SENIOR PRODUCT OWNER

SENIOR PRODUCT OWNER

Job ID: 928-1-Product Owner -4 @ NNS
Work Arrangement: Hybrid
Pay Rate: $55.00–$69.00/hourly
PPE Required: Steel-toe boots, hard hat, and safety glasses

POSITION SUMMARY

We are seeking a highly skilled and engaged Senior Product Owner to lead backlog strategy, customer discovery, and delivery execution for a software development team operating within an Agile delivery model.

This role is ideal for a strong practitioner who can model best-in-class Product Ownership while serving as a change agent to improve delivery discipline, customer focus, and Agile maturity across the portfolio.

The Senior Product Owner will:

• Own the delivery team backlog.
• Ensure work is clearly defined, prioritized, and ready for delivery.
• Represent the customer and end user.
• Drive consistent delivery of high-value business outcomes.
• Align product priorities with business and portfolio objectives.
• Collaborate closely with customers, business partners, architects, developers, and testers.
• Spend regular onsite time with customers, business partners, and delivery teams.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Backlog Ownership & Delivery

• Own, maintain, and continuously refine the delivery team's backlog.
• Align backlog priorities with business objectives and highest-value outcomes.
• Translate business and portfolio priorities into clear, actionable user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Ensure backlog items are sufficiently detailed, understood, and ready before sprint execution.
• Lead backlog refinement sessions.
• Actively participate in:
  • Sprint planning
  • Sprint reviews/demos
  • Retrospectives
  • Other Agile ceremonies
• Serve as the content authority for the delivery team.
• Provide timely answers, clarification, direction, and decisions.
• Identify and manage upstream and downstream dependencies.
• Drive alignment with adjacent product teams.
• Collaborate with architects to ensure backlog items comply with enterprise architecture requirements.

2. Customer Discovery & Validation

• Engage directly and regularly with customers and end users.
• Understand real-world workflows, pain points, and operational needs.
• Spend meaningful onsite time at customer worksites.
• Observe how work is performed and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Serve as the voice of the customer within the delivery team.
• Ensure product development remains aligned with actual business value.
• Validate completed work with customers.
• Gather customer feedback to confirm solutions meet intended needs.
• Use customer feedback and delivery results to refine future backlog items.
• Conduct continuous discovery activities, including:
  • Customer interviews
  • Surveys
  • Workflow observation
  • Feedback sessions
• Identify evolving customer needs and translate them into product opportunities.

3. Agile Leadership & Collaboration

• Build strong collaborative relationships with:
  • Developers
  • Testers
  • Architects
  • Business stakeholders
  • Customers
• Model strong SAFe and Agile Product Owner behaviors.
• Help improve Product Owner capability and Agile maturity across the portfolio.
• Promote:
  • Backlog discipline
  • Transparency
  • Customer engagement
  • Continuous improvement
• Maintain an Agile team culture aligned with organizational values and modern delivery practices.
• Lead, direct, and empower team members without formal management authority.
• Identify risks, unclear requirements, and delivery issues early.
• Proactively resolve or escalate delivery challenges.

4. Strategic Thinking & Decision Making

• Apply a data-driven approach to prioritization and trade-off decisions.
• Make informed product and delivery decisions based on business value.
• Influence stakeholders at all organizational levels, including senior leadership.
• Define and deliver against measurable OKRs and KPIs.
• Work effectively with ambiguous requirements.
• Collaborate across multidisciplinary teams.
• Adapt quickly in a fast-paced, collaborative, and continuously changing environment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Proven experience as a Product Owner in a software development environment.
• Senior-level Product Ownership experience preferred.
• SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) certification preferred.
• Certified Product Owner certification preferred.
• Demonstrated success owning and continuously refining Agile delivery team backlogs.
• Experience working directly with customers and end users.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and relationship-building abilities.
• Ability to lead, direct, and empower team members without formal management authority.
• Experience collaborating with:
  • Software developers
  • QA/testers
  • Architects
  • Business stakeholders
• Large enterprise experience preferred.
• SAP experience desired but not required.
• Azure DevOps experience preferred.

IDEAL CANDIDATE

The ideal candidate understands Product Ownership as a strategic, customer-centered discipline, rather than simply backlog maintenance or requirements intake.

The successful candidate continually asks:

• Who is the customer?
• What problem are we trying to solve?
• Do we understand the customer's real workflow?
• Is the work clear enough for the delivery team?
• What does success look like?
• Did the delivered solution truly solve the customer's problem?

CORE COMPETENCIES

Product Ownership | Agile | SAFe | Backlog Management | Product Strategy | Customer Discovery | User Stories | Acceptance Criteria | Sprint Planning | Backlog Refinement | Sprint Reviews | Customer Validation | Stakeholder Management | Agile Leadership | Continuous Improvement | OKRs | KPIs | Dependency Management | Enterprise Architecture | Software Development | Azure DevOps | SAP

WORK ENVIRONMENT

This is a hybrid position requiring regular onsite engagement with customers, business partners, and software delivery teams.

Required Personal Protective Equipment

• Steel-toe boots
• Hard hat
• Safety glasse