Product Owner/Portfolio Manager

We are seeking an experienced Product Owner / Portfolio Manager to manage a portfolio of IT products and applications for the State of Iowa’s Department of Management (DOM), Division of Information Technology (DoIT). The successful candidate will guide products through their full lifecycle, oversee cross-functional fusion teams, and ensure alignment with business needs and strategic goals. This role requires strong expertise in Agile product ownership, portfolio management, vendor collaboration, and communication to deliver high-quality technology solutions that support state agencies and citizen-facing services.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage a portfolio of IT products and applications, ensuring alignment with business needs for internal and external users.
• Serve as Product Owner, guiding products through all lifecycle stages, ensuring efficiency, quality, and strategic alignment.
• Collaborate with business SMEs, internal teams, agencies, and vendors to define product scope, identify IT-enabled solutions, and support procurement/implementation.
• Create and prioritize product backlogs and maintain roadmaps aligned with long-term IT strategies and evolving user needs.
• Oversee product releases, ensure deployment readiness, monitor performance, gather feedback, and manage risks impacting delivery or budget.
• Collaborate with IT and business leadership to define and track performance metrics, ensuring compliance with state, federal, and IT governance requirements.
• Manage vendor and service provider relationships, monitor performance, resolve interoperability issues, and enforce SLAs and availability targets.
• Oversee IT financials, including budget planning and monitoring, providing leadership with updates on status, risks, and progress.
• Lead and manage cross-functional fusion teams (QA, BA, PM, developers) ensuring effective collaboration across IT, vendors, and business units.
• Partner with DoIT supervisors to allocate technical resources, monitor team performance, and support staff development.
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies – sprint planning, sprint reviews, backlog prioritization, user story development – and ensure team alignment on priorities.
• Use feedback and metrics to identify product needs, collaborate on acceptance criteria, testing, and feature delivery.
• Work with Executive Technology Officers (ETOs) and product teams to prioritize development, align with agency needs, and transition products to enterprise services.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with business teams, fostering collaboration and trust.

Required Skills:

• Product ownership, portfolio management – 2 years
• Project management: planning/managing scope, budget, timeline, resources; coordinating project activities – 5 years
• Requirement elicitation, documentation, and articulation between teams – 5 years
• Proficient understanding of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and related methodologies – 5 years
• Experience partnering with vendor project teams, managing relationships, and vendor management – 5 years
• High-quality documentation: project plans, status updates, presentations, requirements, user stories, process maps, instructions – 5 years
• Demonstrated strong communication skills across technical teams and business stakeholders, specifically with leadership (setting/resetting expectations) – 5 years
• Guiding stages of Agile software development: user story development, sprint planning, backlog prioritization – 3 years
• IT vendor management – 3 years

Skills Matrix:

• Product ownership, portfolio management – Required, 2 Years
• Project management: planning/managing scope, budget, timeline, resources; coordinating project activities – Required, 5 Years
• Requirement elicitation, documentation, and articulation between teams – Required, 5 Years
• Proficient understanding of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) and related methodologies – Required, 5 Years
• Experience partnering with vendor project teams, managing relationships, and vendor management – Required, 5 Years
• High-quality documentation: project plans, status updates, presentations, requirements, user stories, process maps, instructions – Required, 5 Years
• Strong communication skills across technical teams and business stakeholders, specifically with leadership (setting/resetting expectations) – Required, 5 Years
• Agile software development guidance: user story development, sprint planning, backlog prioritization – Required, 3 Years
• IT vendor management – Required, 3 Years

Compensation:

W2 – $63/hr. (Full Time)

C2C – $77/hr. (Contract)