Sr Product Owner

About the role

We are seeking a Sr Product Owner to lead the execution and development of critical subsystems. This role serves as the connective tissue between engineering, product management, and program leadership, ensuring complex hardware development efforts remain aligned, prioritized, and on schedule. The ideal candidate combines strong product ownership experience with the ability to navigate highly technical environments involving robotics, automation, industrial machinery, and large‑scale hardware systems. The individual will partner closely with engineering leaders to drive prioritization, manage execution, identify blockers, and ensure successful delivery of key program milestones.

Responsibilities

• Own one of the major system areas and serve as the primary point of accountability for delivery.
• Partner with engineering, systems, manufacturing, software, electrical, and mechanical teams to drive program execution.
• Prioritize work across multiple stakeholders to align with product goals, business objectives, and development milestones.
• Maintain visibility into schedule, risks, dependencies, and critical‑path activities.
• Escalate program risks, resource constraints, and schedule concerns.
• Drive sprint planning, backlog prioritization, and execution efforts within Jira.
• Ensure teams are working against clearly defined priorities and deliverables.
• Identify blockers and coordinate resolutions across cross‑functional teams.
• Support Agile development practices while maintaining flexibility within a fast‑paced hardware environment.
• Work closely with Scrum Masters and engineering leadership to improve workflows and execution processes.
• Coordinate with Product Managers, engineering leaders, and functional stakeholders to ensure requirements are understood and delivered.
• Gather and incorporate customer, stakeholder, and field feedback into product prioritization decisions.
• Align subsystem priorities with broader program objectives.
• Communicate project status, risks, and progress to internal leadership.
• Contribute to product roadmap discussions and future product opportunities.
• Evaluate customer needs and emerging business opportunities.
• Support long‑term product planning and feature prioritization efforts.

Essential skills

• 4+ years of experience in Product Ownership, Product Management, Technical Program Management, Systems Engineering, Project Management, or related roles.
• Experience supporting complex hardware, robotics, automation, industrial equipment, aerospace, autonomous systems, manufacturing equipment, or similar fields.
• Ability to lead cross‑functional teams in highly technical environments.
• Strong experience with Agile development methodologies and sprint execution.
• Experience with Jira, including backlog management, sprint planning, workflow creation, and reporting.
• Experience managing priorities across electrical, software, mechanical, and systems engineering teams.
• Strong organizational, leadership, and communication skills.
• Ability to thrive in a fast‑paced, rapidly evolving environment.

Additional skills & qualifications

• Experience serving as a Product Owner within a hardware development organization.
• Background in robotics, industrial automation, autonomous systems, construction technology, aerospace, defense, or advanced manufacturing.
• Experience working with highly integrated products involving hardware, software, and control systems.
• PMP, CSPO, SAFe, or Agile certifications are a plus but not required.
• Technical background in engineering disciplines such as Mechanical, Electrical, Systems, Controls, Robotics, or Software Engineering.

Work environment

This is a fully onsite position in Austin, TX. The role requires working onsite Monday through Friday, with standard hours from 8 AM to 5 PM, though there is some flexibility on start and finish times. It is a contract‑to‑hire position.

Pay

The pay range for this position is $52.33 – $65.00 per hour. Individual compensation will depend on qualifications, skills, relevant experience, job knowledge, geographic location, internal equity, and other pertinent factors.

Benefits

• Medical, dental & vision coverage
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital coverage
• 401(k) retirement plan – pre‑tax and Roth post‑tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (voluntary life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long‑term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time off/leave (PTO, vacation, or sick leave)

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation, and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia, and Europe, Actalent serves many Fortune 500 companies. We are proud to be an Engineering News‑Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.