Product Owner

The Role

The Product Owner will serve as the key bridge between business stakeholders, internal development teams, and third-party application vendors. They will manage multiple application backlogs, prioritize work based on business value, and ensure that both internally developed and vendor-supported systems align with organizational goals.

Responsibilities

• Manage a vendor systems backlog that includes vendor requests, configuration changes, customizations, and integration needs;
• Manage and prioritize a custom development backlog, focusing on high-value features, enhancements, and bug fixes for internal development teams;
• Make prioritization and trade-off decisions across both backlogs to maximize business value and delivery impact;
• Translate business requirements into actionable items for both internal developers and vendor technical teams;
• Ensure user stories meet the definition of ready and contain clear requirements, acceptance criteria, and business context;
• Serve as the primary liaison between the organization and software vendors;
• Collaborate with vendor teams to ensure alignment of product vision, roadmap priorities, and implementation timelines;
• Ensure that vendor customizations and integrations support the company’s long-term technology strategy;
• Act as the acceptance authority for delivered features, enhancements, and bug fixes;
• Organize and coordinate user acceptance testing (UAT) to validate the systems meet real-world business requirements;
• Develop and maintain a product roadmap aligned with organizational goals and operational priorities;
• Balance and manage competing stakeholder priorities, clearly communicating the rationale behind product decisions;
• Collaborate with technical teams and release management to coordinate application release, updates, and vendor-driven upgrades;
• Support continuous improvement by gathering feedback and identifying opportunities to enhance system capabilities.

Core Competencies

• Customer Focus: Dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers. Gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services. Acts with customers in mind. Establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.
• Compassion: Genuinely cares about people. Is concerned about their work and non-work problems. Is available and ready to help. Is sympathetic to the plight of others not as fortunate. Demonstrates real empathy with the joys and pain of others.
• Ethics and Values: Adheres to an appropriate and effective set of core values and beliefs during both good and bad times. Acts in line with those values. Rewards the right values and disapproves of others. Practices what he/she preaches.

Role Competencies

• Business Acumen: Knows how businesses work. Knowledgeable in current and possible future policies, practices, trends, technology, and information affecting his/her business and organization. Knows the competition. Is aware of how strategies and tactics work in the marketplace.
• Prioritizing: Spends his/her time and the time of others on what’s important. Quickly zeros in on the critical few and puts the trivial many aside. Can quickly sense what will help or hinder accomplishing a goal. Eliminates roadblocks. Creates focus.
• Problem Solving: Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions. Probes all fruitful sources for answer. Can see hidden problems. Is excellent at honest analysis. Looks beyond the obvious and doesn’t stop at the first answers.
• Time Management: Uses his/her time effectively and efficiently. Values time. Concentrates his/her efforts on the more important priorities. Gets more done in less time than others. Can attend to a broader range of activities.
• Negotiating: Can negotiate skillfully in tough situations with both internal and external groups. Can settle differences with minimum noise. Can win concessions without damaging relationships. Can be both direct and forceful as well as diplomatic. Quickly gains trust of other parties to the negotiations.
• Process Management: Good at figuring out the processes necessary to get things done. Knows how to organize people and activities. Understands how to separate and combine tasks into efficient workflows. Knows what to measure and how to measure it. Can see opportunities for synergy and integration where others can’t. Can simplify complex processes. Gets more out of fewer resources.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in information systems, Computer Science, Business Administration, or related field; or equivalent experience and education.
• 3 + years of experience working as a Product Owner, Business Analyst, or similar role supporting enterprise applications (such as ERP, CRM or operational business systems) in a multi-site environment.
• Experience managing product backlogs and prioritizing work in Agile or iterative delivery environments.
• Strong ability to translate business needs into technical requirements and user stories.
• Experience in working with software vendors or third-party technology providers.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and organizational skills.
• Ability to manage multiple initiatives and competing priorities.
• Preferred: Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or similar Agile certification.
• Familiarity with Agile project management tools (Jira, Axure, DevOps, ServiceNow, Confluence).
• Background in system integrations, application lifecycle management, or product roadmap planning.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, AD&D and STD Insurance
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Career Advancement and Training
• Funeral and Cemetery Benefits
• Employee Referral Bonus
• 401k with Company Match

Pay Range

$105,000 to $120,000

About Everstory

At Everstory Partners, our mission is to create supportive spaces where individuals and families can find solace, meaning, and hope in the midst of loss. We believe that grief is a natural and beautiful part of the human experience and that it is not a problem to be solved or a burden to manage alone. We are committed to providing compassionate and personalized support to those going through loss.