Product Owner Job Description: Top Duties and Qualifications

A Product Owner, or Product Director, oversees the development of products from start to finish to ensure they meet the clients’ needs and preferences. Their main duties include determining the overall vision of products, managing various backlog items and deciding which features each product will have according to clients’ preferences.

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Product Owner Duties and Responsibilities

As part of their role on a product team, a successful Product Owner should fulfill the following duties and responsibilities:

  • Collaborating with prospective users and clients to understand and anticipate their needs and translate them into product requirements
  • Defining the vision for the team’s product
  • Creating a product road map based on this vision
  • Managing the product backlog and prioritizing them based on changing requirements
  • Overseeing all stages of product creation including design and development
  • Developing user stories
  • Monitoring and evaluating product progress at each stage of the process
  • Liaising with the product team and end-users to deliver updates
  • Participating in Scrum meetings and product sprints

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Product Owner Job Description Examples

 

Example 1

Job Title : Product Owner

Job Type : Contract

Job Description:

· Continuous deployment pipeline (continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD)) mindset or familiarity required.

· DevOps concepts and mindset a plus.

· Understands value of canary releases.

· Independently or jointly develop business requirements for complex tasks.

· Lead joint application development sessions, determine business requirements and participate in related system development projects.

· Identify and specify business and technical requirements, resources, and processes for a complex sub-system or major system modification.

· Develop detailed selection evaluation criteria based on identified product requirements.

· Have an understanding of the agile application development life cycle.

· Review and validate functionality of application upgrades and implementations. Report back on any problems. Identify new functionality and/or hardware requirements as assigned. Ability to create test

· plans.

· Interact with vendors for technical issues and project initiatives as necessary. Assist with issue escalation where applicable.

· Responsible for demonstrating appropriate, clear, concise, and effective written and oral communications in all interactions to build relationships and accomplish day to day work and projects.

· Create and contribute to project tasks and milestones. Update all project management and time tracking tools accordingly. Ability to take full ownership of a project.

· Create and update processes. Ability to contribute to process improvement efforts.

· Complete documentation/flow charting of system builds and maintain team's existing documentation independently. Responsible for validating current documentation. Extract and document customer/business requirements and needs for use by enterprise architecture and engineering teams (network, system, and software).

· Successfully completes projects, tasks, and initiatives by embracing a team-first approach. Works in collaboration with team and offers feedback, where appropriate, to complete individual and group efforts. Shows the

· ability to adjust and be flexible to change by adapting approach when necessary. Mentors less experienced staff.

· Seeks feedback from senior team members for development and effectively incorporates feedback into work and behaviors.

Job Type: Contract

Salary: From $70.00 per hour

Schedule:
  • 8 hour shift

    Education:
  • Bachelor's (Preferred)

    Experience:
  • DevOps: 1 year (Preferred)
  • CI/CD: 1 year (Preferred)

    Work Location: Remote

    Speak with the [phone number]
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    Example 2

    Product Owner

    Role Summary/Purpose:

    Reporting to the VP of Information Technology in Richmond, VA, the Product Owner will be based out of Richmond, VA and will be responsible for defining and managing the development of custom-built applications to service health information exchange. The Product Owner role entails overseeing project guidance through collaboratively working with those in leadership and internal teams to capture and build solutions which meet the needs of Clareto’s clients.

    Essential Responsibilities:

  • Serve as a subject matter expert on the capabilities of the services offered on custom developed platforms.
  • Serve as a subject matter expert in the Agile methodology and create workflows and tools used to implement the product roadmap across the software development lifecycle.
  • Create and maintain product roadmaps and release schedules
  • Oversee the backlog of improvements and defects, defining the requirements and acceptance criteria.
  • Facilitate release management and coordinate communications around product enhancements and releases.
  • Oversee project managers to ensure timely delivery of product capabilities to market.
  • Provide project updates on a consistent basis to various stakeholders about strategy, adjustments, and progress
  • Define and manage the execution of the strategic roadmap for expanding the business.
  • Determine and define project scope and objectives
  • Predict resources needed to reach objectives
  • Prepare budgets based on scope of work and resource requirements and track project progress against them.
  • Oversee the development of detailed project plans created by Project Managers and provide updates on a consistent basis to various stakeholders about strategy, adjustments, and progress
  • Analyze market capabilities to ensure service offerings are competitive in functionality and price.

    Qualifications/Requirements:

  • 5+ years or more in product ownership on software projects.
  • 3+ years or more of project management experience on information technology software projects
  • Familiarity with Agile, Scrum, Konbon, and Waterfall project methodologies.
  • Familiarity with Microsoft Azure Dev/Ops or similar Agile toolsets.
  • Experience working with team leads to ensure projects are delivered on time.
  • Ability to assess risk and identify key stakeholders necessary to remove barriers.
  • Must be a strong communicator, both written and verbal, with the ability to communicate effectively with all levels of the organization.
  • Must be reliable and highly accountable for projects, ensuring all team members understand the deliverables and offering reminders as needed to keep each project on track.
  • Must work well in a team environment yet be able to work independently as needed.
  • Independent thinking and good judgment are necessary to respond to needs appropriately.

    This role is 3 days a week on-site.

    Job Type: Full-time

    Benefits:
  • 401(k)
  • 401(k) matching
  • Dental insurance
  • Employee assistance program
  • Flexible spending account
  • Health insurance
  • Health savings account
  • Life insurance
  • Paid time off
  • Tuition reimbursement
  • Vision insurance
    Schedule:
  • 8 hour shift
  • Monday to Friday

    Ability to commute/relocate:
  • Richmond, VA 23230: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work Location: One location
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    Example 3

    Universal Technologies seeking a Product Owner/BA with expert knowledge of SDLC for an onsite role in Long Island City, NY. ***Applicants should be prepared for 100 % onsite work from Long Island City from day one.

    WHO WE ARE:
    Universal Technologies, LLC is a Women-Owned (M/WBE) IT solutions and consulting company focused at delivering enterprise systems that significantly improve our clients IT performance. We work across the IT spectrum including Development, Business/Systems/Data Analysis, Project Management, Cyber Security, Network Engineering, and High-Level System Architecture.

    The pride in the services we provide and the accessibility and flexibility we provide to employees are what make Universal Technologies stand out from the rest! We hope to propel your IT career to the next level and excite our employees with new and challenging projects.

    WHAT WE OFFER:
    Our W2 employees can expect the following benefits:

  • Competitive pay
  • Health/Dental Insurance
  • Group Life Insurance
  • 401K
  • HSA/FSA
  • Pre-Tax Transportation Program
  • Generous Paid Time Off/Holiday Policy

    Mandatory Skills/Experience:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Business, IT or related field or equivalent experience
  • At least 3 years’ experience as lead Product Owner/Business Analyst
  • Expert Knowledge of SDLC
  • Strong skillset to gather requirements and document business processes
  • Strong communication, presentation, articulation skills
  • Detail oriented, team player, soft skills, can follow process by the book

    SCOPE OF Services:

  • Translate product roadmap features into well-defined product requirements including features, user stories, and acceptance test criteria.
  • Work with cross-functional teams and various stakeholders, including analytics, design/user experience, engineering, and user enablement.
  • Work in an Agile environment and continuously review the business needs, refine priorities, outline milestones and deliverables, and identify opportunities and risks.
  • Partner with stakeholders and users across the organization to inform the product vision, strategy, features, and prioritization.
  • Develop, own, and execute product roadmap, as required.
  • Assist in defining the user experience for internal/externals users, including support and monitoring.
  • Prioritize and maintain the sprint backlog for assigned products, balancing the requirements of stakeholders.
  • Lead the product functional design process based on an intimate knowledge of the users and technology.
  • Develop and maintain appropriate tracking and reporting of product performance to evaluate future investment.

    Universal Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

    Job Types: Full-time, Contract

    Pay: $65.00 - $75.00 per hour

    Ability to commute/relocate:
  • Long Island City, NY 11101: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

    Experience:
  • lead Product Owner/Business Analyst: 3 years (Required)
  • SDLC: 3 years Location: One location
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    What Does a Product Owner Do?

    Product Owners are members of the leadership team who manage the entire product development process within an organization. They’ll research and determine the clients’ needs to determine which features to include on products and will pitch ideas for product features to stakeholders. Product Owners will then continue to act as the primary contact between the scrum teams, product development departments and stakeholders. 

    They’ll collaborate closely with both the scrum and product development departments to ensure the products meet specific objectives as outlined by stakeholders and clients. After product completion, the Product Owner will conduct a final review and submit their approval before releasing the product to clients.

    Product Owner Skills and Qualifications

    To carry out the role of a Product Owner successfully, a candidate should possess the following skills and qualifications:

    • In-depth knowledge of Scrum and Agile Software Development Methodology
    • Working knowledge of product development architecture
    • Proficiency in the use of analytic tools
    • Ability to prioritize effectively
    • Excellent knowledge of user-centered design principles
    • Excellent oral and written communication
    • Ability to work with large teams
    • Understanding of design quality standards

    Product Owner Salary Expectations

    On average, a Product Owner earns $108,747 per year in the United States. In addition, they make an average cash bonus of $8,000 annually. These are Indeed estimates based on information collected from former and current Product Owners. This figure varies based on geographical location, years of experience, the industry and the type of work contract—part-time or full-time.

    Product Owner Education and Training Requirements

    To work as a Product Owner, you would typically require at least a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or other related fields. Some background or training in product management will also be useful. Having certifications will equally be a plus. Relevant courses include the Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO), a course that provides two levels of certification, proving that you have an understanding of the Scrum Framework. Another one is the Certified SAFe Product Owner, a two-day training that teaches the basic principles of Scrum.

    Product Owner Experience Requirements

    An experienced Product Owner should have worked for a minimum of one year in the role, or in a similar one, such as Product Management. They should have a good knowledge of software development and other relevant web technologies. They should also be familiar with agile processes. An experienced Product Owner needs to have proven hands-on experience managing all stages of the product life cycle. They should be able to stick to timelines and measure progress during development. 

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    Frequently asked questions about Product Owners

     

    Who reports to a Product Owner?

    Since they typically oversee the entire product development process, many employees may report to the Product Owner. Team members on the scrum and product development teams will typically report to the Product Owner for any instructions on features to include, updates on client preferences or changes requested by stakeholders. The Product Owner may also provide these teams with advice and guidance on how to improve the product development process.

     

    Who does a Product Owner report to?

    Product Owners typically serve in a leadership role, so they may report to executive team members. Larger companies may require Product Owners to work directly under the Vice President of Product Development, who will work on more high-level tasks like pricing strategies and product placement. They’ll ensure the Product Owner is effectively leading the product development and scrum teams in launching successful products. 

    Product Owners usually report directly to stakeholders to present their ideas and final products. They’ll relay the stakeholders’ feedback and required updates to the product development and scrum teams.

     

    What's the difference between a Product Owner and a Product Manager?

    Though they both work closely on the development and launch of company’s products, there are some key differences between the duties and seniority of a Product Owner and a Product Manager. A Product Owner oversees the entire product development process and may work with a variety of teams like stakeholders, scrum masters and product developers to ensure the final product meets certain requirements and preferences. They’ll also develop ideas for product features to include. 

    Product Managers typically work directly underneath Product Owners and are in charge of implementing updates, preferences and features established by Product Owners. They’ll develop product road maps and strategies for their teams during the product development process and will ensure they stay on task to launch the product by its deadline. Product Owners will review their final product once it’s finished to ensure it meets specific guidelines.

     

    What makes a good Product Owner?

    A strong Product Owner should hold impressive leadership skills to motivate and drive their teams to complete and launch products on time. They should use their effective attention to detail to carefully examine products and make sure they contain functional features that the stakeholders and clients require. Communication skills are also preferred in ideal candidates since they regularly collaborate with several departments and key stakeholders.

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