26-2281: Product Owner- Enterprise Data & AI

1. Product Vision & Strategy

• Define and maintain the product backlog for the Data & AI platform, ensuring alignment with the university’s long-term strategic plan and near-term priorities.
• Translate institutional goals (student success, research advancement, operational efficiency) into actionable product objectives.

2. Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborate with faculty, researchers, administrators, and IT leaders to gather requirements and identify high-value data and AI use cases.
• Serve as the primary liaison between business stakeholders and the technical development team.

3. Backlog & Prioritization

• Create, refine, and prioritize the product backlog based on business value, compliance requirements, and technical feasibility.
• Define acceptance criteria and ensure clarity for data, AI, and integration-related user stories.

4. Delivery & Execution

• Collaborate with data engineers, AI/ML specialists, developers, and architects to deliver platform features and enhancements.
• Support Agile ceremonies (sprint planning, standups, reviews, retrospectives) and ensure the team has a clear understanding of the overall vision and business value of priorities.

5. Governance & Data Stewardship

• Partner with institutional data governance groups to enforce data security, compliance, and stewardship and quality standards and processes.
• Ensure AI applications comply with ethical and responsible AI guidelines in higher education.

6. Analytics & AI Enablement

• Guide the development of AI/BI apps, BI apps, self-service analytics, and AI-powered insights for faculty, staff, and leadership.
• Identify opportunities to embed AI/ML models (e.g., student retention predictions, enrollment forecasting, research analytics).

7. Change Management & Adoption

• Communicate platform benefits, features, and updates to stakeholders.
• Drive adoption through demonstrations, training, and user enablement activities.
• Help guide value creation, realization, and measurement through Data & AI products

8. Continuous Improvement

• Monitor product performance, collect feedback, and adjust priorities based on evolving institutional needs.
• Stay current on data & AI/ML trends and recommend platform innovations.

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Science, Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Science, Business Administration, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• 5+ years of experience in product ownership, business analysis, or project management, ideally in data, analytics, or AI-focused environments.
• Experience in higher education, research, or public sector environments strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of helping deliver enterprise grade data & AI platforms and products within SAFe Agile environments. 

• Strong understanding of data & AI platforms, data lakes/warehouses, ETL pipelines, APIs, and cloud environments (e.g., Databricks, AWS, Azure, GCP, Salesforce Data Cloud).
• Working knowledge of Data Governance (e.g. Purview) and Master Data Management (e.g. Profisee) tools.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts, predictive analytics, and responsible AI frameworks.
• Working knowledge of BI/analytics tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Salesforce CRM Analytics, Looker).
• Experience with data governance, privacy, and compliance (FERPA, HIPAA, GDPR, etc.).

• Strong product management skills: backlog prioritization, user story creation, acceptance criteria.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills—able to translate technical concepts into business value.
• Strategic thinker with ability to align platform initiatives to institutional goals (student success, research excellence, operational efficiency).
• Skilled in Agile/Scrum methodologies, Jira/Azure DevOps or similar tools.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to drive adoption and change management in diverse academic and administrative communities.

• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager.
• Data or cloud certifications (e.g., Databricks, Azure Data Fundamentals, Azure Purview, Azure ADO, Profisee).
• AI/ML or analytics certifications (e.g., Databricks MLFlow or equivalent).

Equal Employer/Veterans/Disabled

Navitas Business Consulting is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact Navitas Human Resources.

Navitas is an equal opportunity employer. We provide employment and opportunities for advancement, compensation, training, and growth according to individual merit, without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, genetic information, disability, veteran-status veteran or military status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable Federal, state, or local law. Our goal is for each staff member to have the opportunity to grow to the limits of their abilities and to achieve personal and organizational objectives. We will support positive programs for equal treatment of all staff and full utilization of all qualified employees at all levels within Navitas.