Director, Data Products

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.

The Director, Data Products is responsible for building and leading New Balance’s enterprise data product capabilities – ensuring that every digital product is underpinned by accurate, well‑governed, and business‑ready data. Reporting to the VP, Data & AI, this leader owns the strategy, team, and operating model that delivers data as a managed product with clear ownership, measurable quality, and defined consumers.

• Define and Drive the Data Products Strategy & Operating Model
• Establish the vision, principles and operating model for managing data as a product across New Balance.
• Define the portfolio of enterprise data products and ensure each has clear ownership, quality standards, service level expectations, and engaged consumers and stakeholders.
• Partner with consumers, digital product teams, and engineering to continuously evolve and embed the operating model.
• Lead Data Product Owners for Enterprise Data Domains
• Develop and maintain a clear data product vision and corresponding OKRs that align desired outcome across stakeholder groups.
• Partner with business owners and Digital Product Managers to understand priorities and uncover opportunities to build capabilities that increase adoption and deliver value.
• Build, prioritize, communicate, and champion data product roadmaps across Business Transformation, Engineering, and business stakeholder groups.
• Build a High Performing Team of Data Leads Supporting our Digital Products
• Manage the team of Data Leads supporting each Digital Product to embed data quality standards in products based on the framework established by the Enterprise Data Governance team.
• Build and embed the operating model for Data Leads to work with Digital Product Teams, Engineering, Data Product teams, Enterprise Data Governance, and Business Transformation programs.
• Champion data standards in agile quarterly planning, sprint planning, and retrospectives.
• Partner with Enterprise Data Governance, Platform, and Architecture teams to operationalize monitoring, alerting, and remediation workflows for data quality.
• Champion the use of AI to ensure data quality standards are met for Data & Digital Products.
• Measure and communicate data quality improvements to business stakeholders and executives to build trust in data.

• Strategic leadership:
  Demonstrated ability to translate enterprise strategy into an executable roadmap, define success measures, and drive sustained outcomes in a complex, cross‑functional environment.
• Retail and/or e‑commerce domain fluency:
  Experience delivering data capabilities that support consumer journeys and merchandising/commercial processes and partnering with digital product teams.
• AI enablement mindset:
  Working knowledge of AI/ML and GenAI concepts, including data readiness, evaluation/measurement, risk controls, human‑in‑the‑loop, monitoring, and translating business problems into data/AI solution approaches.
• Data integrity and governance capability:
  Experience partnering with governance, architecture, and engineering teams on data quality management, master/reference data concepts, metadata/catalog, lineage, privacy, and controls.
• Strong decision‑making and execution:
  Ability to synthesize complex and sometimes contradictory information, make timely recommendations, and drive execution through others.
• Exceptional communication and influence:
  Executive‑ready storytelling and facilitation skills; able to run business and technical briefings, align diverse stakeholders, and create a transparent flow of information across levels and functions.
• Collaboration and inclusion:
  Track record of building partnerships across organizational boundaries, creating an environment where diverse perspectives are…