Agile Data Product Owner
Location: Charlotte, NC
Work Arrangement: Hybrid — 3 days onsite / up to 2 days remote
Contract: 12 months, with potential extension
Pay Rate: Up to $57/hour
Schedule: Standard business hours, with occasional flexibility for PI Planning and stakeholder meetings
About the Role
We are seeking an experienced Agile Data Product Owner to support the Chief Administrative Office (CAO) Data Analytics & Insights organization.
This role will serve as the business authority for a defined data product area, owning backlog prioritization, feature and story refinement, acceptance criteria, stakeholder alignment, dependency management, and delivery acceptance.
The ideal candidate combines strong Agile Product Ownership experience with knowledge of data management, data governance, data quality, analytics, and enterprise data platforms.
Key Responsibilities
- Own and prioritize the product backlog based on product strategy, business value, stakeholder needs, risk, and delivery priorities.
- Define and refine features, user stories, business requirements, and acceptance criteria.
- Partner with Product Managers, Data Analysts, Technology teams, Data Governance, Risk, Compliance, and business stakeholders.
- Participate in Agile ceremonies including:
- Daily standups
- Backlog refinement
- Sprint planning
- Sprint reviews/demos
- Retrospectives
- Product Owner syncs
- PI Planning
- Review completed work and accept user stories when acceptance criteria and Definition of Done are met.
- Manage dependencies, sequencing, competing priorities, and delivery risks across teams.
- Translate data-product requirements into actionable delivery work involving data sourcing, ingestion, data quality, reporting, metadata, lineage, access, and controls.
- Support data quality remediation, technical debt, governance, and platform modernization initiatives.
- Define and communicate product success metrics, adoption measures, data quality outcomes, and business value.
- Maintain transparent backlog structure, traceability, prioritization, status, dependencies, and delivery readiness using Jira and Confluence.
- Communicate product priorities, delivery progress, risks, dependencies, and decisions to stakeholders.
- Partner with governance, risk, compliance, and technology teams to ensure delivery aligns with applicable policies and regulatory requirements.
- Facilitate collaboration and decision-making in a complex, matrixed environment.
Required Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in Product Ownership, Agile delivery, Digital Product Management, Data Product Management, Business Analysis, Data Management, or a related area.
- Demonstrated experience working as a Product Owner, Agile Product Owner, Business Product Owner, Data Product Owner, Business Analyst, or Data Product Lead.
- Experience with:
- Product backlog ownership
- User stories and feature refinement
- Acceptance criteria
- Agile ceremonies
- Delivery team collaboration
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Ability to manage priorities, dependencies, risks, and competing stakeholder needs.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
- Experience translating business needs into clear, actionable requirements.
- Ability to work effectively in a matrixed organization.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with data product management or data management.
- Knowledge of:
- Data governance
- Data quality
- Metadata
- Data lineage
- Data integration
- Data remediation
- Reporting and analytics
- Enterprise data platforms
- Experience with Jira and Confluence.
- Experience with enterprise data warehouses or cloud-based data platforms.
- Experience working in highly regulated environments such as financial services, banking, insurance, or healthcare.
- Experience with Scrum, Kanban, or scaled Agile frameworks.
- Agile certifications such as CSPO, PSPO, SAFe POPM, SAFe Agilist, or PMI-ACP.
- Experience with risk, compliance, audit, and regulatory requirements.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is someone who can bridge business priorities, data needs, technology delivery, and governance requirements. You should be comfortable making prioritization decisions, facilitating stakeholder discussions, clarifying requirements for delivery teams, and ensuring that delivered data capabilities provide measurable business value.