Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for EDI Product Manager

🎯 Role Definition

As the EDI Product Manager, you will be the central nervous system for our entire B2B data exchange ecosystem. You are the bridge between our business objectives, our trading partners' needs, and our engineering teams. You will own the complete product lifecycle, from deep market analysis and strategic planning to hands-on requirements definition, launch, and continuous improvement. Your mission is to transform complex B2B integration challenges into elegant, efficient, and reliable product solutions that power our business and delight our partners.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

EDI Analyst / EDI Specialist
Business Systems Analyst (Supply Chain or Healthcare)
Technical Project Manager (Integrations)
Software Engineer (B2B/Integration Focus)

Advancement To:

Senior Product Manager, B2B Integration
Director of Product Management
Head of Platform & Integrations
Director of Supply Chain Technology

Lateral Moves:

API Product Manager
Integration Product Manager
Senior Solutions Architect

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Own and articulate the product vision, strategy, and multi-year roadmap for all EDI and B2B integration products, ensuring alignment with overarching company goals and market demands.
Conduct comprehensive market research, competitive analysis, and customer discovery to identify unmet needs, validate product hypotheses, and uncover new strategic opportunities.
Act as the lead for gathering, defining, and prioritizing product requirements from a wide range of stakeholders, including external trading partners, internal business units, and executive leadership.
Translate high-level business requirements into detailed, actionable epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria for the engineering team, maintaining a well-groomed and prioritized product backlog.
Manage the end-to-end product lifecycle, from initial concept and business case development through to go-live, post-launch monitoring, and eventual sun-setting of features.
Lead and inspire a cross-functional team of engineers, QA analysts, and designers, fostering a collaborative environment to ensure the on-time delivery of high-quality product releases.
Develop and execute a comprehensive go-to-market strategy for new EDI features and capabilities, partnering with Marketing, Sales, and Account Management teams.
Define, track, and analyze key product metrics and KPIs (e.g., partner onboarding time, transaction success rates, error reduction) to measure product performance and inform future roadmap decisions.
Serve as the ultimate subject matter expert on EDI standards (X12, EDIFACT), transaction sets, communication protocols (AS2, SFTP), and B2B integration best practices.
Champion initiatives to modernize the integration portfolio, evaluating and advocating for the use of APIs and other technologies to complement or enhance traditional EDI.
Drive the strategy for improving the trading partner onboarding experience, focusing on self-service capabilities, clear documentation, and automation to reduce implementation timelines.
Act as the primary voice of the customer and trading partner within the organization, deeply understanding their pain points and advocating for solutions that solve उनका real-world problems.
Collaborate with compliance and security teams to ensure all EDI solutions adhere to industry-specific regulations (e.g., HIPAA, SOX) and data security best practices.
Communicate the product strategy, roadmap progress, and release plans effectively to stakeholders at all levels, from individual contributors to the C-suite.
Oversee the creation and maintenance of all product-related documentation, including implementation guides, mapping specifications, and partner-facing knowledge base articles.
Partner with finance and business leaders to build robust business cases for new investments, including revenue projections, cost analysis, and ROI calculations.
Serve as the highest point of escalation for complex production issues, providing expert guidance to support and engineering teams to ensure rapid resolution.
Manage and nurture relationships with third-party technology vendors, including EDI translators, VANs (Value-Added Networks), and managed service providers.
Develop and deliver training programs and materials to empower internal teams (Sales, Support, Operations) to effectively work with and support our EDI products.
Continuously evaluate the user experience for both internal administrators and external partners, identifying and prioritizing improvements to increase efficiency and satisfaction.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep expertise in EDI standards (ANSI X12, EDIFACT) and common transaction sets (e.g., 850, 856, 810, 837, 270/271).
Strong knowledge of B2B communication protocols, including AS2, SFTP, FTP/S, and the role of VANs.
Hands-on experience with EDI mapping, translation, and B2B integration platforms (e.g., Sterling Integrator, MuleSoft, Boomi, OpenText).
Proficiency in writing clear and detailed product requirements, user stories, and functional specifications in tools like Jira and Confluence.
Solid understanding of API principles (REST, JSON) and how they can be used to augment and modernize B2B integrations.
Competency in Agile/Scrum product development methodologies and rituals.
Ability to query and analyze data using SQL to validate transaction data and support product decisions.
Familiarity with industry-specific compliance and regulatory frameworks, such as HIPAA in healthcare or VICS in retail.
Experience analyzing complex data formats, including XML, JSON, and delimited flat files.
Proven ability to manage the entire product lifecycle, from discovery and ideation to launch and iteration.

Soft Skills

Exceptional cross-functional leadership and the ability to influence and align teams without direct authority.
Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, capable of simplifying complex technical topics for business and executive audiences.
A strategic, data-driven mindset with strong analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills.
A relentless customer and partner-centric focus, with a deep sense of empathy for user challenges.
Superior organizational and project management skills, with a proven ability to manage competing priorities.
Strong business acumen and a knack for connecting product capabilities to tangible business value.
Natural curiosity and a passion for continuous learning in the technology and integration space.
Highly collaborative spirit, adept at building relationships and consensus across all levels of an organization.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred Education:

Master's Degree (MBA, MS in Information Systems, or other technical field)

Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Information Systems
Business Administration
Supply Chain Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5-7 years in product management, business systems analysis, or a technical role with a primary focus on EDI, B2B integration, or supply chain systems.

Preferred:

8+ years of experience in a dedicated Product Manager role, with a demonstrable track record of launching and scaling successful EDI, B2B, or platform integration products. Experience in both a large enterprise and a high-growth tech environment is a significant plus.