Senior Product Owner

Job#: 3021553

Job Description:
Senior Product Owner
Overview

The Senior Product Owner serves as the primary product specialist for the development team. This role partners closely with the Product Manager and business subject matter experts to elicit business requirements and translate them into clear user stories and acceptance criteria. The Senior Product Owner plays a critical role in driving value delivery through effective prioritization, stakeholder collaboration, and agile execution.
Key Responsibilities

• Own and manage one or more team backlogs, ensuring alignment with product and program priorities.
• Demonstrate strong influence and negotiation skills to guide prioritization decisions while managing stakeholder expectations and maintaining focus on high-value outcomes.
• Leverage AI-driven insights and productivity tools to improve delivery efficiency and decision-making.
• Actively participate in Program Increment (PI) planning and related agile ceremonies.
• Lead the development team through sprint activities, including refinement, planning, execution, and review.
• Serve as a key stakeholder in product-related decisions and release planning.
• Maintain a deep understanding of initiative goals, features, and desired business outcomes.
• Drive value optimization across cost, time, functionality, and quality dimensions.
• Partner with the Product Manager to evaluate and refine the product roadmap and identify features for development.
• Produce workflows, perform data mapping, and support business process design efforts.
• Collaborate with Architects and Technical Leads to identify non-functional requirements, including infrastructure and performance needs.
• Plan and coordinate product releases.
• Work with Quality Assurance team members to define test cases, including those suitable for automated testing.
• Coordinate with business stakeholders to support product integration and user acceptance testing.

Program Increment & Backlog Management

• Prepare for and participate in PI Planning sessions.
• Collaborate with the Product Manager to refine the Program Backlog ahead of PI planning.
• Lead backlog refinement activities to ensure features and stories are well-defined, sized, and prioritized.
• Guide the development team in estimating stories and determining PI commitments based on established velocity.
• Provide clarity on story intent, sequencing, and acceptance criteria.
• Draft and communicate team-level objectives for each Program Increment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Information Management, Business, or a related field.
• 7+ years of experience in IT as a Business Analyst and/or Product Owner.
• Proven experience delivering products using Agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban within the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Strong understanding of web services, user interfaces, and system development and project management lifecycles.
• Experience influencing Product and Technology Roadmaps through collaboration with business and technology stakeholders.
• Outstanding leadership, communication, and motivational skills.
• Demonstrated ability to empower teams and foster a positive, collaborative working environment.
• Inquisitive and innovative mindset with a track record of identifying opportunities to deliver differentiated value.
• Prior experience as a Scrum Product Owner preferred.
• Familiarity with the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) preferred.
• Experience evaluating workload and capacity to drive efficiency and delivery effectiveness.

Apex Systems is a world-class IT services company that serves thousands of clients across the globe. When you join Apex, you become part of a team that values innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. We offer quality career resources, training, certifications, development opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package. Our commitment to excellence is reflected in many awards, including ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing in Talent Satisfaction in the United States and Great Place to Work in the United Kingdom and Mexico. Apex uses a virtual recruiter as part of the application process. Click for more details.

Apex Benefits Overview: Apex offers a range of supplemental benefits, including medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and other insurance plans that offer an optional layer of financial protection. We offer an ESPP (employee stock purchase program) and a 401K program which allows you to contribute typically within 30 days of starting, with a company match after 12 months of tenure. Apex also offers a HSA (Health Savings Account on the HDHP plan), a SupportLinc Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with up to 8 free counseling sessions, a corporate discount savings program and other discounts. In terms of professional development, Apex hosts an on-demand training program, provides access to certification prep and a library of technical and leadership courses/books/seminars once you have 6+ months of tenure, and certification discounts and other perks to associations that include CompTIA and IIBA. Apex has a dedicated customer service team for our Consultants that can address questions around benefits and other resources, as well as a certified Career Coach. You can access a full list of our benefits, programs, support teams and resources within our 'Welcome Packet' as well, which an Apex team member can provide.