Digital Product Owner - Commercial Planning

Job description

Who We Are: Since 1906, New Balance has empowered people through sport and craftsmanship to create positive change in communities around the world. We innovate fearlessly, guided by our core values and driven by the belief that conventions were meant to be challenged. We foster a culture in which every associate feels welcomed and respected, where leaders and creatives are inspired to shape the world of tomorrow by taking bold action today. JOB MISSION: New Balance is seeking a highly motivated and strategic Digital Product Owner to lead our Commercial Planning technology products and capabilities. This individual will play a critical role in driving the evolution of our Demand Planning and Inventory Planning ecosystem, ensuring that technology investments deliver measurable business value while enabling reliable, scalable, and efficient planning processes. The Product Owner will partner closely with global planning leaders, business stakeholders, engineering teams, architects, and external partners to define product strategy, prioritize investments, and deliver technology solutions that improve planner productivity, data integrity, operational stability, and decision-making. This role will own the product roadmap and backlog for Commercial Planning capabilities and drive outcomes from concept through implementation and value realization. MAJOR ACCOUNTABILITIES: Product Strategy & Ownership Own and communicate the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for Commercial Planning capabilities. Align product priorities to business objectives, planning outcomes, and enterprise technology strategy. Define success metrics, business outcomes, and KPIs for product investments and continuously evaluate value realization. Product Delivery Translate business problems into epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, and prioritized backlog items. Lead the end-to-end product lifecycle from discovery and design through development, testing, release, adoption, and continuous improvement. Partner with engineering teams to evaluate solution alternatives, technical tradeoffs, scalability considerations, and implementation risks. Prioritize work across enhancements, defects, technical debt, data quality initiatives, and operational stability efforts. Stakeholder Partnership Serve as the primary liaison between Commercial Planning business teams and technology teams. Facilitate requirements gathering, discovery sessions, design reviews, backlog refinement, sprint planning, and release readiness activities. Develop trusted partnerships with planning leadership, product management, engineering, enterprise architecture, data teams, and external vendors. Communicate roadmap progress, deployment plans, risks, dependencies, and business impacts to stakeholders at all levels. Stability, Quality & Data Integrity Drive product improvements that increase platform reliability, user trust, and planning process effectiveness. Identify recurring incidents, manual workarounds, data quality concerns, and process inefficiencies, and convert them into prioritized product investments. Establish strong testing, validation, monitoring, and release management practices. Partner with teams across the technology ecosystem to improve data quality, integration reliability, and operational performance. Agile Product Leadership Maintain a healthy and prioritized product backlog aligned to strategic objectives. Work closely with delivery teams to ensure clear requirements, acceptance criteria, and business context. Participate in sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives, release planning, and roadmap governance forums. Ensure delivered solutions are measurable, usable, scalable, and aligned to business needs. REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESS: 5+ years of Product Owner, Product Manager, Business Systems, Supply Chain, Planning Systems, or related technology experience. Experience delivering enterprise technology products using Agile methodologies. Experience working with Planning, Supply Chain, Inventory Management, Demand Planning, Merchandising, Wholesale, Retail, or Consumer Products processes preferred. Experience with enterprise planning platforms such as o9, Blue Yonder, Kinaxis, SAP IBP, Anaplan, or similar solutions preferred. Experience with ERP systems, data integrations, master data, reporting platforms, and enterprise applications preferred. Strong product management mindset with the ability to define vision, strategy, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes. Ability to translate complex business challenges into actionable product requirements. Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a data-driven approach to decision making. Strong understanding of Agile principles, backlog management, and iterative product delivery. Demonstrated ability to balance competing priorities and make effective business and technology tradeoff decisions. Excellent facilitation, presentation, and stakeholder management skills. Strong written and verbal communication abilities. Ability to influence without direct authority across cross-functional teams. Comfortable operating in ambiguity and leading organizational change. Collaborative leader who builds trust and drives alignment across business and technology teams. Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain, Information Systems, Engineering, Computer Science, or related field. MBA, Product Management certification, Agile certification, or equivalent experience is a plus. Boston, MA Headquarters - (NB) Only Pay Range: $120,000.00 - $150,000.00 - $180,000.00 Annual (actual base pay varying based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, internal equity, geographic location, and more.) Regular Associate Benefits Our products are only as good as the people we hire, so we make sure to hire the best and treat them accordingly. New Balance offers a comprehensive traditional benefits package including three options for medical insurance as well as dental, vision, life insurance and 401K. We also proudly offer a slate of more nontraditional perks – opportunities like online learning and development courses, tuition reimbursement, $100 monthly student loan support and various mentorship programs – that encourage our associates to grow personally as they develop professionally. You’ll also enjoy a yearly $1,000 lifestyle reimbursement, 4 weeks of vacations, 12 holidays and generous parental leave, because work-life balance is more than just a buzzword – it’s part of our culture. Temporary associates are provided three options for medical insurance as well as dental and vision insurance and an associate discount. Part time associates are provided 401k, short term disability, a yearly $300 lifestyle reimbursement and an associate discount. Flexible Work Schedule For decades we have fostered a unique culture founded on our values with a particular focus on in-person teamwork and collaboration. Our North American hybrid model encourages rich in-person experiences, showcasing our commitment to teamwork and connection, while maintaining flexibility for associates. New Balance Associates currently work in office three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). Our offices are fully open, and amenities are available across our North American office locations. To continue our focus on hybrid work we have introduced “Work from Anywhere” (WFA) for four weeks per calendar year. This model will help us enhance our culture while continuing to maintain elements of flexibility. Equal Opportunity Employer New Balance provides equal opportunities for all current and prospective associates to ensure that employment, training, compensation, transfer, promotion and other terms, conditions and privileges of employment are provided without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, handicap, genetic information and/or status as an Armed Forces service medal veteran, recently separated veteran, qualified disabled veteran or other protected veteran, or any other protected status.