Sr. Business Analyst - Product
Location: St. Paul, MN - Onsite or Fully Remote
What is IP Corporation?
IP Corporation is a privately held, family-owned chemical manufacturing organization with more than 70 years of stability, innovation, and growth. Headquartered in Minnesota, IP Corporation supports a portfolio of operating companies that manufacture and distribute resins, gel coats, composite materials, and specialty polymer solutions used across a wide range of industrial applications.
Our operating companies, Interplastic Corporation, North American Composites, HK Research, and Molding Products, work together to deliver technical expertise, high-quality products, and long-term partnerships to customers around the world. We are known for our customer-first mindset, strong technical capabilities, and collaborative culture built on trust and continuous improvement.
What is a Sr. Business Analyst - Product?
The Sr. Business Analyst - Product leads the business analysis, data design, and governance work required to establish a single, company-wide Product Master and product catalog for IP Corporation. The role exists because product information today lives in several systems and is defined differently by different teams, which makes it harder to sell, manufacture, and report accurately.
This person serves as product owner for product master data across Optiva PLM, Infor M3 ERP, MES, and Salesforce CRM, bringing R&D, Sales, Product Management, Quality, and IT to one authoritative definition, taxonomy, and hierarchy for every product. The work spans five R&D groups, two sales teams, Quality, and multiple product owners, and includes the item cleanup, deduplication, and SKU rationalization needed to relaunch Infor M3 and Optiva.
What You Can Expect to Do as a Sr. Business Analyst - Product:
- Facilitate discovery workshops and interviews with R&D, Sales, Product Management, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and IT to document how products, items, SKUs, formulations, components, and specifications are defined today.
- Define and gain agreement on the enterprise product taxonomy and hierarchy, following industry best practice and ACMA-defined structures where they apply.
- Develop the product master schema, covering identifiers, names and descriptions, brands and categories, units of measure, technical specifications, lifecycle status, parent-child relationships, required versus optional attributes, and data ownership.
- Map existing products and items into the hierarchy, identify duplicate, obsolete, incomplete, or conflicting records, and translate the findings into cleanup rules and a prioritized remediation backlog.
- Document what is mastered in Optiva PLM, what passes to MES and Infor M3, and how Salesforce CRM consumes product data, producing source-to-target mappings and integration requirements.
- Establish data governance for product and catalog data, including who creates records, who approves changes, which system is authoritative, and how data-quality problems are resolved.
- Partner with project managers to scope, plan, and deliver the Product Master workstream within the Infor M3 and Optiva relaunch.
- Mentor mid-level and associate business analysts on data modeling, taxonomy, and governance practice.
What We Are Looking For in a Sr. Business Analyst - Product:
- Bachelor's degree, with an MBA, CBAP, or equivalent experience.
- 5 to 8 years of business analysis experience, including 3 or more years of hands-on product master data, PIM, item master, or product catalog work in a manufacturing or product-oriented environment.
- Advanced skills in requirements management, taxonomy and attribute modeling, data dictionaries and parent-child relationships, process mapping, workshop facilitation, data governance and stewardship, stakeholder engagement, and root cause analysis.
- Exposure to MDM, PIM, ERP, PLM, or MES platforms such as Optiva, SAP, Oracle, Informatica, Stibo, Syndigo, or Salsify, plus proficiency in Microsoft Office.
- Ability to translate business definitions into functional data requirements, governance rules, integration needs, and cleanup actions, and to work independently with minimal guidance.
- Industry certifications such as Lean Six Sigma or APICS, and PMP, Agile, or other project management experience or certification, are helpful.
- Chemical, coatings, or process manufacturing industry experience is helpful.
- Experience with product SKU rationalization, catalog build-out, post-acquisition data consolidation, or a data governance or stewardship program is helpful.
Why Join IP Corporation?
- Be part of a stable, privately held organization with more than 70 years of success and industry leadership.
- Competitive benefits including medical, dental, vision, generous PTO, and a 401(k) with company match.
- Opportunity to make a meaningful impact in a collaborative, values-driven organization where your contributions matter.
- Work alongside experienced professionals in an environment that encourages continuous learning, development, and career growth.
- Join a culture built on teamwork, integrity, innovation, and long-term customer partnerships.
- Contribute to products and solutions that support a wide range of industries across North America and beyond.
- Enjoy the benefits of a company that combines the stability of an established organization with the agility and entrepreneurial spirit to drive innovation and continuous improvement.
Physical Requirements and Work Environment
- Ability to work in an office environment, with prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working with office equipment.
- Ability to use a computer, telephone, keyboard, mouse, and office equipment such as printers and scanners.
- Ability to lift up to 10 pounds regularly and up to 30 pounds occasionally.
- Ability to travel up to 10% as needed.
IP Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic in accordance with applicable laws.
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