supporting leadership development.· Strong negotiation and relationship-management skills with vendors, laboratories, business partners, providers, and organizational leaders.· Ability to prioritize competing initiatives and maintain focus on both short-term results and long-term service-line development.· Commitment to exceptional patient and customer service, continuous improvement, and a strong retail experience within a healthcare environment.· Ability and willingness to learn optical products, services, terminology, and industry considerations necessary to make informed business decisions.· Ability to maintain confidentiality, exercise sound judgment, and support HIPAA and organizational compliance requirements.ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES· Provide strategic business leadership, direction, and accountability for the optical service line across all Illinois Eye Center locations.· Develop and maintain an annual optical business plan with defined goals, growth initiatives, performance measures, owners, and timelines.· Develop the annual department budget and monitor monthly financial performance, including revenue, expenses, margin, labor, inventory investment, variances, and corrective actions.· Analyze key business metrics and trends, including sales, revenue, gross margin, optical capture rate, average transaction value, product mix, discounting, inventory turns, labor expense, patient behavior, and service concerns.· Identify opportunities to grow revenue, improve profitability, increase patient utilization of optical services, and enhance the overall service line.· Develop growth strategies for existing services and evaluate opportunities for new products, programs, technologies, locations, partnerships, or service offerings.· Partner with organizational marketing resources to develop and execute an annual optical marketing plan, including promotions, campaigns, events, patient communications, digital initiatives, and community outreach.· Evaluate the effectiveness of marketing and promotional initiatives using defined measures such as engagement, conversion, sales results, utilization, and return on investment.· Develop strategies to strengthen internal awareness and utilization of optical services among Illinois Eye Center patients, providers, and clinical teams.· Establish retail and sales strategies that support a high-quality patient experience while achieving department revenue and growth goals.· Oversee product assortment, pricing strategy, merchandising standards, promotional structure, and product positioning to ensure the department remains competitive and aligned with patient needs.· Monitor market, consumer, retail, and industry trends and use findings to recommend changes that strengthen the optical business.· Manage vendor and laboratory business relationships, including contract review, pricing, rebates, discounts, service expectations, and negotiation of favorable terms.· Provide strategic oversight of inventory investment, purchasing approach, product mix, and inventory controls while partnering with the Optician Supervisor on day-to-day execution.· Evaluate new vendors, products, services, and technologies based on patient value, operational impact, financial return, and alignment with department strategy.· Establish patient experience and service standards for the optical department and use feedback, complaints, service recovery trends, and satisfaction data to identify improvement opportunities.· Directly supervise, mentor, and support the Optician Supervisor; establish clear goals and expectations, provide feedback, and ensure the supervisor has the resources and authority needed to lead daily operations effectively.· Maintain a clear division of responsibilities in which the Optician Supervisor manages day-to-day staff scheduling, coverage, workflow, staff mentorship, education, and frontline operational support, while the manager focuses on business performance, strategy, growth, and broader department direction.· Oversee workforce planning, labor targets, headcount needs, and staffing models from a business and budget perspective while partnering with the Optician Supervisor on operational implementation.· Participate in hiring decisions and leadership development while supporting the Optician Supervisor in staff onboarding, training, and performance management.· Maintain effective relationships with providers, clinical leaders, finance, marketing, human resources, organizational leadership, laboratories, vendors, and other business partners to advance optical department goals.· Generate and review routine business and financial reports and communicate results, opportunities, risks, and recommendations to the Chief Operating Officer.· Ensure business practices support Illinois Eye Center policies and procedures, patient confidentiality, regulatory requirements, and appropriate financial controls.· Participate in leadership, department, provider, and organizational meetings as required and travel between office locations as needed to support business initiatives and service-line development.· Communicate promptly and professionally through email, Slack, and other designated communication platforms.· Perform other duties as assigned to support practice operations and the continued growth and development of the optical service line.