Meet Our People: Yuri, Assistant Marketing Manager

Meet Yuri Saito. She joined Zuken in April 2018, after working for a Kyoto-based system integration company for almost 20 years. She is a working mom and a talented member of the marketing team based at Zuken headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. Recently, Yuri took some time out of her busy schedule to chat with me and share her story and experiences at Zuken while balancing her career as a marketing manager with family life.

The Perfect Fit

My career started 22 years ago when I began working for a system integration company in Kyoto, Japan. While I was there, I gained experience working in different departments such as business planning, marketing, and human resources. My experiences working in these departments would later help me in my future career path.

When I became a first-time mom, I realized I wanted to work for a company closer to home to spend more time with my son. I also wanted to work for a software company with its own brand and a dominant market share in the EDA industry. Boy, did I get lucky when I found Zuken! It was and still is the perfect company for me. My office is now a 10-minute walk from my house, allowing me to spend more time with my two young children. And I genuinely enjoy my role in the marketing department promoting Zuken’s products and services to our global community. All in all, I think I hit a grand slam working at Zuken. I look forward to seeing where this opportunity takes me in the future within the company.

Creating Brochures, Reports, Web Content, and More

As an assistant marketing manager, my primary goal is to promote Zuken’s products and services to our customers, investors, and within our global community. Therefore, when I create our web content and company profile, I focus on explaining the value of Zuken. I am also responsible for educating and introducing our audience to the new solutions we provide, such as Model-Based Systems Engineering, to assist manufacturing for a connected world.

Each day brings different responsibilities; no two days are the same in my world. One day I am creating a company brochure or an annual report for our stakeholders. Then the next day I am working on designing our recruitment website for HR. I also have the opportunity to collaborate with our partners to more efficiently promote our marketing and public relations activities.

An exciting project I have enjoyed working on is creating a unique webpage that introduces the Digital Transformation solutions of Zuken group companies. With the global marketing team’s help, I am working towards making this web page available to all of our customers. I am also very proud of the video I created below to promote our brand and showcase the value of Zuken. It took many hours of hard work to develop the concept and design, and I am pleased with the end result. Have a look…

Working Together as a Team

I am fortunate to work with a great marketing team. I work with my manager Mamoru Hirayama, who is the director of marketing communications. When I create a website, I propose my idea to him, and he points me in the right direction so that I can make the content even better. I also enjoy working with my colleagues on big events like our Zuken Innovation World annual conference and Zuken Digital Sessions. Working collaboratively, we can help each other and produce great results as one team.

Cooking, Baking, Family, Friends, and More

When I’m not working, I enjoy spending time with my family. I have two children, ages 1 and 3, who keep me on my toes all day long. Even though I’m not a good cook, I still enjoy it because it refreshes my mind. I also like baking fruit cakes and sharing them with my friends when we get together.

Balancing Career with Family Life

I am fortunate to work for a company that supports my career and my family life. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, I only go into the office once or twice a week now. The rest of the time, I work from home. When I do go into the office, I check and respond to emails and review my to-do list for the day. Depending on what I have going on that day, I work on my projects and have meetings with our partner companies and team members. I usually leave my office before 17:00, so I can go home and spend time with my two young kids before it’s time to put them to sleep. Then, I review my to-do list for the following day, and call it a night.