Digital Product Owner II

How does this role impact First Command?

The Digital Product Owner is accountable for translating product strategy into executable work for the solution delivery team supporting Compensation & Recognition Solution (CARS). This role partners with the Product Manager and stakeholders to maintain a clear, outcome-focused backlog, write high-quality user stories with acceptance criteria, and ensure increments deliver measurable value for financial advisors and supporting financial service teams while meeting quality, security, and compliance expectations.

The Product Owner serves as the day-to-day decision-maker for scope and priority within the team backlog, enabling predictable delivery and rapid feedback loops. Operating with minimal guidance, this role manages a single team backlog, keeps work ready through Sprint +2, clarifies requirements during development and testing, and supports bug triage and story acceptance. 

What will you do in this role?

Requirements Analysis & Story Shaping

• Analyze business problems and customer needs for Compensation & Recognition Solution (CARS); translate outcomes into functional/non-functional requirements and workflows.
• Partner with stakeholders to clarify scope, constraints, and decision points; ensure integration and data impacts are understood with architecture/engineering.

Backlog Management

• Own and continuously refine a single team backlog aligned to the product roadmap; maintain sprint-ready work through Current Sprint +2.
• Decompose epics/features into well-scoped user stories with testable acceptance criteria (including edge cases) aligned to Definition of Ready/Done.
• Facilitate refinement to ensure stories are understandable, estimable, sequenced, and prioritized based on value and risk; make dependencies visible.
• Intake new work from Product Management, Architecture, and Delivery leadership; confirm intended outcomes and value to guide prioritization.

Continuous Value Delivery

• Provide day-to-day clarification during development and testing; deliver rapid feedback to reduce rework and sustain flow.
• Collaborate with QA/SDET/Test Leads on test plan readiness and traceability to acceptance criteria.
• Manage cross-team dependencies related to <<Platforms/Systems>>; escalate blockers early with context and options.

Triage & Acceptance

• Participate in bug triage and prioritize defects based on customer impact, risk, and delivery commitments; follow triage and acceptance standards.
• Perform story-level acceptance by validating outcomes against acceptance criteria, business intent, and quality standards before closing work.

Scrum Collaboration

• Actively participate in agile ceremonies and partner with the Dev Manager to sustain healthy practices and predictable delivery.
• Communicate delivery expectations, scope tradeoffs, and decision rationale to stakeholders to maintain transparency.

Product & Domain Expectations

• Maintain knowledge of Compensation & Recognition Solution (CARS) capabilities, user journeys, and non-functional requirements; ensure alignment to applicable security, privacy, regulatory, and audit expectations.

Tooling & Documentation

• Use Azure DevOps (or equivalent) to manage work items, maintain traceability, and report delivery signals (e.g., throughput, carryover, defects).
• Maintain supporting documentation (workflows, decision logs, release notes) to enable traceability and operational readiness.

Collaboration Model

• Partner with Product Management to align backlog priorities to roadmap outcomes and surface risks early.
• Work closely with Developers and QA to clarify intent, improve quality, and enable timely acceptance decisions.
• Coordinate with adjacent Product Owners/teams on shared standards and cross-team dependencies; engage business/ops partners for acceptance and adoption readiness.

Skills & Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree required (may consider experience in lieu of degree)

Work Experience

• 2-4 years of experience in product management, business analysis, or a related field, or 4+ years of experience as an operations specialist within a relevant product domain.

Certifications

The preferred candidate will have one or more certifications in the following areas:

• Product Management
• Agile and Scrum
• Captivate IQ or relevant compensation system
• Process Improvement
• Financial Services Licenses

Required Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Knowledge

• Scrum-based agile delivery and product ownership accountabilities; familiarity with scaled agile concepts.
• Backlog management methods (Definition of Ready/Done, prioritization techniques, decomposition patterns).
• Digital delivery fundamentals: UX patterns, APIs/integrations, data flows, and non-functional requirements (performance, security, accessibility).
• Quality practices: acceptance criteria design, test planning, defect management, and release readiness.
• Regulated-environment expectations: controls, auditability, and data privacy considerations.
• Practical knowledge of Captivate IQ (CIQ) sufficient to author implementable stories and collaborate on solution discussions.

Skills

• Story writing: create clear, testable user stories and acceptance criteria that reduce ambiguity and rework.
• Facilitation: lead refinement and stakeholder conversations to drive decisions, alignment, and timely prioritization.
• Analysis: translate needs into functional/non-functional requirements; document workflows/use cases effectively.
• Tooling: use ADO (or equivalent) for traceability, workflow management, and actionable delivery reporting.
• Communication: convey tradeoffs and expectations across technical/business partners; escalate risks with context and options.

Abilities

• Make day-to-day priority decisions balancing customer value, business outcomes, and technical feasibility.
• Operate at sprint cadence with strong attention to detail and competing priorities.
• Partner effectively with engineering and QA to validate outcomes and support high-quality acceptance.
• Sustain a sprint-ready backlog through Current Sprint +2 for a single delivery team.

#LI-NC1 #LI-Hybrid