Senior Product Owner

Position Summary

We are seeking a highly analytical, technically credible, and delivery-oriented Senior Product Owner to lead product discovery and execution within our Scrum teams. This role blends deep business analysis expertise with modern product ownership practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead structured discovery efforts to define problems, outcomes, and measurable success criteria
• Facilitate discovery sessions with:
• Business stakeholders
• Operational leaders
• Technical stakeholders (engineering, architecture, security, integrations)
• Problem statements
• Business and system requirements
• Process flows
• Data flow diagrams (as appropriate)
• Impact analysis
• Clear, testable acceptance criteria
• Understand system constraints
• Evaluate integration impacts
• Identify architectural dependencies
• Surface risk early
• Serve as the embedded Product Owner within a Scrum team
• Own, maintain, and prioritize the product backlog
• Translate business and technical requirements into:
• Epics
• Versatile user stories
• Clear acceptance criteria
• Act as primary liaison between business stakeholders and engineering
• Communicate roadmap, release expectations, and trade-offs clearly
• Manage competing priorities with structured decision-making
• Align executives and operational teams on product direction
• Drive clarity when ambiguity exists
• Escalate risks appropriately and proactively
• Continuous improvement & product excellence
• Measure outcomes post-release and incorporate learnings into backlog refinement
• Improve backlog hygiene, story quality, and refinement practices
• Advocate for agile best practices and true product thinking
• Prevent waterfall requirement handoffs disguised as agile
• Continuously refine slicing, prioritization, and value delivery approaches

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in Business Analysis, Product Ownership, or hybrid roles
• 3+ years operating as a Product Owner in Scrum environments
• Demonstrated experience leading both business and technical discovery sessions
• Strong understanding of system architecture concepts, APIs, integrations, and data flows
• Proven ability to partner effectively with engineering and architecture teams
• Deep experience writing high-quality epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria
• Demonstrated ability to vertically slice work for incremental delivery
• Strong understanding of Agile frameworks (Scrum required)
• Experience prioritizing backlogs based on business value, technical risk, and ROI
• Experience in SaaS and/or regulated industries
• Proficiency with Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps, or similar tooling
• Familiarity with API-driven architectures and system integration work
• Product Owner (CSPO, PSPO), CBAP, or equivalent certifications preferred but not required
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Able to translate complex technical concepts into business language and vice versa

Competencies

• Structured and systems-oriented thinker
• Strong facilitator across business and technical audiences
• High ownership mindset
• Comfortable making priority decisions and trade-offs
• Tech-savvy without needing to code
• Bias toward clarity, iteration, and measurable outcomes
• Data-informed decision maker
• Skilled at reducing ambiguity

What Success Looks Like (First 6–12 Months)

• Backlog is consistently refined, prioritized, and sprint-ready
• Work is vertically sliced and incrementally delivered
• Stakeholders feel heard but understand trade-offs and constraints
• Engineering reports clarity of requirements and reduced rework
• Reduced spillover and ambiguity during sprints
• Measurable business outcomes tied to releases
• Clear roadmap alignment with company strategy
• Discovery is proactive, not reactive