About This Opportunity:
The Product Owner is primarily responsible for delivery, adoption and documentation of product features and system enhancements to key technology products. The product owner works closely with Product Manager(s), technology teams and vendors to provide direction, guidance, and support to deliver on products and services. The role requires in-depth product knowledge, an understanding of underlying business and technical relationships, and will require periodic visits to customer sites and attendance of relevant events to keep the pulse on business challenges, needs and industry best practices.
How You Will Spend Your Time
• Work with Product Managers to groom, prioritize and maintain the Product Backlog, with a focus on feature and user story level items and facilitating near term work with the delivery teams.
• Works closely with the Product Manager(s) to communicate the product vision, roadmap and priorities to the delivery team and related stakeholders.
• Drives discussions and maintains regular touchpoints to understand the unique needs of different business units and external customers.
• Translates high level vision into well-defined product requirements, with a focus on features, user stories and acceptance test criteria.
• Participates in agile ceremonies such as planning, discovery, and retrospectives to ensure the delivery team has a shared understanding of product work.
• Tracks and communicates progress, deadlines & constraints for product work.
• Evaluates trade-offs between competing priorities, based on input from business stakeholders and Product Manager(s), ensuring the delivery team has a clear alignment on approach and what to work on next.
• Works with Architects, UX Designers, developers, and other key technical roles to improve the product experience usability, and/or facilitate feature design and implementation.
• Works with IT BA’s, System Admins and other business and technical roles to assess association impact; and partners with the IT BA to develop testing plans for code validation, and to ensure release plans are successfully executed.
• Monitors and analyze product Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the effectiveness of features and make data-driven decisions about the product backlog.
• Approves go-live and promotion to production schedules and testing sign-off.
• Collaborates with Lending Support, Organizational Development and Corporate Communications to implement release communications and change management strategies that reduce disruption and maximize adoption and ensure flawless rollout of product enhancements.
• Represents and communicates Farm Credit Mid-America purpose and values and comply with association conduct and security policies and confidentiality expectations.
Minimum Education & Experience
The typical incumbent has a bachelor’s degree in computer science, finance, statistics, business administration, related field or equivalent related professional experience. Possesses a minimum two (2) years of successful, relevant experience as described above, and Project management and consultative skills. Strong analysis and communication skills are a must. SCRUM Product Owner Certification preferred.
Mental & Physical Requirements
This job requires the incumbent to have the ability to…
• Engage in telephone and face-to-face conversation to serve customers and give and receive information from staff, vendors, outside consultants and the public.
• Use a computer and similar office technology and tools. This involves reading the screen and keying/typing information.
• Speak and make presentations to individuals or groups on technical subjects related to job.
• Travel via auto or commercial transportation to carry out essential job responsibilities.
• Successfully interact with and represent the organization to staff, officers, board members, customers, vendors, and/or the public at all levels.
• Provide sound technical advice to leaders and other staff in the subject field(s) related to this position.
• Understand and explain various subject matter and consulting concepts, programs, terminology, and methods.
• Reason, judge, compare, calculate, evaluate, decide, and critique such information as written material, numerical data, responses to customer needs, and/or other related work activities.
Requirements of the job include the ability to do the work, with or without reasonable accommodations. It is the Association’s policy to make reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities. Leadership retains the right to add, subtract or change duties of the position at any time.