Product Owner

Summary:

The Product Owner (PO) plays a vital role within the Product Management Team, owning a small portfolio of two to three related solutions within a go-to-market strategy. The PO is accountable for translating strategic objectives into prioritized roadmaps and backlogs across these products, balancing trade-offs across them, and ensuring that day-to-day execution ladders up to measurable business and customer outcomes.

The PO serves as the connective tissue between key stakeholders, Product Management, Engineering, Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and customers. They drive each product through its lifecycle in partnership with internal and external teams, from discovery through release, and monitor product and business metrics to inform continuous prioritization. Beyond the tactical work of eliciting, validating, and documenting requirements, the PO is expected to bring a strategic point of view: framing problems in terms of outcomes, defending priorities with data, and aligning stakeholders around a shared definition of success.
 

Duties / Responsibilities:

• Own and maintain strategic product roadmaps for a portfolio of related products, ensuring each is aligned to business objectives, customer needs, and the broader GTM strategy.
• Translate strategic objectives and OKRs into prioritized backlogs and release plans, making explicit trade-offs across products when capacity, dependencies, or market timing require it.
• Partner with key stakeholders, Product Management, Engineering, Sales, Customer Success, and key customers, to align on outcomes, surface risks early, and secure buy-in on roadmap decisions.
• Prioritize product enhancements and feature requests across the portfolio based on technical feasibility, customer feedback, business impact, and strategic fit.
• Elicit, validate, and document user requirements in coordination with engineering, and participate in quality assurance activities to ensure software is market-ready and meets customer needs.
• Lead product development initiatives from concept to release, working closely with Product Managers, Developers, and Quality Assurance teams across multiple concurrent workstreams.
• Gather and analyze data on customer needs, market trends, and business goals to inform product decisions and strategy at both the individual product and portfolio level.
• Define, track, and report on key product and business metrics across the portfolio, using performance data to recommend course corrections and identify opportunities for optimization.
• Conduct market research and competitive analysis to identify emerging trends, opportunities, and threats, and translate findings into roadmap implications.
• Serve as a subject matter expert across the various products, providing guidance and support to cross-functional teams.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels of the organization, including executive sponsors, by presenting findings, progress updates, trade-offs, and recommendations in a clear, concise, and outcome-oriented manner.
• Continuously monitor customer feedback channels ‚surveys, reviews, support tickets, advisory councils, to identify themes, validate priorities, and inform product strategy.
• Partner with Sales and Marketing to shape product messaging, positioning, and go-to-market strategy across the portfolio, and to ensure consistent storytelling tied to customer outcomes.
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies (backlog refinement, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives) across multiple delivery teams, keeping teams focused on the highest-value work.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Proven experience as a Business Analyst, Product Analyst, or similar role in a software development environment.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data sets and draw actionable insights.
• Excellent project management skills, including the ability to prioritize tasks, manage timelines, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies and tools, such as JIRA.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across functional teams.
• Solid understanding of product management principles and practices.
• Experience with data visualization tools, such as Databricks or Power BI, is a plus.
• Knowledge of the law enforcement, public safety or K-12 industry is desirable but not required.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Agile software development philosophies and methodologies (i.e. Scrum, Kanban, etc.).
• Experience running software development meetings and ceremonies.
• Working within technical teams and managing results.
• 5 years of relevant experience, preferably within K–12 or higher education systems.
• Familiarity with specific SIS platforms (e.g., PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Clever and Classlink).
• Experience in educational data privacy standards (e.g., FERPA compliance).

Normal Working Hours and Conditions:  Core business hours are generally 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.  However, this position may require work to be performed outside of normal business hours based on Company operations.

Physical Requirements:  Primary functions require sufficient physical ability and mobility to work in an office setting including verbally communicating, seeing and hearing to exchange information and fine coordination including use of a computer keyboard.  Daily physical functions include standing, sitting and walking for prolonged periods of time and occasionally stooping, bending, kneeling, crouching, reaching, and twisting.  The employee may engage in lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling light to moderate amounts of weight up to 25 pounds.  The position also requires the operation of office equipment requiring repetitive hand movement. 

Navigate360 is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants due race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other legally protected status.