Sr. Product Owner

Take a leap and join our team! At Gesa, we believe in the power of our people. Coming from all walks of life, our team members’ individual stories and unique experiences are our most valuable asset. But it’s how we come together, igniting our collective compassion and commitment to empowering our communities, that makes us succeed. Because we know we go further when we go together. Here you can join a team who is passionate about serving others, has a desire to do good, and shares a deep love of people. You can engage in meaningful work that impacts your community. You can challenge yourself and grow in your career. And, you can rest assured that your wellbeing and prosperity are our priority.

Role Summary

The Sr. Product Owner is responsible for the technical life cycle of the digital products they have been assigned, including coordinating development efforts, configuration changes, and support. They document technical requirements, build product roadmaps, and budget associated with the products they oversee. They collaborate with internal stakeholders, developers, and vendors regularly to deliver new products and enhance existing products that meet the documented business objectives. They coordinate the lifecycle of their product through agile practices and mentor other Product Owners.

Responsibilities

• Understand business and end‑user needs; identify and prioritize features to meet those needs.
• Actively participate in Agile ceremonies to ensure development efforts remain aligned with business objectives, product vision, and user needs.
• Facilitate stakeholder inspection & reviews of delivered functionality, lead planning sessions to clarify priorities, and maintain transparent communication throughout the development lifecycle.
• Negotiate deliverables based on team capacity, adapt plans iteratively to reflect evolving priorities and validated outcomes.
• Develop near‑ and long‑term rolling‑wave product roadmaps in close collaboration with business owners, continuously refining them based on stakeholder input, delivery data, and validated learnings.
• Define and track key product success metrics to evaluate value delivery, inform prioritization, and communicate outcomes to stakeholders.
• Use data and feedback to validate hypotheses, guide decision‑making, and continuously improve product performance.
• Leverage expert understanding of product strengths and weaknesses to maximize value delivery, identify enhancement opportunities, and inform stakeholders of process improvements and strategic possibilities.
• Analyze end‑user feedback and operational metrics to identify and understand product needs.
• Direct and oversee the lifecycle of three or more products, independently managing and prioritizing their backlogs in collaboration with business owners and technical stakeholders.
• Ensure a steady flow of user stories ready for development two to four weeks in advance.
• Collaborate with business owners and technical stakeholders to develop and document user stories from the user’s perspective.
• Define features and epics to communicate alignment with business objectives and establish development scope.
• Collect and understand technical requirements for new implementations and enhancements to ensure sufficient technical runway, minimize technical debt, and maintain product relevance and stability.
• Proactively prioritize non‑functional backlog items such as performance, scalability, and maintainability.
• Assist the team with the development of test cases.
• Manage vendor relationships, assisting with contract review and negotiation alongside business stakeholders.
• Ensure upgrades are planned and completed, maintaining compliance with standards and control procedures.
• Ensure the product is compliant with regulatory and security requirements.
• Mentor other Product Owners.

About You

• Ability to understand complex business problems and interpret business needs.
• Ability to create a product strategy that aligns with measurable business outcomes.
• Strong problem‑solving and analytical skills.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical information concisely to various stakeholders verbally and in writing.
• Demonstrated facilitation and influencing skills to drive decision‑making among stakeholders with diverse perspectives and priorities.
• Experience working in an Agile environment, either Kanban or Scrum.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Ability to complete tasks effectively independently as well as collaboratively.
• Proven knowledge of product management tools such as Azure DevOps or Jira.
• Ability to use process‑flow documentation software like Lucidchart.
• Proven knowledge of UI mockup and design tools like Figma.
• Ability to set plans and priorities for multiple products three to six months in advance.

Qualifications

• Minimum of six (6) years of product owner experience in an Agile environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or a related field, or equivalent specialized courses, training, and/or related experience.
• High school diploma.
• Knowledge of the financial industry, products, and services; credit union experience preferred.
• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Professional Scrum Product Owner I (PSPO I), or equivalent foundational certification (required).
• AIPMM Agile PO/PM (ACPMPO), IC Agile Product Ownership (ICP‑APO) or equivalent product‑lifecycle certification (required).
• IC Agile Product Management (ICP‑PDM), SAFe Agile Product Management or equivalent product‑lifecycle