Product owner

The Product Owner (PO) for Knoema’s Portals is a member of the Agile Team responsible for defining Stories and prioritizing the Team Backlog to streamline the execution of product priorities while maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of the deliverables for the team. The PO has a significant role in maximizing the value produced by the team and ensuring Stories meet the user’s needs and comply with the Definition of Done. As part of the product team, the PO carries significant responsibilities in balancing between the Product long-term and short-term commitments, e.g. delivery of new Master Features vs Bug Fixes for existing customers.

What you will do:

• Oversee, manage and ensure on-time delivery of product features and roadmap milestones from start to finish (including scoping, documenting requirements, design, development and testing). That includes but is not limited to:
• Define the product backlog and create actionable user stories for the development teams;
• Groom and prioritize the work in the backlog according to business value or ROI;
• Accept the completed user stories to make sure the work fulfills the criteria;
• Assess the risks of product roadmap delivery and proactively assist developers and internal teams in problem-solving.
• Communicate vision and direction to the Agile development team and stakeholders throughout the project.
• Contribute to key planning and decision making for the product roadmap. Lead the product release plans.
• Maintain strong cadence between the Product and the Customer Success teams in order to balance product priorities and deliver committed items from the backlog of bug fixes, improvements and enhancements requested by existing customers and accepted by Product.
• As part of Product organization, work closely with the different groups in the company (data management, customer success, support, marketing, sales, partners/channels, and executive leadership) in order to define and document new product requirements and take them through the implementation process to the release. 
• Increase overall effectiveness of our SaaS Product organization by systematically identifying and solving root causes of organizational and technological challenges discovered through the course of product delivery 
• Provide an active role in mitigating impediments impacting successful team completion of Release/Sprint Goals
• Partner with Engineering Managers and Product Strategy & Operations to ensure teams meet their schedule targets by implementing industry best practices in program and project management, creating novel solutions where appropriate.

Required skills and experience:

• BS/MS/MA in Computer Science, Engineering or similar relevant technical field.
• In-depth knowledge of Agile methodology, processes and ceremonies as well as Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) principles, demonstrated by professional certification and prior experience.
• Working experience as a Product Owner or Technical Program Manager for 5+ year(s).
• Excellent writing, communication (group and one-on-one) and presentation skills in English and Russian.
• Experience thriving in a fast-paced start-up environment, juggling projects and building rapport with developers.
• Attention to details and sharp analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills.
• Able to fill any gap needed to deliver, including writing functional specs, project / release plans, roadmaps, and technical proposals. Thrive amid ambiguity, able to influence peers and managers toward shared vision and forward progress.
• Experience working independently, without significant manager involvement.

Desired skills and experience:

• Experience with both consumer and enterprise DaaS (Data as a Service) or SaaS products.
• Some level of knowledge of Product Management Software such as JIRA, Code Versioning Software such as Git and CI/CD pipeline tools and best practices.
• Experience managing work according to OKRs methodology.