Agile Product Owner, Employee Benefits

Role Overview

• Lead product execution for 1–2 Agile teams, ensuring alignment with business objectives and product vision.
• Engage with business and technology stakeholders to identify product opportunities and implications.
• Represent the voice of the customer to the Agile team(s) and ensure customer-centric delivery.
• Partner with the Agile Product Manager to provide perspective on portfolio and value stream vision and roadmap.
• Articulate the product vision and roadmap to the Agile team(s) and guide them in determining sprint goals.
• Manage the product backlog: break down epics into features, features into stories, and prioritize to maximize business value.
• Aid the Agile Product Manager in feature road mapping and strategic planning.
• Ensure the Agile team(s) understand backlog items and their business value.
• Write user stories with clear acceptance criteria and validate completed stories against the definition of done and quality expectations.
• Validate that delivered solutions meet the product vision and incorporate feedback from sprint demos into the backlog.
• Partner with Scrum Masters, Architects, Tech Leads, and business stakeholders to ensure solutions deliver the intended business outcomes.
• Maintain a deep understanding of the voice of the customer, industry trends, and competitor insights.
• Drive business readiness and change management activities to support successful adoption.
• Monitor and communicate execution progress, including risks and impediments, to stakeholders.
• Analyze delivery metrics to identify trends and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Own communication across all levels—from stakeholders to Agile teams—ensuring consistency, transparency, and alignment throughout the product lifecycle.

Requirements

• Minimum of 3+ years of experience as a Product Owner or Business Analyst within a Scrum team preferred.
• Familiarity with Employee Benefits business, Life & Voluntary Products preferred.
• Experience with Agile methodologies and frameworks such as SAFe, Scrum, Kanban, XP.
• Proficiency with Agile lifecycle management tools (e.g., Rally, JIRA).
• Strong collaboration and influence skills, with the ability to manage multiple stakeholders effectively.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages for different audiences.
• Ability to analyze data, identify insights, and create hypotheses for testing.
• Demonstrated preference for working collaboratively in a team environment.
• Self-motivated, able to manage multiple high-priority demands, and deliver results at pace.
• Proven track record of execution readiness and adherence to definition of done.
• Experience with ADKAR or other change management frameworks preferred.
• Willingness to travel 10%–25% as needed.

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Retirement plans
• Paid time off
• Flexible work arrangements
• Bonuses