MetLife

The Product Owner (PO) is responsible for prioritizing the stories to be developed by the agile team so the team can incrementally develop valuable solutions that maintain conceptual and technical integrity. Individuals in this role are responsible for working in a team of agile teams that contribute to larger solutions. While they collaborate with their agile team members to define stories, the PO has the responsibility for prioritizing the Team Backlog to streamline execution. 

The PO has the responsibility for accepting the team’s work as done. As such, you help the team realize its commitment to quality. You provide complete visibility into processes, priorities, and workflow, and ensure it is sequenced correctly. You create shared understanding and clarity to reduce operational friction and provide the team with a clear view of their environment. This is a critical role with significant accountability to build and manage relationships and responsibilities across businesses stakeholders and within the team. 

POs work closely with the Scrum Master, Product Management, Customers, Business Owners, team members and other stakeholders to create viable and sustainable plans, and constantly seek feedback from multiple stakeholders and incorporate it into the solutions. POs share accountability with Product Managers for delivery outcomes and make decisions to solve product related problems. 

You lead the creation of business scenarios and supporting details for stories and related testing, so they are clearly understood by fellow team members. As needed, you will work with Product Managers, to slice epics into features, and with the team as a content expert, partner to create and prioritize stories. POs strategically solution at the team level in service of the broader ART-level solution, and do so by partnering with Product Management and other Product Owners within the ART. POs are effective at helping the team deliver on its commitments by: working with others to actively explore solution options, ensuring decisions are taken by those with accountability for delivering outcomes, and dedicating their effort to delivering value, that meet the needs of MetLife’s customers and our business goals.   

1. Work with Product Manager to understand customer and employee needs as well as business objectives that inform features and stories

2. Ensure work focuses on those stories with a maximum value, aligned with engagement strategy and key milestones

3. Help define, refine, prioritize, and accept the work delivered by an Agile team to ensure the outcome meets the defined feature acceptance criteria while the team works at a sustainable pace

4. Answer questions from the agile team so the team’s work flows without delay.

5. Collaborate with POs on other teams to help the ART achieve its shared objectives.

6. Make decisions to solve product related problems, trade-off discussions, to stay on track to committed outcomes. (Acceptance, prioritizing, making trade-offs, etc.)

7. Write Stories and features that support overall strategy

The Interactions:

1. Collaborate with the team to create viable and sustainable plans

2. Manage stakeholders’ expectations through iterative demonstrations of completed work

3. Hold the team accountable for what has been defined as set criteria, receiving, and incorporating feedback from multiple sources

4. Active interaction with Product Managers, fellow POs, and other partners to protect the integrity of the solution

Additional skills:

·         Able to take all forms of input and synthesize– Seek Diverse Perspectives

• Willing to observe, analyze, and make recommendations - Seek Diverse Perspectives
• Communicate factually. Navigate conversations to align on a set of data inputs that drive identification and prioritization of work.
• Take ownership, influence at all levels, access all stakeholders equally – Seize Opportunity
• Maintain stability throughout the iterations and add appropriate feedback as needed – Enable Solutions
• Able to identify, access and connect among key stakeholders and experts - Seek Diverse Perspectives
• Know how to get things done through others, and provide the clarity needed to accomplish it – Deliver what matters
• Driven and motivated by our customers and the business to focus on the right outcomes – Deliver Results
• Able to make decisions on information that is available at that time. Be comfortable with progressive elaboration and discovery – Manages Ambiguity
• Product Owners are leaders not managers. POs do not direct the team but see themselves as a member of the team and are able to adapt their leadership approach to enable and empower the team to solve problems and deliver outcomes.
• Managing projects that cross multiple capabilities and enhance technology is desired.  Experience with SAFe Agile framework desired.  Knowledge of group benefit products, operational processes and systems is also a benefit.
• Proven organizational, interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal
• Proven ability to lead and motivate project team members
• Must be able to manage multiple assignments, be organized and efficient while working under minimal supervision.
• Ability to create and perform presentations to leaders

Requirements:

• Bachelor's Degree
• 4+ years of experience as a Project Manager, systems engineer, tester or developer
• 4+ years’ of experience working in a scaled Agile environment (multiple teams supporting single product)
• 2+ years’ experience in ScrumMaster or project management role managing large-scale initiatives in complex organizations
• Experience with driving a release train for vendor software delivery
• Exceptional, analytical, communication, prioritization, and program management skills.
• Advanced Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Demonstrated experience in supporting multiple scrum/Kanban teams
• Previous experience engaging stakeholders, contributors and technical resources to analyze user needs and resource limitations
• Strong communication, initiative, strategic thinking, and analytical skills