Product Owner

About the Role We’re looking for an experienced and user-focused Product Owner to lead the evolution of our large-scale, Java-based platform used by colleges and universities to manage and track experiential learning. This platform supports thousands of students, faculty, and employer partners across North America. As Product Owner, you will serve as the bridge between customers, internal teams, and our development group—translating real-world needs into well-defined product features and updates. You’ll be responsible for defining priorities, creating clear and actionable work tickets, and ensuring that what we build aligns with institutional needs and delivers outstanding usability. The Product Owner will be responsible for the product planning and execution throughout the product lifecycle, including: gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with cross-functional teams to ensure strategic, revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. The Product Owner must possess a unique blend of business and technical savvy; a big-picture vision, and the drive to make that vision a reality. A successful candidate must enjoy spending time in the market to understand existing problems and find innovative solutions for the broader market.   Key Responsibilities Product Strategy & Planning Work with leadership to define product vision, roadmap, and release plans aligned with organizational priorities. Translate institutional and user needs into actionable product features and updates. Manage the full product lifecycle from strategic planning to tactical execution Customer Engagement Conduct discovery sessions with post-secondary clients to gather feedback and identify opportunities for improvement. Serve as a key liaison for customers during feature rollouts and product enhancements. Monitor the competitive landscape, anticipate market shifts, and develop proactive strategies in response. Usability & Design Champion intuitive design and usability improvements throughout the product lifecycle. Collaborate with UX/UI designers to validate workflows and improve user experience. Backlog & Sprint Management Maintain and prioritize the product backlog, balancing new features, technical debt, and customer requests. Write detailed user stories and acceptance criteria for the development team. Collaborate closely with developers (primarily Java-based stack) to clarify requirements and validate completed work. Lead go-to-market planning, including product announcements and beta testing coordination. Cross-Functional Collaboration Interface with customer service, implementation, and QA teams to ensure smooth communication and coordinated product delivery. Support internal documentation and training resources for new features and updates.