Job Description
As a Software Product Owner, you will serve as the voice of the customer and business, ensuring the product vision is kept front and center, and that software development outcomes meet the intended business objectives within the time frame established. You will serve as the bridge between the business and the SWCoE delivery teams, working closely with product managers and key business stakeholders to assess and analyze their demands, and then working closely with the Enterprise Architects, Software Architects, business analysts and UX/UI developers to create user interface journeys that honor established user personas. You will be responsible for defining the roadmap based on negotiation and agreement between business need and development resources, building consensus where necessary, and working closely with the Technical Coordinator to prioritize the demand backlog and ensure the roadmap is followed. You will work closely with the Quality and Release Management team to ensure tested features meet business objectives, coordinating business validation and sign-off. You will continue to support the applications as new features are released, including overseeing the health of the application (and coordinating improvements where needed), coordinating problem shooting, root cause analysis and resolution, and communicating with the stakeholders around system outages or maintenance windows.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / KEY RESULT AREAS
- Serve as the voice of the customer and business within the Software Centre of Expertise
- Collaborate with demand stakeholders to gather requirements, refine priorities, and align product features with business objectives
- Own and prioritize the product backlog, working closely with the product team, business stakeholders and delivery team to ensure alignment with business value and organizational strategy
- Own the planning and finalization of release scope with input from Delivery and QA teams
- Communicate product vision, roadmap, and progress to stakeholders
- Report on delivery progress, risks, and issues to stakeholders and leadership
- Define clear user stories and acceptance criteria based on digital personas and customer journeys, ensuring requirements are well-documented, testable, and deliverable
- Ensure delivered software meets agreed quality and security standards
- Prioritize features, enhancements, technical debt and bug fixes in alignment with business or service objectives
- Partner with Tech Lead to ensure smooth sprint planning and execution
- Participate actively in Agile ceremonies (backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily standups, reviews, and retrospectives)
- Monitor progress across sprints and handle blockers or dependencies
- Support service release and deployment through creation of release notes and issuing of all stakeholder communications
- Coordinate Go/No-Go decisions with business stakeholders and support release deployment planning
- Ensure delivered features meet agreed acceptance criteria and quality standards
- Make data-driven decisions using KPIs, metrics, and customer feedback to continuously improve product performance
- Carry out problem-solving activities, supporting post-release incident investigations and root cause analyses, leading cross-functional support, operations, and engineering teams (even without direct line authority) in coming to resolutions
- Supporting escalations and service outages calmly and constructively
- Understand and aid in the potential negotiation of SLAs, OLAs (Operational Level Agreements), and underpinning contracts.
- Manage stakeholder communications in case of incidents
COMPETENCIES
- Strong empathy for end users and business stakeholders
- Excellent communication skills with both developers and business colleagues, change management skills a plus
- Ability to strongly present new features and capabilities to stakeholders
- Thorough understanding of how software is developed, tested, deployed, and supported (Agile/DevOps concepts help).
- Ability to negotiate and facilitate decision-making around priority
- Ability to mobilize people in the case of outages, problem shooting or root cause analyses
- Works as a leader and bridge across functions and teams
- Balances speed, data, and judgment to deliver value
- Comfortable in fast-paced, evolving environments
- Clear, persuasive, and able to tailor messages to different audiences.
- Ability to work in an agile, fast-paced environment and deliver within tight timelines
- Demonstrates strong responsibility and accountability for quality outcomes
- Adaptable to changing priorities and dynamic project requirements
- Takes ownership and drives tasks to completion independently
- Applies strong problem-solving skills to analyze and resolve complex issues
- Shows meticulous attention to detail to ensure high-quality deliverables
- Collaborates effectively with internal and external cross-functional teams
- Self-motivated with a proactive, action-oriented mindset
- Demonstrates a willingness to go the extra mile when needed
- Fluent in spoken and written English; additional languages are an asset
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
- Bachelor’s degree in relevant field such as Computer Science or Information Technology or Software Engineering
- Excellent understanding of Agile principles in product ownership, Scrum Framework and other Agile methodologies
- Hands-on experience in product ownership and service delivery
- Experience in handling SLAs, OLAs (Operational Level Agreements), and underpinning contracts.
- Experience in incident analysis and resolution coordination
- Experience with Azure DevOps or similar tools for work tracking, release management, and CI/CD
- Experience working in cross-functional teams
- Knowledge of quality assurance and testing processes, including UAT coordination
- Exposure to IT service management frameworks (e.g., ITIL) and compliance standards (e.g., ISO 27001)
- Comfortable working in enterprise environments with multiple applications or delivery streams
- Strong verbal and written communication skills for reporting, documentation, and stakeholder updates
- Relevant certifications (optional but valued): Agile Product Owner
- Attention to detail and a commitment to quality
SES and its Affiliated Companies are committed to providing fair and equal employment opportunities to all. We are an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, protected veteran status, disability, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law.
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