Role Summary

As a Product Owner, you will be the single point of accountability for translating business strategy into executable product delivery. You will serve as the critical link between internal stakeholders, external partners, and engineering teams by owning backlog prioritization, sprint outcomes, and release readiness. This role places strong emphasis on disciplined backlog management, value-driven sprint planning, and decisive tradeoff-making to ensure continuous momentum and measurable business impact across enterprise platforms.

Core Responsibilities

Strategic Backlog Ownership & Planning

• Own, maintain, and continuously refine a rolling 2–3 sprint backlog, ensuring alignment with the long-term product roadmap and organizational priorities.
• Translate complex business requirements into clear, actionable Epics, Features, and User Stories with well-defined acceptance criteria.
• Make explicit prioritization decisions, confidently articulating tradeoffs based on value, risk, dependencies, and capacity.

Sprint Execution & Outcome Delivery

• Define clear Sprint Objectives and Goals focused on delivering outcomes and business value—not simply completing tickets.
• Lead backlog refinement and sprint planning to ensure stories meet a rigorous Definition of Ready (DoR) before entering a sprint.
• Enforce a disciplined Definition of Done (DoD) to protect quality, reduce rework, and maintain team velocity.

Stakeholder Alignment & Communication

• Act as the primary liaison between business stakeholders, subject matter experts (SMEs), executive leadership, and engineering teams.
• Simplify complex technical concepts for non-technical audiences and ensure shared understanding of scope, priorities, and expected outcomes.
• Influence stakeholders through clear rationale, data-driven prioritization, and transparent communication.

End-to-End Product Delivery

• Own product demos, release notes, and readiness activities, ensuring stakeholders understand delivered value and upcoming changes.
• Proactively identify, communicate, and mitigate risks across the product lifecycle.
• Support legacy applications by analyzing roadmaps and creating user stories that enhance and extend core business processes.

Technical & Process Collaboration

• Partner closely with System Architects, Developers, QA, Infrastructure, and Release Management to ensure high-quality solution delivery.
• Translate business requirements into technical specifications, including data models, database/table structures, assumptions, and risks.
• Create and maintain clear, concise technical and functional documentation.
• Analyze end-to-end business workflows to identify opportunities for automation, efficiency, and improved user experience.

Governance, Quality & Compliance

• Ensure product features comply with industry regulations, security standards, and internal quality protocols.
• Effectively apply and enforce the QTC SDLC methodology and Agile/Scrum best practices.
• Establish delivery strategies that account for process changes, technology impact, and customer experience.

Required Capabilities

• Demonstrated mastery of backlog prioritization and sprint-level decision-making, with the ability to explain why one feature was prioritized over another.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and presentation skills with the ability to influence across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Proven ability to manage multiple initiatives concurrently while maintaining focus on outcomes and delivery commitments.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to translate customer and business needs into scalable product solutions.
• Self-directed leader who thrives in fast-paced, cross-functional environments.

Certifications

• Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Recognized Product Owner certification (e.g., CSPO, PSPO).

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in a related discipline, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 5–14 years of experience in Product Ownership, Product Management, Business Systems Analysis, or Agile delivery roles.
• Strong working knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies and SDLC governance.
• Hands-on experience with Microsoft SharePoint, Office (Word, Excel), MS Project, Visio, and PowerPoint.
• Solid understanding of application programming, database design, system architecture, and web-based/client-server environments.