Product Owner

This position is located in the Railroad Retirement Board's Bureau of Information Services;Enterprise Applications. The incumbent will be responsible for managing the product backlog, communicating the vision, prioritizing needs, acting as the liaison between teams and stakeholders, evaluating feedback at each iteration.

This job announcement may be used to fill one or more vacancies.

This is a bargaining unit position. This position is represented by the Council of AFGE Locals in the Board.

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications for GS-14 level:

One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service that demonstrates leading software development projects in Agile/Scrum methodology; running scrum ceremonies including requirements gathering, product increment planning, backlog refinement, feature prioritization, daily stand ups, sprint reviews, sprint demos, and sprint retrospectives. Product owner experience developing IT applications; managing a product through all phases of the product development lifecycle utilizing project management tools.

In addition, all applicants qualifying based on experience must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. Applicants must demonstrate possession of these competencies within the body of the resume; no separate statements addressing them are required.

1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.

2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.

3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.

4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

Only experience and education obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Responsibilities:

As a Product Owner, you will:

• Represent RRB customers and internal users and maximize the value of the solutions created within the scope of modernization efforts to improve customer service and streamline business processes across the agency.
• Collaborate with the stakeholders and Business Analysts to prioritize the product backlog, ensuring that the most valuable and critical features are developed first.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to create a vision and roadmap of the solutions align with the agency's strategic goals and priorities and repeatedly communicates the products vision with a variety of stakeholders, including customers, business users, and the development team.
• Provide additional context around the products vision by creating and sharing a product roadmap that provides a high-level, strategic visual summary outlining the vision, priorities, and direction for the solution over time.
• Prioritize needs to balance scope, budget, and time, weighing priorities and making trade-offs according to the needs and objectives of stakeholders.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives, and product backlog refinement.