Associate Technical Product Owner
Washington, DC

Job Description

Job Title

Associate Technical Product Owner

Job Description

Associate Technical Product Owner collaborates with the Product Owner and the Agile team to communicate the product vision, articulate and prioritize the features to be built, and is responsible for the Agile team delivering value.

Requirements:

* There are three major requirements to be an Associate Technical Product Owner: the Associate Technical Product Owner should be empowered, available and qualified.
* The Associate Technical Product Owner should be empowered by the Product Owner and the management to own or be responsible in a defined way for a product module, subproduct, vendor delivered functionality, or a minimally marketable feature set.
* The Associate Technical Product Owner should be available to the Product Owner and the team on a daily basis and is involved in a continued collaboration with the team.
* The Associate Technical Product Owner should be qualified to actively participate in creating the product vision and driving ROI while understanding and properly prioritizing system requirements. The Associate Technical Product Owner should develop a thorough understanding of customer needs, and a working knowledge of Agile and Scrum. Finally, the Associate Technical Product Owner should have the ability to work in a dynamic and flexible environment, such as Agile.

Associate Technical Product Owners must have:

* Input in suggesting scoping decisions
* Availability to the Product Owner and the delivery team
* Understanding of the customer needs and getting familiar with the customers
* Ability to specify how product will satisfy those needs
* Constantly increasing product knowledge
* Trust from stakeholders
* Visibility in Associate Technical Product Owner role
* Strong communications skills for active stakeholder management
* Basic knowledge of how software is developed and deployed

In addition to having the right set of skills and experience, there needs to be an opportunity available for anyone interested in moving to this role including the stream that has availability and the need for someone in this role, as well as a Product Owner who is ready and willing to mentor and coach the Associate Technical Product Owner and delegate specific area of product ownership to him/her.

Responsibilities:

The major areas of responsibility of the Associate Technical Product Owner include the following:

1. Support the Product Owner in developing and communicating the product vision

* Associate Technical Product Owner is responsible for understanding and communicating the business needs as defined by the Product Owner
* Associate Technical Product Owner develops and communicates the product vision together the Product Owner
* Associate Technical Product Owner fills the product backlog and refines its contents on an ongoing basis: new requirements are added, existing ones are refined - typically just-in-time, before the next sprint planning meeting; while confirming prioritization decisions with the Product Owner
* Additionally, the Associate Technical Product Owner prioritizes the product backlog for a given sprint, ensuring that the most important requirements are always being worked on.

2. Maximize customer satisfaction and ROI.

* Associate Technical Product Owner supports the Product Owner in achieving the project success, which includes meeting the project goal and financial targets such as return on investment (ROI).
* Associate Technical Product Owner performs ongoing and comprehensive analysis and shares with the Product Owner to decide on the functionality and the release date.
* Associate Technical Product Owner also initiates, prepares, and reaches out to the Product Owner to make decision on release planning dates.

3. Collaborate with the delivery team.

* Associate Technical Product Owner collaborates with the team and aligns with the stakeholders throughout the entire release.
* Associate Technical Product Owner and team typically detail requirements together.
* Associate Technical Product Owner clarifies requirements (with business analyst's assistance, if available) when questions arise and reviews the work results using the agreed-upon "done" criteria.
* Associate Technical Product Owner prepares for the sprint-planning meeting. This includes progressively decomposing and prioritizing requirements prior to the meeting.
* Associate Technical Product Owner presents team progress at the Sprint Review meeting, provides the sprint summary and goals for the next sprint.
* Associate Technical Product Owner attends retrospective meeting and shares suggestions and thoughts with the team.

Associate Technical Product Owner is:

* Supporting Product Owner and the team in the the Executing of the Vision and Strategy of the Business Line
* Supporting Product Owner and the team in Articulating Statements of Customer Value to the Development Organization (User Stories, Product Backlog)
* Accountable to Articulate Statements of Business User Value to the Development Organization (User Stories, Product Backlog)
* Accountable for Prioritizing Value to the Customer and Return to the Organization
* Accountable for Scope Management
* Responsible for Defining Units of Value Measurement
* Responsible for Tracking and Reporting Performance Goals
* Informed and Involved with Product Lifecycle Development

From the team's point of view:

1. Associate Technical Product Owner is responsible to be prepared for the sprint planning session.

2. Associate Technical Product Owner is responsible for working with the scrum masters and the team during sprint planning to come to common understanding regarding the amount of work that can be accomplished within a sprint.

3. Associate Technical Product Owner is not responsible for providing input on the technical complexity of features.

4. Associate Technical Product Owner should own the quality of the product once he/she signed off.

Responsibilities of an Associate Technical Product Owner include but are not limited to the following:

1. Participates in creation and maintenance of the Product Backlog.

2. Works with the product owner to prioritize and sequence the Backlog according to business value or ROI.

3. Constantly researches, develops, and implements advanced product management practices and product envisioning techniques, such as product envisioning, user experience measurement practices, user story mapping and collaborative product development, and other best practices in the area of defining and building the products that customers love.

4. Assists with the elaboration of Epics, Themes and Features into user stories that are granular enough to be achieved in a single sprint.

5. Works with the Product Owner to convey the Vision and Goals at the beginning of every Release and Sprint.

6. Represents the customer, interfaces and engages the customer.

7. Participates in the daily Scrums, Sprint Planning Meetings and Sprint Reviews and

Retrospectives.

8. Working with PO to develop the artifact, participate in and represent a defined section to the audience in Roadmap of Roadmaps session, depending on the session format.

9. Inspects the product progress at the end of every Sprint and provides input whether to accept or reject work done.

10. Can suggest changing the course of the project at the end of every Sprint.

11. Is involved in communicating status to the business sponsor, executive management, and other business stakeholders as required.

12. Provides full support to the Product Owner and appreciate opportunities for growth.

13. Removes impediments raised by implementation team.

14. Has technical knowledge to engage with development teams to ensure business needs are translated into appropriate technical specifications (e.g experience working with any of the following technologies: REST or SOAP APIs, algorithms, data structures, design patterns, XML, HTML, YAML, XLST, JavaScript based frameworks and libraries such as Angular, React, JQuery or Ember, ANSI SQL and relational databases.

15. Partner with the various software development and technical services groups on the technical design and development process ensuring business requirements are understood and delivered

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related field

3 years + responsible experience with technical delivery and IT project management using Agile Methodology.

Possess a high degree of technical savvy, with a keen ability to learn new technology quickly and easily

Experience working with any of the following technologies: REST or SOAP APIs, algorithms, data structures, design patterns, XML, HTML, YAML, XLST, JavaScript based frameworks and libraries such as Angular, React, JQuery or Ember, ANSI SQL and relational databases.

Superlative written and verbal communication skills; ability to build trust across groups of technology and business people to gather information and deliver projects; ability to manage communication among peers and senior stakeholders

Effective problem-solving and issue resolution capabilities; ability to actively manage priority and scope for technical development and to maintain poise while driving toward critical deadlines

Knowledge of software development and scrum project management processes

Knowledge of application tools, web technologies and databases, web content production, and content management systems; ability to learn new software

Preferred Qualifications

New York City location preferred however virtual considered

Experience working in online education or test preparation

Experience working in an Agile framework, preferably Scrum

There are three major requirements to be an Associate Technical Product Owner: the Associate Technical Product Owner should be empowered, available and qualified.

1. The Associate Technical Product Owner should be empowered by the Product Owner and the management to own or be responsible in a defined way for a product module, subproduct, vendor delivered functionality, or a minimally marketable feature set.

2. The Associate Technical Product Owner should be available to the Product Owner and the team on a daily basis and is involved in a continued collaboration with the team.

3. The Associate Technical Product Owner should be qualified to actively participate in creating the product vision and driving ROI while understanding and properly prioritizing system requirements. The Associate Technical Product Owner should develop a thorough understanding of customer needs, and a working knowledge of Agile and Scrum. Finally, the Associate Technical Product Owner should have the ability to work in a dynamic and flexible environment, such as Agile.

Associate Technical Product Owners must have:

* Input in suggesting scoping decisions
* Availability to the Product Owner and the delivery team
* Understanding of the customer needs and getting familiar with the customers
* Ability to specify how product will satisfy those needs
* Constantly increasing product knowledge
* Trust from stakeholders
* Visibility in Associate Technical Product Owner role
* Strong communications skills for active stakeholder management
* Basic knowledge of how software is developed and deployed

In addition to having the right set of skills and experience, there needs to be an opportunity available for anyone interested in moving to this role including the stream that has availability and the need for someone in this role, as well as a Product Owner who is ready and willing to mentor and coach the Associate Technical Product Owner and delegate specific area of product ownership to him/her.

Responsibilities:

The major areas of responsibility of the Associate Technical Product Owner include the following:

1. Support the Product Owner in developing and communicating the product vision

* Associate Technical Product Owner is responsible for understanding and communicating the business needs as defined by the Product Owner
* Associate Technical Product Owner develops and communicates the product vision together the Product Owner
* Associate Technical Product Owner fills the product backlog and refines its contents on an ongoing basis: new requirements are added, existing ones are refined - typically just-in-time, before the next sprint planning meeting; while confirming prioritization decisions with the Product Owner
* Additionally, the Associate Technical Product Owner prioritizes the product backlog for a given sprint, ensuring that the most important requirements are always being worked on.

2. Maximize customer satisfaction and ROI.

* Associate Technical Product Owner supports the Product Owner in achieving the project success, which includes meeting the project goal and financial targets such as return on investment (ROI).
* Associate Technical Product Owner performs ongoing and comprehensive analysis and shares with the Product Owner to decide on the functionality and the release date.
* Associate Technical Product Owner also initiates, prepares, and reaches out to the Product Owner to make decision on release planning dates.

3. Collaborate with the delivery team.

* Associate Technical Product Owner collaborates with the team and aligns with the stakeholders throughout the entire release.
* Associate Technical Product Owner and team typically detail requirements together.
* Associate Technical Product Owner clarifies requirements (with business analyst's assistance, if available) when questions arise and reviews the work results using the agreed-upon "done" criteria.
* Associate Technical Product Owner prepares for the sprint-planning meeting. This includes progressively decomposing and prioritizing requirements prior to the meeting.
* Associate Technical Product Owner presents team progress at the Sprint Review meeting, provides the sprint summary and goals for the next sprint.
* Associate Technical Product Owner attends retrospective meeting and shares suggestions and thoughts with the team.

Associate Technical Product Owner is:

* Supporting Product Owner and the team in the the Executing of the Vision and Strategy of the Business Line
* Supporting Product Owner and the team in Articulating Statements of Customer Value to the Development Organization (User Stories, Product Backlog)
* Accountable to Articulate Statements of Business User Value to the Development Organization (User Stories, Product Backlog)
* Accountable for Prioritizing Value to the Customer and Return to the Organization
* Accountable for Scope Management
* Responsible for Defining Units of Value Measurement
* Responsible for Tracking and Reporting Performance Goals
* Informed and Involved with Product Lifecycle Development

From the team's point of view:

1. Associate Technical Product Owner is responsible to be prepared for the sprint planning session.

2. Associate Technical Product Owner is responsible for working with the scrum masters and the team during sprint planning to come to common understanding regarding the amount of work that can be accomplished within a sprint.

3. Associate Technical Product Owner is not responsible for providing input on the technical complexity of features.

4. Associate Technical Product Owner should own the quality of the product once he/she signed off.

Responsibilities of an Associate Technical Product Owner include but are not limited to the following:

1. Participates in creation and maintenance of the Product Backlog.

2. Works with the product owner to prioritize and sequence the Backlog according to business value or ROI.

3. Constantly researches, develops, and implements advanced product management practices and product envisioning techniques, such as product envisioning, user experience measurement practices, user story mapping and collaborative product development, and other best practices in the area of defining and building the products that customers love.

4. Assists with the elaboration of Epics, Themes and Features into user stories that are granular enough to be achieved in a single sprint.

5. Works with the Product Owner to convey the Vision and Goals at the beginning of every Release and Sprint.

6. Represents the customer, interfaces and engages the customer.

7. Participates in the daily Scrums, Sprint Planning Meetings and Sprint Reviews and

Retrospectives.

8. Working with PO to develop the artifact, participate in and represent a defined section to the audience in Roadmap of Roadmaps session, depending on the session format.

9. Inspects the product progress at the end of every Sprint and provides input whether to accept or reject work done.

10. Can suggest changing the course of the project at the end of every Sprint.

11. Is involved in communicating status to the business sponsor, executive management, and other business stakeholders as required.

12. Provides full support to the Product Owner and appreciate opportunities for growth.

13. Removes impediments raised by implementation team.

14. Has technical knowledge to engage with development teams to ensure business needs are translated into appropriate technical specifications (e.g experience working with any of the following technologies: REST or SOAP APIs, algorithms, data structures, design patterns, XML, HTML, YAML, XLST, JavaScript based frameworks and libraries such as Angular, React, JQuery or Ember, ANSI SQL and relational databases.

15. Partner with the various software development and technical services groups on the technical design and development process ensuring business requirements are understood and delivered

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related field

3 years + responsible experience with technical delivery and IT project management using Agile Methodology.

Possess a high degree of technical savvy, with a keen ability to learn new technology quickly and easily

Experience working with any of the following technologies: REST or SOAP APIs, algorithms, data structures, design patterns, XML, HTML, YAML, XLST, JavaScript based frameworks and libraries such as Angular, React, JQuery or Ember, ANSI SQL and relational databases.

Superlative written and verbal communication skills; ability to build trust across groups of technology and business people to gather information and deliver projects; ability to manage communication among peers and senior stakeholders

Effective problem-solving and issue resolution capabilities; ability to actively manage priority and scope for technical development and to maintain poise while driving toward critical deadlines

Knowledge of software development and scrum project management processes

Knowledge of application tools, web technologies and databases, web content production, and content management systems; ability to learn new software

Preferred Qualifications

New York City location preferred however virtual considered

Experience working in online education or test preparation

Experience working in an Agile framework, preferably Scrum

Location

Bangalore, KA, India

Additional Locations

Employee Type

Employee

Job Functional Area

Quality Assurance

Kaplan is an Equal Opportunity Employer