Product Owner- Insurance Industry

Description :

Position Specific Requirements / Assets

• Data Integration Experience required
• Experience hybrid- Waterfall / Agile methodology’s an asset
• Experience in working with Third Party COTS Vendors an asset
• SAFe Certification an asset

Product Planning and Backlog

Contributes to defining the product vision and roadmap in collaboration with the Product Manager and Operational Business Champion.

Manages the scrum team backlog of features and capabilities for development, with input from Product Manager.

Creates and maintains a list of backlog items, prioritizes items based on overall strategy, and maps out dependencies to inform the necessary sequence of development.

Ensures the scrum team backlog is visible, transparent, and clear to all, and shows what the scrum team will work on next.

Optimizes the value of the work the development team performs and ensures the team understands the items to the level required.

Prioritizes backlog items based on user value, time, and other team dependencies which are determined in planning.

cross-functionally with Product Manager, Business Leads, and Architects to understand business requirements and translate them into user stories and acceptance criteria.

Works with stakeholders to identify and organize the steps required for the next iteration and discusses with the development team to refine the process, identify areas for improvement, and support the sprint.

Participates in Program Increment (PI) planning and events, including Pre- and Post-PI Planning, ensuring alignment to objectives and milestones.

Product Development and Sprint Execution

• Provides leadership, guidance, and direction to the scrum team during development.
• Participates in daily scrum meetings as the business voice and is the development team’s first point of contact to answer questions as the business / user representative.
• Remains in constant contact with the scrum development team to ensure the backlog of features is being carried out correctly and within the committed time period.
• Manages, prioritizes, and weighs the competing needs, demands, and objectives of stakeholders, considering impacts to backlog in terms of scope, timelines, and capacity.
• Tracks statuses across features and communicates risks or concerns as they arise.
• Takes action to mitigate impediments impacting successful team completion of release and sprint goals.

Product Evaluation and Acceptance

• Accountable for the evaluation and acceptance of the final product.
• Participates in team demo with primary responsibility of reviewing and accepting completed user stories.
• Inspects and evaluates product progress through each iteration.
• Validates the user story meets acceptance criteria and each has the appropriate, persistent acceptance tests.
• Makes determination of final product based on acceptance criteria and the team's Definition of Done (DoD).
• Participates in iteration retrospectives and works with team to refine and improve development processes.
• Conducts post-implementation analysis using collected data and feedback to identify future opportunities for improvement.
• Keeps abreast with Agile / Scrum best practices and new trends.

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Education and Experience :

• Certificate or diploma in Business Analysis, Information Technology or a related discipline.
• Five years of experience performing complex analysis, including two years of related experience.
• Degree in Business, Management, Commerce, Information Technology or a related discipline.
• Three years of experience performing complex analysis, including two years of related experience.
• Experience in product strategy / vision / roadmaps in a Lean-Agile environment an asset.
• Experience in SCRUM and Kanban an asset.
• SAFe Product Owner certification an asset.

2. Technical Knowledge and Skills :

• Working knowledge of Agile process and principles.
• Advance communication skills with the ability to engage, present, influence, and inspire stakeholders to drive collaboration and alignment.
• Advance knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Ability to effectively and efficiently communicate with leadership, technical and non-technical audiences, while employing a high degree of collaboration and influence.
• Advanced analytical and quantitative skills with ability to interpret and synthesize data to back up assumptions, recommendations, and drive actions.
• Ability to anaylze information, assess alternatives, and make decisions in a fast-paced environment.
• Advanced negotiation and conflict resolution skills.
• Advanced requirements elicitation and writing skills including the ability to write concisely and clearly for different audiences.
• Knowledge of Agile development techniques such as DevOps, test driven development, and test automation.
• Knowledge of scrum techniques and artifacts (such as user stories, automated testing, and backlog refinement).
• Ability to effectively and critically assess different scenarios and determine possible courses of action, demonstrating clear understanding of root cause, impacts and consequences of decisions, and ability to apply industry standard techniques.
• Ability to work independently with minimal direction and exercise initiative.
• Knowledge applying project management techniques is an asset.

3. Or an equivalent combination of the above