Position: Senior Principal Product Owner
Assignment: Contract
Location: Washington, DC (once a quarter for PI meetings)
Visa: No H1B, OPT, CPT
Must have valid LinkedIn
Position Overview
We are seeking an experienced Senior Principal Product Owner to lead product ownership activities across Cloud, Observability, Disaster Recovery (DR), and Cloud Operations (CloudOps) services. This individual will help drive the transition from traditional project-based delivery to a product-oriented operating model, treating enterprise cloud platforms and technical services as continuously evolving products.
The ideal candidate will combine strong Agile product ownership experience with a practical understanding of enterprise cloud operations, observability, disaster recovery, and IT service management. This individual must be capable of working independently, collaborating with technical teams, defining product priorities, and ensuring infrastructure capabilities deliver measurable business value.
Key Responsibilities
• Own and manage product backlogs supporting Cloud, Observability, Disaster Recovery, and CloudOps teams.
• Develop and communicate product vision, strategy, and priorities aligned with enterprise objectives.
• Translate business and technical requirements into clearly defined features, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Prioritize backlog items based on business value, customer needs, technical feasibility, and operational impact.
• Collaborate with Product Management, Engineering, Architecture, and other Product Owners.
• Support the transition from project-based infrastructure delivery to a product-oriented operating model.
• Participate in SAFe Agile activities, including PI Planning, backlog refinement, and cross-team coordination.
• Develop and maintain product roadmaps and delivery milestones.
• Define and monitor product success metrics, operational improvements, and business outcomes.
• Facilitate stakeholder discussions and communicate product priorities to technical and business leadership.
• Represent customer needs while supporting the broader EPE cloud and technical services strategy.
Required Technical & Functional Experience
Product Ownership & Agile Leadership
• Minimum 5+ years of Agile Product Owner experience, or equivalent relevant background.
• Strong experience developing product visions, roadmaps, and prioritized backlogs.
• Experience writing features, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Understanding of Agile delivery and the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
• Ability to coordinate across technical teams and manage competing priorities.
SAFe Certification/Experience
• SAFe 6.0 Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM) certification or at least 3 years of Scaled Agile product ownership or product management experience within a large organization.
Cloud & Technical Services
• Experience leading a cloud-focused team, working in Cloud Operations, or managing products within a cloud-focused organization.
• Understanding of cloud platforms and cloud services as enterprise products.
• Ability to discuss cloud operations, observability, and disaster recovery as interconnected capabilities.
• Understanding of infrastructure reliability, resiliency, operational efficiency, and continuous service improvement.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with cloud engineers, architects, and infrastructure specialists.
Tools
• Jira Software
• Confluence
• FigJam
• Jira Align or similar Agile product management tools
Leadership & Communication
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Ability to translate business needs into actionable technical requirements.
• Experience influencing product direction and facilitating cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong analytical skills and data-driven prioritization.
• Ability to work independently and drive initiatives forward.
Preferred Qualifications
• ITIL certification.
• Demonstrated IT Service Management (ITSM) experience.
• Experience supporting enterprise cloud platforms and technical services.
• Experience transitioning infrastructure organizations from project-based delivery to product-oriented operations.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
