Product Owner

Job Title: Product Owner/Portfolio Manager

Duration: 06 Months

Location: Des Moines, IA (Onsite)

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Required/Desired Skills

• Experience in Project management: planning/managing scope, budget, timeline, resources; coordinating project activities
• Experience in Product ownership, portfolio management
• Experience in Requirement elicitation, documentation and articulation between teams
• Proficient understanding of the software development lifecycle and related methodologies
• Experience partnering with vendor project teams, managing relationships and vendor management
• High quality documentation: project plans, status updates, presentations, requirements, user stories, process maps, instructions
• Demonstrated strong communication skills across technical teams and business stakeholders, specifically to leadership - setting/resetting expectations
• Guide stages of agile software development, including user story development, sprint planning, and prioritization of the product backlog.
• IT vendor management

Description:

The Client is seeking a Product Owner/Portfolio Manager. The position involves close collaboration with business and IT management, oversight of cross-functional fusion teams, and a commitment to continuous improvement driven by performance data and user feedback.

Key Responsibilities:

· Manage a portfolio of IT products and applications, ensuring successful completion and alignment with business needs for both internal and external users

· Serve as a Product Owner to guide products through all lifecycle stages, ensuring efficiency, quality, and alignment with strategic goals.

· Work with business SMEs, internal teams, external agencies, and vendors to define product scope, identify IT-enabled solutions, and support procurement and implementation processes.

· Create and prioritize product backlogs and maintain roadmaps that align with long-term IT strategies and changing user and state needs.

· Oversee product releases, ensure readiness for deployment, monitor performance, gather feedback, and manage risks affecting delivery or budget.

· Collaborate with business and IT leadership to define and track performance metrics, ensuring all products and processes meet state, federal, and IT governance requirements.

· Manage relationships with vendors and service providers, overseeing performance, resolving issues related to interoperability, and ensuring adherence to service level agreements (SLAs) and availability targets.

· Oversee product IT financials, including budget planning and monitoring, while providing leadership with regular updates on product status, risks, and strategic roadmap progress.

· Lead and manage cross-functional fusion teams, ensuring effective collaboration among IT, vendors, and business units to deliver solutions that align with business needs and budget constraints.

· Partner with supervisors to allocate appropriate technical resources, monitor team performance, and provide ongoing support to fusion team staff.

· Facilitate agile meetings and lead sprint reviews, user story development, ensuring team alignment on priorities and presenting outputs to stakeholders.

· Use feedback and metrics to identify product needs and collaborate on acceptance criteria, testing, and feature delivery.

· Collaborate with Executive Technology Officers (ETOs) and product teams to prioritize and manage product development efforts, ensuring alignment with agency needs and effectively transitioning products to enterprise services.

· Build and maintain strong relationships with client/business teams, establishing regular communication and fostering trust to ensure successful collaboration and issue resolution.