Position Summary: Title: Product Owner Premium II
Duration: 6 Months Possible Extension
Location: Washington, DC 20433
Hybrid Onsite: 4 days per week from Day 1, with a full transition to 100% onsite anticipated soon
Position Overview: The Product Owner is responsible for defining, prioritizing, and managing the team backlog to ensure delivery is aligned with business goals and customer needs. Working closely with cross-functional teams, the Product Owner translates business requirements into clear user stories and acceptance criteria, supports sprint execution, and maintains ongoing stakeholder communication to maximize product value. The Product Owner is a key contributor to the team's ability to deliver high-quality increments in a predictable, value-driven cadence.
Essential Job Functions: Backlog Management and Prioritization- Manage, maintain, and continuously refine the team backlog, supporting alignment of stories are well-defined, estimated, and prioritized in alignment with product goals and business value.
- Write clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and definition of done in collaboration with the development team and stakeholders.
- Participate in backlog refinement sessions to ensure the team has a sufficient supply of ready stories for upcoming sprints.
Sprint Planning and Delivery Execution- Participate in sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives to ensure timely, high-quality product delivery.
- Clarify requirements and clarify requirements and escalate blockers to ITS leadership for resolution and maintain delivery momentum.
- Contribute to the development and execution of test plans to validate that delivered increments meet acceptance criteria and quality standards.
Stakeholder Engagement and Communication- Facilitate structured communication with stakeholders to gather feedback, identify opportunities for product improvement, and manage expectations.
- Provide stakeholders with regular updates on backlog status, sprint progress, and upcoming priorities at a consistent cadence.
- Serve as the primary coordination point between the delivery team and business stakeholders for day-to-day product questions and information flow, escalating decisions to Product Management as appropriate
Product Roadmap and Requirements- Maintain and communicate a near-term product roadmap aligned to direction set by Product Management, ensuring the team has clarity on upcoming priorities and dependencies.
- Review market trend analyses, user insight reports, and stakeholder feedback to inform backlog prioritization and product enhancements.
- Maintain comprehensive documentation of product features, user stories, and decisions to support transparency and continuity.
Metrics and Data-Driven Delivery
Track and report on key product performance indicators (e.g., velocity, acceptance rate, sprint goal achievement) to support data-driven delivery decisions.
- Track delivery metrics and share findings with ITS leadership to support continuous improvement of team practices.
- Flag issues with backlog quality and working agreements for resolution by Product Management.
Educational Qualifications and Experience:- Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology with proven related experience as an expert in the relevant areas specified.
- Extensive hands-on experience as a Product Owner in Agile delivery environments, with demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-stakeholder backlogs in enterprise or large-scale IT settings.
Certification Requirements:- SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) certification issued by Scaled Agile, Inc., or equivalent Agile product ownership certification (e.g., Certified Scrum Product Owner CSPO, Professional Scrum Product Owner PSPO).
- SAFe Advanced Product Manager, SAFe DevOps Practitioner, SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC), or other advanced Agile or product management certifications are an advantage.
Required Skills/Abilities:- Advanced proficiency in product backlog management, including writing user stories, acceptance criteria, and managing dependencies across teams.
- Advanced proficiency in product roadmap development and near-term planning in alignment with business objectives.
- Advanced stakeholder engagement skills, including the ability to facilitate workshops, manage competing priorities, and communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Advanced ability to apply data-driven decision-making using product and delivery metrics to guide backlog prioritization and continuous improvement.
- Proficiency in Azure DevOps (ADO) or equivalent tools for backlog tracking, sprint management, and reporting.
- Skilled in Agile methodologies including Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe, with practical experience applying them in multi-team delivery environments.
- Advanced influencing and strategic communication skills, with the ability to build consensus and drive alignment without direct authority.
- Skilled in product requirement analysis, value proposition development, and product development lifecycle management.
EEO:
Mindlance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of Minority/Gender/Disability/Religion/LGBTQI/Age/Veterans.