The focus ring is at the front, zoom ring behind ... that used to be the "normal" position. Many Nikon zooms have the focus and zoom rings in reverse position, but there are still quite a few such as 14-24, 16-35, 18-35, 24-70, 70-200/4 and many of the DX zooms with the traditional layout.
Maybe worse is that the focus ring on Tamron lenses usually focuses the opposite direction from Nikkors, although they zoom in the same direction.