Project Manager - Master Data

Description

The Project Manager, Master Data leads cross-functional initiatives that improve the accuracy, governance, flow, and integrity of product and enterprise data across the full product lifecycle.

This role sits at the intersection of project management, data governance, and industry-specific business process knowledge. The successful candidate must understand how product data is created upstream and how those decisions impact downstream business functions and systems.

This includes the full lifecycle from product creation, sourcing, costing, vendor management, and purchasing through logistics, receiving, inventory, fulfillment, planning, merchandising, pricing, and sales channels.

This is a hands-on, high-visibility individual contributor role that will partner closely with Product Development, Sales, Planning, Merchandising, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, and IT. The Project Manager will lead initiatives designed to eliminate data silos, improve data quality, strengthen governance, and ensure that product and master data support the business consistently from product initiation through fulfillment.

Requirements

Project Management & Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead master data, data governance, and business process improvement projects from discovery and requirements gathering through implementation, testing, go-live, and stabilization.
• Develop project plans, timelines, milestones, dependencies, risks, and deliverables while coordinating stakeholders across multiple business functions.
• Facilitate cross-functional discussions to identify data and process issues spanning Product Development, Merchandising, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Planning, Operations, Finance, and IT.
• Translate business requirements into clearly defined data standards, process improvements, system requirements, and measurable outcomes.
• Manage User Acceptance Testing (UAT), issue resolution, stakeholder communication, and change management for data-related system and process initiatives.
• Identify dependencies between upstream product data decisions and downstream operational processes and systems.

End-to-End Product & Master Data Governance

• Manage and improve the flow of product and master data across the complete product lifecycle, from initial product creation through sourcing, costing, purchasing, logistics, receiving, inventory, fulfillment, and sales.
• Establish and enforce data governance standards, naming conventions, ownership rules, validation requirements, and data-quality controls.
• Ensure product information is complete, accurate, timely, and structured appropriately before moving downstream into ERP, planning, inventory, compliance, and sales systems.
• Identify and resolve data silos, duplicate data, inconsistent attributes, and process gaps that create downstream operational issues.
• Support the development of a reliable “single source of truth” for key product and enterprise data.
• Partner with business teams to define ownership and accountability for data creation, maintenance, validation, and approval.

Product Lifecycle & Supply Chain Data

• Understand and manage data requirements associated with product creation, including style/item setup, SKU structure, color, size, attributes, costing, sourcing, vendors, country of origin, compliance, and purchasing.
• Evaluate how data captured during product initiation and sourcing affects downstream ERP, planning, inventory, logistics, ecommerce, wholesale, and retail processes.
• Help establish product data structures that support multiple customers, channels, and business models without creating unnecessary downstream limitations.
• Partner with Sourcing, Merchandising, Product Development, Operations, and Supply Chain teams to improve upstream data quality before purchase orders and downstream transactions are created.
• Support initiatives involving vendor data, imports, product documentation, compliance requirements, and organizational or legal-entity changes that affect product and supply-chain information.

Data Quality & Continuous Improvement

• Establish and monitor data-quality KPIs related to completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and consistency.
• Conduct data audits and validations to identify recurring issues and areas of operational risk.
• Perform root-cause analysis on data problems and implement sustainable process or system improvements rather than relying on manual corrections.
• Identify opportunities to automate data entry, validation, approval, and maintenance processes.
• Develop reporting and dashboards that provide visibility into data-quality trends, exceptions, and remediation efforts.
• Create and document repeatable processes, controls, and governance procedures.

Systems & Technology

• Work across PLM, ERP, master data, planning, inventory, compliance, and adjacent business systems supporting the product lifecycle.
• Serve as a business-facing data and process lead for systems including NetSuite, PLM/WFX, and related product-data platforms.
• Partner with IT and system owners on enhancements, integrations, upgrades, testing, defect resolution, and roadmap initiatives.
• Evaluate how information flows between upstream product systems and downstream ERP, planning, supply-chain, inventory, and reporting environments.
• Support future master-data capabilities involving platforms such as PIM, DAM, MDM, reporting, and integration tools where appropriate.

Success Measures

• Improved accuracy, completeness, and consistency of product and enterprise master data.
• Fewer downstream errors caused by incomplete or inaccurate upstream product information.
• Improved on-time completion of product, item, vendor, sourcing, and attribute setup.
• Reduced manual intervention and rework across Planning, Merchandising, Operations, and Supply Chain.
• Reduced data silos and improved consistency between PLM, ERP, and downstream business systems.
• Successful delivery of cross-functional data and process improvement initiatives.
• Improved visibility into data-quality issues through measurable KPIs and reporting.
• Stronger ownership and accountability for master data across business functions.

Qualifications & Experience

• 4+ years of experience in master data, product data, data governance, business transformation, supply-chain systems, or related project/program management.
• Required experience within apparel, footwear, textiles, fashion, consumer products, or a comparable retail environment.
• Demonstrated understanding of the end-to-end product lifecycle, including product creation, sourcing, costing, vendors, purchasing, logistics, receiving, inventory, and fulfillment.
• Experience leading cross-functional projects involving both business and technology stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of how upstream product and master-data decisions affect downstream ERP, planning, supply-chain, inventory, and sales processes.
• Experience working with ERP, PLM, MDM, PIM, or related enterprise platforms.
• Experience with NetSuite and PLM/WFX is preferred but not required if the candidate has comparable ERP and PLM experience.
• Strong experience with data governance, data-quality management, business-process improvement, or master-data standards.
• Advanced Excel skills, including PivotTables, lookups, data validation, and analysis.
• Experience with SQL, Power BI, Tableau, or similar reporting and analytics tools is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, Supply Chain Management, Data Management, or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• PMP, Agile/Scrum, Lean Six Sigma, or similar project-management certification is a plus.

Core Competencies

• Strong project-management and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Deep understanding of business processes within product-driven retail or consumer-goods organizations.
• Ability to see data from an end-to-end business perspective rather than solely from a system or reporting perspective.
• Strong analytical and root-cause problem-solving capabilities.
• Exceptional attention to detail without losing sight of broader business objectives.
• Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable operating independently in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
• Strong facilitation skills and the ability to drive alignment across Merchandising, Sourcing, Planning, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance, and IT.