Mid Level Product Owner

Job Title: Product Owner - Mid-Level Contract Duration: 6+ Months (with extensions) Location: Marlborough, MA (ideal candidates located close to Marlborough) Work Type: Remote – EST hours

Job Description:

The Product Owner is Responsible for defining the Team Product Backlog of User Stories, including backlog prioritization, refinement, and creation of acceptance criteria along with agreed-upon definition of done.

Has a proficient knowledge of SAFe principles, Kanban, and Scrum, including embracing agile principles and applying a lean agile mindset.

Demonstrates critical thinking skills like Analytical, problem-solving, Open-minded, creativity, etc.

Sr. Product Owner is an expert in at least one Product/Domain area that guides, informs, and provides insight on product enhancements, maintenance, and efficiencies needed.

Product Owners at this level can support the delivery of assigned Product Increment (PI) objectives.

They can be assigned to a maximum of two agile teams.

Major Responsibilities:

The Product Owner is responsible for defining the Team Product Backlog of User Stories, including backlog prioritization, refinement, and creation of acceptance criteria along with agreed-upon definition of done. Has autonomy to make decisions around the team backlog

Partner with the Product Manager to understand priorities and PI features and support driving the Product Increment (PI) objective at the Team Level

Drives Iteration Goals and content via prioritized user stories

Product/Domain expert that guides, informs, and provides insight on what product enhancements, maintenance, and efficiencies/remediation are needed

Ensures the technical integrity of the solution

Product decision maker, including Functional and NFRs, accepts User Stories and Iteration Increments

Conducts impact analysis for optimal product delivery, industry trends, etc.

Contributor to the Vision, Roadmap, and ROI; ensures the team's backlog aligns with the Roadmap

Acts as the Customer for Teams including being the liaison between the business and the team

Ensures team risks and dependencies are identified and managed

Collaborates with the System Architect to prioritize Enablers

Stakeholder management; Accountable for identifying and managing risks, scope trade-offs, and timeline impacts

Collaborator of dependencies with the team, Product Manager, and other teams for optimal delivery outcomes

Skilled in SAFe principles, Kanban, and Scrum framework, including embracing agile principles and a lean agile mindset

Fully understands the Roles & Responsibilities of the team, stakeholders, and other teams

Use of metrics to assess team progress and areas for improvement

Leverage various Agile processes such as Story and Value Stream Mapping, and Estimating using the Fibonacci scale

Leverage Agile planning tools

Supports DevOps and Security best practices

Instrumental role in the preparation of the system demo, as well as producing the system demo

Attends and actively participates in Release Train Ceremonies: PI Planning, System Demo, ART Sync, and Inspect & Adapt when part of an ART.

Attends and actively participates in Team Agile Ceremonies

Ensures feedback from System Demos, Retrospectives, and I&A workshops is taken back to teams for possible inclusion in future continuous improvement activities.

Understand Rolling Wave plans and their impact on the budget

Enable the team to be empowered and self-regulated

Supporting role in third-party vendor and solution evaluation, selection, and management

May support a PO for the optimal PI feature allocation approach

Top Skills:

Strong communication skills

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills

Effective Product Backlog Management

Strong dependency management

Ability to work in the grey

Experience/Other Skills: (Required)

5-10 year Product Owner experience required (must be in this range no exceptions)

SAFe Agile experience

PI Planning experience

Product Launch experience

Implementation of the SAAS product experience

RoadMap development

Stakeholder Management

Backlog Management and Prioritization

Influencing Skills

Collaboration Skills

Experience with being familiar with budget impacts on projects

Open to BA candidates, but have transitioned into a PO role

Software: Jira

Experience/Other Skills: (Preferences)

Software Skills: Confluence and Jira Align

Kanban and Scrum