Product Owner

Summary

The Product Owner plays a pivotal role in driving the success of FINEOS solutions by defining and prioritizing product features that deliver measurable business value. Acting as the voice of the customer, the Claims & Absence Product Owner ensures that the product backlog reflects market needs, strategic objectives, and client expectations. This role partners closely with Product Management, engineering teams, and stakeholders to translate vision into actionable user stories and maintain alignment throughout the development lifecycle.

As an Agile Product Owner, you will:

• Own and manage product backlogs, prioritizing & sequencing based on business value and market insights.
• Communicate product vision and goals clearly at the start of each release and sprint.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure timely delivery of high-quality solutions.
• Leverage industry knowledge and stakeholder feedback to validate requirements and optimize outcomes.

This position requires strong analytical skills, a deep understanding of insurance and absence management domains, and the ability to balance strategic thinking with execution in a fast-paced, agile environment.

Responsibilities (Other duties may be assigned.)

·       Translate the product roadmap into actionable backlog items for Scrum teams, ensuring clear acceptance criteria and user stories.

·       Own and manage the product backlog, prioritizing and sequencing according to business value and strategic objectives.

·       Participate actively in Agile ceremonies, including daily scrums, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives, ensuring readiness for each sprint.

·       Collaborate closely with the Product Manager to evolve the backlog through the full product lifecycle, from ideation to implementation.

• Engage with clients and stakeholders to define and refine product features, ensuring alignment with market needs and customer expectations.
• Challenge stakeholders to achieve a coherent, complete, and credible understanding of requirements, ensuring principles underlying the domain are identified and described.
• Distill inputs from multiple sources (market research, client feedback, internal teams) into actionable requirements that solve real market problems.
• Define software capabilities to meet understood requirements, including usability, and provide engineering with sufficient guidance to ensure progress. Expert knowledge of the existing suite and its future evolution must inform this.
• Create and maintain artefacts such as wireframes and documentation to communicate requirements effectively to engineering and stakeholders.
• Validate and own acceptance of delivered software, ensuring it meets defined capabilities, usability standards, and overall product vision, and demonstrate its value to stakeholders.
• Champion quality and continuous improvement, driving defect elimination and maintaining development velocity.
• Act as a bridge between business and technical teams, facilitating informed collaboration and knowledge transfer.
• Stay informed on industry trends and regulatory changes, ensuring product features remain competitive and compliant.

Education and/or Experience     

·       Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Insurance, or a related field preferred.

·       Minimum 3+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Business Analyst, or in a related discipline with a software product vendor.

·       Experience in insurance or financial services domain is an advantage.

·       Proven experience working in Agile/Scrum environments; familiarity with frameworks such as SAFe or Kanban is desirable.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong understanding of business analysis, process mapping, and complex domain modeling.
• Ability to uncover and solve market problems, assess business value, and translate needs into actionable features.
• Skilled at challenging stakeholders to achieve clarity and completeness in requirements.
• Ability to envisage software features that solve market problems while balancing cost, risk, and feasibility.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage effectively at all organizational levels and with external clients.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with attention to detail and quality.
• Comfortable working in a cross-functional, global team environment and managing multiple priorities.

Technical Skills

·       Working knowledge of Agile tools (e.g., Jira,) for backlog management and collaboration.

·       Familiarity with enterprise software concepts, APIs, and SaaS delivery models.

·       Ability to create and interpret wireframes, domain models, and technical artefacts.

·       Understanding of usability principles and experience validating software against defined requirements.

Language Skills

• Proficiency in English, both verbal and written, with the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly.

Travel Requirements

International travel may be required.

Work Environment 

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. 

• Employee works primarily in a home office environment.
• The home office must be a well-defined work area, separate from normal domestic activity and complete with all essential technology including, but not limited to; separate phone, scanner, printer, computer, etc. as required in order to effectively perform their duties.

Work Requirements 

• Compliance with all relevant FINEOS Global policies and procedures related to Quality, Security, Safety, Business Continuity, and Environmental systems. 
• Travel and fieldwork, including international travel may be required. Therefore, employee must possess, or be able to acquire a valid passport. 
• Must be legally eligible to work in the country in which you are hired.    

FINEOS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. FINEOS does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.