Product Owner

Job Summary:

Product Owners are accountable for defining the why, who, and what, why it is worthwhile to develop a product, who the product is for, and what features the product should contain. Product owners own a product in its entirety; they have the final word on strategic and tactical product decisions. They are responsible for maintaining the product backlog and maximizing the value the product creates for the users, customers, and business. This includes championing a vision, meeting with stakeholders and customers, and knowing when to say no.

Essential Functions: In addition to working as prescribed in our Performance Factors specific responsibilities of this role include:

Minimum Requirements:

Define the overall vision in partnership with Product Strategy and General Manager. Take the vision of the Product Strategy and translate the work into user stories. Work to implement those work items, which include:

• Customer Delighter: Ability to not only listen to stakeholder wishes but anticipate customer needs as well
• Storyteller: Ability to articulate what will transform that story into a product feature to delight the end user.
• Delegator: Create safety and accountability by delegating task/ceremony facilitation when possible.
• Knowledge Broker: Enable collaboration and empower the developers by finding the right people for them to talk to.
• Conflict Resolver: Possessing the courage and the capability to engage when things get difficult and mediate to reach a solution.
• Effective Escalator: Calmly and effectively provide feedback to Product Strategy and General Managers if goals are not aligned or could be reworked either inside or outside of your unit.
• Manage and prioritize the backlog to ensure it is stocked with clearly expressed items that help reach the product goal
• Regularly update and refine the backlog together with the squad
• Be a liaison between product and development, where needed – they help to explain and translate the how and why
• Collect feedback from users, customers, and stakeholders on the product increments
• Manage interdependencies between squad/team
• Enable collaboration, removing impediments to empower the squad to find solutions to move the work forward
• Take ownership of the work product and how it’s delivered. This includes being brave enough to have hard conversations, creating trust in the squad, calmly explaining impediments, and pivoting at a moment’s notice
• Travel to client sites and or conferences to lead and facilitate discussions around the product, roadmap, and collection of user feedback for progressive improvement.
• Planning and delivery of presentations to clients and potential customers leading to growth and adoption of the product.

Education/Experience/Certification Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent.
• Excellent communication (written and oral) and interpersonal skills.
• Strong organizational, multi-tasking, and time-management skills.
• Must be detail oriented and able to follow through on issues to resolution.

Must be able to act both independently and as a team member.