The work we do has an impact on millions of lives, and you can be a part of it.
We help protect our customers against life’s uncertainties. Regardless of where you work within the company, you’ll be helping provide protection and peace of mind when our customers need it most.
The Senior Product Owner (SPO) serves as a member of the Agile Team(s) and is responsible for many facets of the teams’ workload including collaboration, intake, elaboration of multiple features (3+), business value and prioritization. The SPO is accountable for creating and grooming the backlog, working with business stakeholders to define acceptance criteria and ensuring the criteria is met once the story is completed. The Senior Product Owner works with Leadership, Business and Agile teams to maximize the value of the work being performed in any given sprint. This integral position is also responsible for aiding in the development and growth of strong partner relationships with key business stakeholders and driving adoption of capabilities to increase business unit satisfaction.
The Senior Product Owner function understands and represents the “voice of the customer” internally by communicating and overseeing the prioritization of work across the multiple Agile Development teams within its purview. In maintaining the backlog, the Senior Product Owner will ensure that the teams are working on stories that deliver against the product vision, maximize business value, and deliver necessary functionality to customers.
This role represents a key Agile function as the Senior Product Owner is responsible for guiding the Development teams in understanding the business need, value, and success criteria for each prioritized initiative, managing the backlog, and serving as point of contact coordination of testing and Sprint Reviews.
The SPO is also responsible for driving the adoption of Agile internally and externally within the organization. This includes being a champion of Agile to cultivate continuous improvement, as well as being a thought leader and looking for opportunities to grow in Agile maturity.
This role also must possess leadership qualities that will be utilized to mentor junior team members. The role influences others in IT by driving the delivery of features forward and is sought out for their expertise. This role is expected to support and expand a culture of operational excellence.
Responsibilities:
Manage the Sprint Backlog
Define the product backlog and work with business stakeholders to create and clarify actionable user stories for the development team as needed
Groom the work in the backlog in collaboration with the Planning Manager and the Agile Development Team
Understand and maintain relative prioritization and guide the Development team when priorities change
In partnership with the Release Train Engineer, ensure all sprint backlog stories have defined business need, value, MVP, acceptance criteria, story points and tasks to support the Development team
Work with assigned team(s) to hold sprint planning, define sprint goals, direct focus and prepare for sprint review
Manage intake of sprint interruptions, including understanding of need, value, item priority and relative priority of committed work
Coordinate with business owners and Dev team to set expectations, commit and deliver
Value Delivery in each Sprint
Drive to completion multiple features (3+) during any one quarter
Interact with customers and stakeholders to elaborate and understand needs in current user stories
Respond to teams’ questions about requirements or assist in the facilitation of requirement feedback
Clarify user stories, product vision and specification
Collaborate with teams daily to ensure the goals of the sprint are met
Evaluate completed user stories to ensure the acceptance criteria is met prior to delivering to business stakeholders
Accept or reject iteration results
Testing
Serve as a point of contact for testing requests for the development team
Work to anticipate testing needs during a given sprint
Coordinate testing completion based on priority and team capacity
PI Planning, Sprint Planning, and Sprint Review
Assist in quarterly planning activities, support the assigned development team in preparing for and engaging in quarterly planning, and facilitate communication and tracking of assigned features
Facilitate agile team ceremonies
Prepare sprint backlog ahead of sprint planning and lead the Development team in creation of and focus on sprint goals
Coordinate sprint review with other agile development teams to ensure involvement and alignment across all EDS agile teams
Assist team with the presentation of value delivered in the sprint. Anticipate the appropriate level of detail needed and likely questions
IT Influence/Leadership:
Be a champion of Agile in growing the maturity of Agile across the organization
Provide leadership by modeling excellence in high productivity, strong work ethic, and positive interaction with others
Act as a thought leader and look for opportunities to grow in Agile maturity
Represent the team in interdepartmental projects and corporate initiatives; consult with the business area on the most complex system-related issues and make recommendations for better utilizing the available technology
Collaborate with peers and business partners as a subject matter expert in their assigned area(s) and share business and systems knowledge with others
Agile Service Delivery
Participate as part of a team to mature Agile in an ITIL-based service organization to increase the frequency, predictability, and quality of services delivered to our customers
Promote IT and Agile best practices with organization POs and business stakeholders’ interactions to ensure alignment with IT and Agile standards and effective use of investments
Analyze business systems and processes; identify improvement opportunities to increase efficiency and productivity
Reporting
Maintain detailed knowledge and communicate the status of specific features assigned that affect business partner groups
At regular intervals, meet with business partners, discuss status updates, gather information on upcoming initiatives and relative priorities of each
Create and provide relevant customer reports to key internal stakeholders as needed
Coordinate the involvement of key stakeholders in Agile ceremonies across the assigned agile team(s) and in project meetings through the PMO
Relationship Management
Develop and maintain strong relationships with business units and team members to understand and identify tactical/strategic business needs and optimize solutions based on MVP
Interact with clients to mitigate risks and to resolve problems
Provide transparency to business partners on scope, schedule and resource constraints to a plan
Coordinate with the business in analyzing and recommending technology solution alternatives. Provide coordination in the effective use of existing IT resources
Work with the IT organization and other stakeholders to support development of, prioritize and execute the IT project portfolio in alignment with corporate strategic priorities
Retain expertise and remain current on key business and technical issues facing the client’s organization
Mentorship/Continuous Improvement
Utilize leadership abilities and vast business/technical knowledge to mentor fellow team members
Participate in training junior resources to get up to speed
Continuously improve team process and procedures by frequently providing feedback and ideas
Work Experience, Education, Certification / Training Required:
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required. Master’s degree, PMP, CSPO, and CSM certifications preferred
Demonstrated professional level abilities in driving culture change, process management, effective tool usage, evangelizing product technologies and related application capabilities
Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly, negotiate, listen, mitigate conflict, build alliances and achieve results
Minimum 3+ years demonstrated experience in project management or support roles for IT solutions in customer facing environments requiring complex relationship management and diagnosing complex support and service issues
Minimum 3+ years working with integrated project teams using varied delivery methodologies
Minimum 3+ years’ experience using the ITIL framework for IT service management
Certifications in industry-related or discipline-related organizations are desirable and may substitute for some work and/or technical experience. (Organization could include Scrum Alliance, LOMA, SILA, American College, PMI, IIBA, IIST)
Microsoft Dynamics and CRM experience highly preferred
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:
Ability to build relationships and establish credibility quickly with key stakeholders internally and externally
Sound understanding of software development life cycle and successful management of multiple full lifecycle projects is required, Agile experience is highly preferred.
Meaningful experience and expertise working with front and back-office processes and technologies, integrating business and technology, and managing demand and prioritization is required
Experience/in-depth knowledge of business requirements analysis and IT processes required
Demonstrate broad knowledge of multiple business areas, and industry to identify and communicate how IT solutions can support the achievement of short-and long-term business goals
Leadership and negotiation skills, with driving desire and high propensity to learn quickly and develop oneself
Ability to work with stakeholders to proactively identify and evaluate risks associated with business decisions
Ability to communicate clearly, negotiate, listen, mitigate conflict, build alliances and achieve desired results using strong interpersonal and diplomacy skills
Self-Starter and autonomous within a team environment
Able to work productively under high levels of ambiguity
Skilled at asking questions and professionally challenging to uncover important facts and information
Has the courage to make decisions, but also has the wisdom to know when a decision needs to be escalated
Builds consensus among diverse groups of stakeholders; highly skilled at facilitating resolution across functions and departments
Has the confidence to engage and work productively with business leaders
Strong team orientation and willingness to work to earn the trust of the team
Other related skills and/or abilities may be required to perform this job.
Employee Benefits:
We aim to protect the wellbeing of our employees and their families with a broad benefits offering. In addition to offering comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance, we support emotional wellbeing through mental health benefits and an employee assistance program. Work/life balance is important and Protective offers a variety of paid time away benefits (e.g., paid time off, paid parental leave, short-term disability, and a cultural observance day). The financial health of our employees is just as important as physical and emotional health. Some of the financial wellbeing benefits include contributions to healthcare accounts, a pension plan, and a 401(k) plan with Company matching. All employees are encouraged to protect their overall wellbeing by engaging in ProHealth Rewards, Protective’s platform to improve wellbeing while earning cash rewards.
Eligibility for certain benefits may vary by position in accordance with the terms of the Company’s benefit plans.
Accommodations for Applicants with a Disability:
If you require an accommodation to complete the application and recruitment process due to a disability, please email [email protected]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application and recruitment process.
Please note that the above email is solely for individuals with disabilities requesting an accommodation. General employment questions should not be sent through this process.
We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to being inclusive and attracting, retaining, and growing an inclusive workforce.
