Job Title: Product Owner

Job Type: Contract

Location: Nashville, TN (Remote)

Overview

Within the Dept of Education, there are large programs and projects that must be delivered in order to meet the strategic goals set forth by the Agency. The Information Technology team drives the technical solutions supporting the Department creating holistic academic and non-academic supports for K-12 students across Tennessee.

Job Responsibilities

The role of a Product Owner will be to:

1. Work across a team of IT Product Owners and with multiple program areas Use IT solutions subject matter expertise and requirements management to build solutions for education programs.

2. Own the Solution Functionality for the program area (Strategic) Own the IT solution vision for a particular product or product domain to decompose the vision into IT work.

3. Own the Solution Functionality for the program area (Tactical). Establish subject matter expertise in IT solution functionalities to document acceptance criteria and functional priorities.

4. Own product intake process of new functionality. Receive and organize the intake of work providing business valued solutions.

5. Serve as a relationship manager to product areas. Build strong relationships with designated program areas and serve as a trusted advisor to the program area to create solutions leveraging existing and, when necessary, new technology solutions. Consult on the process and how to reasonably facilitate the process with technology solutions.

6. Develop Project Relationships. Build strong interdependent relationships with the project managers and scrum masters fostering communication to implementing and supporting IT Solutions efficiently and effectively.

7. Champion Agile. Adopt and grow Agile, scrum and iterative advancements. Clear establishment of and demonstrated adherence to Agile principles.

8. Define the Product needed to deliver projects from the perspective of the larger ecosystem. Ensure the product have functionality properly prioritized, scoped, evaluated, and documented.

Essential Skills

Be able to influence and instruct team members in a matrixed reporting relationship.[1,5,6]

Strong command of Agile philosophies and principles that drive team productivity. [8]

Document and maintain the IT solution vision and IT landscape of products and services [2,3]

Facilitate product vision and requirements gathering within an Agile project framework. [8,9]

Ability to take a solution and decompose it down to manageable workable deliverables. [9]

Strong organization skills [4,5,8]

Strong estimation skills [4,5,8]

Strong prioritization skills [4,5,8]

Strong ability to pivot as business needs change [4,5,8]

Excellent people skills [1,6,7]

Takes direction well, challenges when necessary [7,9]

Ability to trace requirements to delivered functionality [7,9]

Lead by Example, Accountable and works Interdependently [1-9]

Collaborates well within the team without a strictly defined operating structure.[6]

Requirements

3-5 years' experience in Requirements Gathering and Solution definition as a Product Owner.

3-5 years' experience in Agile methodologies, including leading scrum ceremonies.

Desire to guide and develop a high performing scrum team

Experience in documenting solutions

Demonstrated experience working in multiple, simultaneous IT projects and multi-year program delivery.

Strong customer service mindset and relationship building competencies

Strong communication and presentation skills with the ability to simplify the complex

Experience working in a contractor and FTE resources in a matrixed environment

Experience with JIRA and Confluence

Experience with State Government processes beneficial but not essential