IT&DATA Business Partner Operations

About The Job

The IT&DATA Business Partner (BP) – Operations serves as the strategic liaison between the Operations business functions and the IT & Data organization. This role partners closely with stakeholders across Operations, Research & Innovation (R&I), Quality, Food Safety & Compliance (QFS), and Cycles & Procurement (C&P) to understand business priorities, translate needs into technology and data solutions, and drive value realization through product adoption and delivery. The BP is responsible for aligning business objectives with IT & Data product roadmaps, ensuring that strategic initiatives are prioritized, funded, and successfully executed. Acting as a trusted advisor, this role connects business leaders with Product Groups and Product Owners to accelerate innovation, improve operational performance, and support business transformation. This position plays a critical role in driving business engagement, ensuring service continuity, and maximizing the value delivered through technology, data, analytics, and digital products across the Operations ecosystem.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary IT & Data partner for Operations, R&I, QFS, and C&P leaders.
• Develop a deep understanding of business priorities, challenges, and strategic objectives.
• Translate business needs into technology and data opportunities and connect stakeholders with the appropriate Product Groups and subject matter experts.
• Facilitate prioritization of business initiatives and ensure alignment with global and regional IT & Data strategies.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with business stakeholders to foster trust, collaboration, and value creation.
• Manage the Operations, QFS, R&I and C&P product and project portfolio in partnership with Product Groups.
• Develop and maintain a strategic roadmap that aligns technology capabilities with business objectives.
• Support business case development and investment prioritization for strategic initiatives.
• Ensure visibility, alignment, and communication of priorities across both business and IT & Data organizations.
• Partner with the Infrastructure Delivery team to strengthen the security and resilience of our sites by proactively managing cybersecurity initiatives, ensuring timely hardware and software upgrades, and executing equipment lifecycle (run-and-replace) programs.
• Identify opportunities to leverage technology, digital capabilities, data, and analytics to improve operational performance and business outcomes.
• Drive adoption of products and solutions to maximize business value realization.
• Monitor business satisfaction and continuously identify opportunities to improve service delivery and user experience.
• Support business continuity by partnering with Product Groups to address operational risks, escalations, and critical issues.
• Foster Operations, QFS, R&I and C&P data driven decision making process.
• Enable data-driven decision making across Operations, QFS, R&I, and C&P to accelerate performance, innovation, and business value.
• Collaborate with Product Owners and Product Group Leaders throughout the product lifecycle, from ideation through deployment and adoption.
• Ensure business requirements, success metrics, and expected outcomes are clearly defined.
• Promote agile ways of working and support effective product ownership and governance practices.
• Lead cross-functional alignment across regional and global teams to support successful delivery of strategic initiatives.
• Act as a trusted advisor and advocate for the business within the IT & Data organization.
• Provide regular updates on roadmap progress, key initiatives, risks, and opportunities.
• Facilitate discussions and decision-making across multiple stakeholders and functions.
• Promote continuous improvement and strengthen collaboration between business and IT & Data teams.

Qualifications

• Education & Experience:
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Data & Analytics, Engineering, Business Systems, Supply Chain, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in technology, digital, data, business partnering, product management, or related business transformation roles.
• Experience working with Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Procurement, Quality, R&I, or related business functions preferred.
• Proven experience managing stakeholders and influencing decisions across multiple organizational levels.
• Experience participating in product-centric, agile, or digital transformation environments.
• Skills & Competencies:
• Strong business partnering and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Lead with business acumen and an outcome-driven mindset, serving as business partners first and technology experts second to deliver measurable business value.
• Able to translate business challenges into technology and data solutions.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and influencing skills.
• Strong project, portfolio, and prioritization management capabilities.
• Solid understanding of product management and agile delivery methodologies.
• Ability to manage complex situations and navigate ambiguity in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a focus on delivering measurable business outcomes.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively across regional and global teams.
• Preferred Experience:
• Within FMCG, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Procurement, Quality, R&I, or related business functions.
• Understanding of digital manufacturing, quality systems, procurement platforms, operational analytics, and enterprise business processes.
• Experience working in a global matrix organization.

About Us

Life at Danone With approximately 5,000 employees and 13 production locations across the U.S., our vibrant culture and endless growth opportunities are just a couple of the reasons our employees call themselves “Proud Danoners.” Learn more about Life at Danone Our Brands When you join us, you’ll work with some of the best-known food and beverage brands in the world, including Activia®, DanActive®, Danimals®, Dannon®, evian®, Follow Your Heart®, Happy Family® Organics, International Delight®, Light + Fit®, Nutricia ®, Oikos®, Silk®, So Delicious® Dairy Free, STōK® Cold Brew Coffee ®, Too Good & Co™, and YoCrunch®. Our Purpose We’re committed to making a positive impact on our world. Rooted in our mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible, we’re proud to be the world’s largest B Corp. Learn more about our mission. Our Benefits Our commitment to making the world healthier starts with our employees. Physical Wellbeing We pay for the majority of your medical benefits – which include medical, dental and vision – with our competitive 80%/20% cost-sharing model. Mental Wellbeing Danoners receive fitness discounts, unlimited flexible time off and hybrid work schedules. We also have a range of programs that support mental health and substance abuse. Financial Support We offer a performance-based bonus, a 401(k) plan, tuition reimbursement, employee discount programs and voluntary perks. Family Care We offer caretaker benefits, 18 weeks of parental bonding, fertility, surrogacy, adoption benefits and pet insurance. Learn more about our benefits. Equal Opportunity Employer Danone North America is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. It is our policy to give equal employment opportunities to all qualified persons without regard to legally protected characteristics, or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable federal, state/provincial and/or local law. For our EEO policy statement and your EEO rights under law click here. California Data Privacy Law