Product Owner, Data & Analytics

SunSource•Addison, IL

17h

About The Position

SunSource is seeking a Product Owner of Data and Analytics to lead the strategy, development, governance, and delivery of enterprise data, reporting, and advanced analytics. The role partners with executive, business, and technology leaders to understand enterprise objectives and build analytics capabilities that support growth, improve margin and operational excellence, and enhance decision-making. The Product Owner oversees the analytics ecosystem, including Power BI, Databricks, data modeling, data governance, data catalog, and master data management practices. They lead the BI Analysts, partner with Data Engineering teams, set direction, prioritize the roadmap, and ensure analytics solutions create enterprise value. As a member of the IT Leadership Team, the Product Owner contributes to IT strategy, governance, initiative prioritization, budget planning, and alignment with business strategy. The role includes leading the enterprise analytics strategy and product backlog; establishing reporting, semantic model, data definition, and quality standards; managing analytics teams, vendors, budgets, and delivery; and leading data governance and management practices. The position also serves as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, developing insights to improve growth, margin, customer experience, and operational efficiency. After-hours availability and travel are required.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Analytics, Computer Science, MIS, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field.
At least 5 years of experience in analytics, BI, or data engineering.
At least 2 years leading analytics teams.
Expert experience with Power BI, including DAX, semantic models, and visualization.
Experience serving as product owner for analytics or data-driven initiatives.
Strong Agile/Scrum leadership experience.
Excellent communication and executive presentation skills.
Ability to manage large program or project delivery from a tactical level and provide guidance to sponsors and leadership.
Ability to handle conflict resolution professionally.
Ability to influence without authority in a highly matrixed environment.
Ability to provide clarity in situations where things are not always clear.
Ability to use different communication methods and pivot quickly according to business needs.
After-hours availability and travel are required.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Databricks, SQL, and Lakehouse ETL/ELT pipelines.
Experience in Distribution or Manufacturing.

Responsibilities

Develop and own the enterprise analytics strategy, including a multi-year roadmap.
Serve as product owner for analytics, prioritize the backlog, and drive adoption.
Establish standards for reporting, semantic models, data definitions, and data quality.
Partner with business leaders to align analytics initiatives with strategic programs.
Define and manage KPIs, dashboards, and insights that support enterprise objectives.
Own the quality and consistency of enterprise reports and data.
Lead business teams on new capabilities to advance the business.
Lead a Data & Analytics Steering Committee to prioritize and govern investments in support of enterprise goals.
Lead, develop, and coach the BI Analyst team responsible for reporting, dashboards, UX design, and business insights.
Align reporting, engineering, governance, and business stakeholders.
Develop team structure and goals and foster a high-performance analytics culture.
Manage and build third-party vendor partnerships for analytics delivery.
Manage and optimize the BI & Analytics budget.
Lead Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, standups, and retrospectives.
Manage capacity planning and ensure timely delivery of analytics solutions.
Improve development processes, automation, testing, and documentation.
Establish and lead the organization's data governance program.
Define enterprise data standards, data quality policies, and metadata practices.
Partner with business units to improve ownership of master data domains.
Ensure scalable, governed data models support enterprise-wide reporting.
Improve trust, lineage, and transparency of enterprise data.
Understand distribution business areas including pricing, margin, inventory, and sales.
Develop insights that improve growth, margin, customer experience, and operational efficiency.
Advise senior leaders on analytics opportunities and impact.
Manage large program or project delivery at a tactical level and provide guidance to sponsors and leadership where needed.
Resolve conflict professionally, influence without authority in a matrixed environment, clarify ambiguous situations, and adapt communication methods to business needs.
Be available after hours and travel as required.