Product Owner

Pearson

We are the world’s learning company with more than 24,000 employees operating in 70 countries. We combine world-class educational content and assessment,powered by services and technology, to enable more effective teaching and personalized learning at scale. We believe that wherever learning flourishes so do people.

Pearson’s Online & Blended Learning K-12 group provides high-quality, highly accountable online education solutions to schools, school districts and students in grades K-12. It serves families and schools with a variety of digital learning and online school solutions including Connections Academy, International Connections Academy, and Pearson Connexus. The group, formerly known as Connections Education, is based in Columbia, Maryland and has been named a “Top Workplace” by the Baltimore Sun for three consecutive years and a “Best Place to Work” by Baltimore magazine. Recognized for its outstanding curriculum, high-quality teachers and leadership, Pearson Online & Blended Learning is committed to expanding quality education through technology, and helping students achieve both academic and personal success.

Position Summary

We are seeking a Product Owner who will serve as a liaison between business units, technology and support teams to facilitate agile product development. This role directly interfaces with software development, architecture, UX and operations experts to represent the voice of the customer/user and is responsible for defining, documenting and clearly articulating requirements to the delivery team. Reporting to the Director of Digital Product Management, the Product Owner will use a high level of product knowledge and critical thinking to prioritize user stories and development, and ensure successful communication and implementation of all agreed-upon initiatives and their outcomes.

Responsibilities:

Lead the creation of functional and nonfunctional requirements in collaboration with product management and engineering teams.
Prioritize and refine backlog and work with engineering to design and build the product.
Create drafts of features and user stories with acceptance criteria to seed product backlog in order to begin the grooming process
Act as subject matter expert for assigned area, performing the role of product owner on an agile team. Represent the voice of the customer by developing deep expertise and empathy for the customers and learners that use our curriculum, services, and software products
Communicate in an effective, timely and efficient manner with business owners and the agile delivery team, ensuring the successful delivery of software during each iteration.
Develop rapport and trust with business owners, key stakeholders and a highly technical development team.
Demonstrate work at the end of each iteration to key stakeholders and assist in authoring supporting technical documentation for delivered features

Requirements :

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience
2-4 years of experience in a Product Owner and/or business analyst role (or similar) in an agile software development environment including a strong working knowledge of the methodology, user stories, and iterative development
Strong analytical skills and attention to detail required, including a thorough understanding of how to interpret customer business needs and translate them into application and operational requirements
Excellent verbal and written communication skills and the ability to interact professionally with a diverse group of executives, managers, and subject matter experts throughout the entire life cycle of a product
Excellent time management skills including the prioritization of tasks and controlling scope
Ability to reconcile key stakeholder interests, conflicting priorities, and business strategy and influence without formal management authority
Passion for education and experience working in an educational environment
Agile Certification Required (ex: CSPO), Scaled Agile (SAFe) certification preferred

Product Owner

Fitch Ratings Inc.

At Fitch, we have an open culture where employees are able to exchange ideas and perspectives, throughout the organization, irrespective of their seniority. Your voice will be heard allowing you to have a real impact. We embrace diversity and appreciate authenticity, employees work in an environment where they can be their true selves. Our inclusive and progressive approach helps us to keep a balanced perspective.

With our expertise, we are not only creating data and information, but also producing timely insights from every angle to influence decision making in this ever changing and highly competitive market. We have a relentless hunger to innovate and unlock the power of human insights and to drive value for our customers. There has never been a better time to make an impact and we invite you to join us on this journey.

Fitch Ratings is a leading provider of credit ratings, commentary and research. Dedicated to providing value beyond the rating through independent and prospective credit opinions, Fitch Ratings offers global perspectives shaped by strong local market experience and credit market expertise. The additional context, perspective and insights we provide have helped fund a century of growth and enables you to make important credit judgments with confidence.

Product Owners at Fitch are responsible for being the voice of the customer, and understanding the solutions that will benefit them and the value those solutions have relative to each other. They are skilled at defining product roadmaps, and breaking them in to smaller prioritized components that enable frequent delivery of value. Product Owners champion a test and learn approach, and are willing to test ideas early rather than waiting to release ideas over time. They use refined communication skills to articulate their value, gather and provide feedback. They are responsible for delivery of the desired outcomes.

Who we are looking for:

To improve our ability to develop first class applications and data that can be used by Fitch analysts to conduct their analytical work in a more efficient way, while protecting quality and integrity of the rating process, we are looking for a Product Owner to work collaboratively with a squad focused on analytical groups outcomes for internal use.

You are an energetic product development leader who is passionate about using your market knowledge, business acumen and communication skills to translate vision to tangible value. You are enthusiastic about engaging with customers, stakeholders and teams to understand business challenges, develop creative and innovative solutions, and bring them to market. You have a collaborative and customer first mind-set and are comfortable working in an emergent Agile environment with colleagues at varying levels of Agile experience.

Key responsibilities:

Defines overall strategy and direction of the products based on understanding of organizational goals and analytical groups needs
Manages the value identification and realization for the product
Owns the backlog, feature prioritization, roadmap and the MVP
Communicates with stakeholders to ensure a common understanding of the roadmap and progress towards the roadmap
Engages with customers to gain a clear view on priority of customer needs
Works to identify and prioritize features to meet needs of the customer
Ensures organizational alignment with stakeholders –communicates stakeholder needs with a clear vision and sprint goals, user stories and backlogs
Leads Agile squad to define and align Sprint goals to ensure “ready” user stories; supports the squad to deliver on Sprint commitments
Works closely with the squad to provide timely feedback and answers to their questions; ultimately accepts or rejects the product increments of the Sprint

Requirements:

Agile practitioner capabilities & experience working with or in Agile teams
Relevant industry or functional experience depending on the product, and/or good understanding of analytical group process and needs would be a plus
Proven track record of delivering data driven solutions with a customer first mindset
Ability to see the business as a customer and translate requirements into technical and data solutions
Ability to create and maintain a backlog and roadmap, and to prioritize that backlog based on business value and technical feasibility
Rigorous organizational skills , to be able to create and maintain a backlog and roadmap,
Focus on value for the business and technical feasibility (with support of the squad members) to properly prioritize that backlog
Excellent communication skills and the ability to adapt communication to audience – that will range from senior management, key stakeholders in analytical groups, to technical specialists in the squad
Ability to work to get things done in a matrixed organization.
Certified Product Owner (CSPO) a plus
Candidates with limited experience of Agile, but with right skills and knowledge of rating agencies and analytical process will also be considered

Associate Product Owner

Liberty Mutual Insurance

As an Associate Product Owner in Corporate Finance Enablement, you will support the Actuarial and Enterprise Risk Management application portfolio across Liberty Mutual. In partnership with the Product Owner, this role provides leadership to the agile team while working closely with stakeholders to maximize the value of development and ensuring alignment with customer and organizational goals.

Responsibilities:

With guidance from a Product Owner, supports the communication of and alignment to the product vision. May also contribute to the definition of the product vision.
Supports the use of product level KPIs to drive product decisions. Assists in collecting KPI data and/or reinforcing their use in product decisions.
Supports creating and maintaining the backlog (including prioritization, and acceptance criteria).
Contributes to squad/team quarterly planning and sets expectations for delivery of new capabilities, features, and functionalities.
Participates in squad/team demos, retrospectives, and all other ceremonies.
With guidance, works daily with the Agile working group, clarifying business requirements, removing roadblocks, constantly communicating, and supporting alignment around product strategy.
With a guidance from the Product Owner, monitors and maintains the product health, supporting long-term product viability and efficiency.
May analyze feasibility, cost of delay ramifications, economies, and other aspects of planned or potential changes to the product.
With a guidance, supports building the product roadmap at the squad/team level based on strategy and ongoing input from stakeholders.
Partners across the organization, coordinates priorities and activities to ensure delivery of expected customer value.

Knowledge of Agile development methodologies and IT project management as typically acquired through a bachelor's degree in relevant field (business, technology, etc.), Master's degree preferred.
Minimum of 3 years' experience in business, engineering, technology, or consulting; in addition, the following skillsets will be beneficial: previous experience with actuarial and/or risk management teams, aptitude with Microsoft Office Suite.
Ability to develop strong working relationships, influence others and build consensus with cogent arguments.
Experience communicating moderate to complex ideas, issues, and designs to varied audiences; educate SBU/department(s) on business vision and plan along with the impact of change.
Ability to operate with incomplete information and make timely decisions.
Strong analysis and problem-solving skills with ability to lead a team.
Experimental mindset with demonstrated willingness to learn.