Product Owner Lead

Equifax is seeking a hands on Product Owner Leader who is a master at bridging the desires of the customer and the capabilities of the technology, removing barriers to software development.

This job represents business stakeholders to elicit, understand, analyze, document, refine and communicate business needs, so that business and/or technical delivery teams can build effective solutions. This requires a detailed understanding of customer needs, as well as business vision and strategy, to prioritize investment, business value and delivery. The ideal candidate must be able to work collaboratively with multiple development teams.

This position serves as the day to day decision maker and provides continual business guidance for the execution team. This position is responsible for prioritizing the execution team's work so that it aligns with the sponsor's/business executive's strategies. The candidate will work with the business and IT delivery teams to identify and mitigate risks to include business operational risks; escalate issues; and develop and recommend appropriate solutions.

What you will do:

• Work closely with the business stakeholders to build and maintain the product functionality backlog. Work with Product Management to define larger and more complex solution components for IT departments, and break them down into logical, discrete units for development. Authenticate technical integration across multiple enterprise software systems. Communicate the vision and goals at the beginning of every release and sprint.

• Elaborate user stories for implementation, working with Product Owners across IT to ensure alignment toward the Equifax vision. Ensure that the Product Backlog is constantly prioritized to secure delivery of maximum business value

• Engage with key customer contacts and with Product Managers as required to ensure that all relevant inputs to the Product Backlog have been collected and prioritized

• Participate in team planning meetings and exercising availability to provide advice, clarification and guidance during the execution of each Sprint. Inspect, accept or reject completed work from the development Sprint. Demonstrate completed product functionality to the internal stakeholders at the completion of each Sprint.

• Demonstrates an aptitude and drive to learn new technologies and processes. You will have daily interaction with the teams building the products. You will focus on product level impediments and process changes to enable faster and higher quality software. You make tough decisions on trade-offs between features, quality and dates in order to provide the best solution for our clients.

• You ensure Product leadership is aware of key issues and changes, and provide them with the right information and recommendations to resolve issues. You work with Product Managers to ensure the features in a release represent what is needed and that return on investment is in line with their expectations

• You will work with Architect(s) and Tech Lead(s) to identify non-functional requirements like infrastructure needs. You will work with Quality Assurance team member(s) to identify test cases for automated testing. You will coordinate with business customers to conduct product integration testing Key Responsibilities Preparation and Participation in PI Planning Program Backlog.

What experience you need:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Computer Science or Business or equivalent job experience required

• 5 years of IT experience, including 3 years as a Product Owner or Business Analyst with state-of-the-art hardware and software systems.

• 1 or more years of experience as a Scrum Product Owner, working with Agile Delivery Teams, utilizing Agile / Scrum / Kanban.
  

What could set you apart:

• Experience working with cloud technologies

• Deep understanding of web service technologies, user interface/interaction, batch systems, and knowledge of systems development and project management lifecycles.

• Experience with Product Roadmap development and influencing key stakeholders for buy-in on business priorities.

• Innovation driven thought leader, influencing stakeholders to adopt new vision for new or existing software systems

• Outstanding leadership and motivational skills – possessing a willingness to empower as well as inspire commitment and positive attitude in the team

• You are skilled at removing roadblocks

• You possess a willingness to empower as well as encourage commitment and positive attitude in the team

• You have an inquisitive and innovative mindset with a shown ability to recognize opportunities to create distinctive value

• You can successfully evaluate workload to drive efficiency

• Experience with data management

• You have the ability build strong relationships with partners across the business; ensure that you understand their role, the needs of their area, and their requirements throughout the project

• You are a self-starter who is organized, detail oriented, takes initiative with minimal direction, and understands concepts quickly

• You understand the value of product ownership and can effectively communicate the value proposition

• You have experience working with multiple partners in a global setting with varying level of needs

• You bring a consultative, creative and process driven approach to your work

• You have an aptitude for handling multiple concurrent demands and prioritizing responsibilities in a dynamic, high energy environment

• Your problem-solving skills enable you to effectively and creatively find solutions for hard problems while maintaining a high level of professionalism and integrity

• Engage and collaborate with all stakeholders, make people feel heard and understood, are able to say no and stand up for tough calls needed to better serve the business and our clients