Product Vision & Requirements Definition
- Define product vision and priorities for research-collaboration tooling and technologies,
- elicited and validated directly with business stakeholders, architects, and technical SMEs.
- Convert business and research-collaboration needs into clear, actionable technical
- specifications and user stories.
- Prioritize features and enhancements based on both business value and technical
- feasibility.
- Maintain requirements traceability from business need through to technical delivery.
Platform & Technical Awareness
• Maintain working knowledge of the platforms relevant to external research collaboration
– source-control/developer platforms, technical authoring and research-collaboration
platforms, and file-collaboration/research-sharing platforms, sufficient to assess
integration options and flag technical constraints early.
• Partner with engineering and platform architects to evaluate feasibility and integration
approaches (e.g., authoring-platform-to-source-control sync, repository/access models for
external collaborators) before decisions are finalized.
• Stay current on the research-collaboration tooling landscape as it evolves and re-scope
the roadmap accordingly.
Technical Leadership
• Evaluate architectural decisions and technical tradeoffs with engineering and platform
architects.
• Assess scalability and performance implications of product and tooling choices.
• Make informed decisions on technology stack and integration approaches (e.g.,
authoring-platform-to-source-control sync, repository/access models for external
collaborators).
Cross-Functional Communication
• Serve as the primary translator between business stakeholders and DevSecOps
engineering and platform leads.
• Communicate technical constraints, tradeoffs, and timelines to non-technical stakeholders
in plain language.
• Communicate business priorities and external-collaborator needs to the engineering
teams in actionable terms.
Process & Delivery Support
• Apply fundamentals of project management, organization, and process mapping to keep
product and requirements work on track.
• Maintain clear documentation of decisions, open questions, and requirement changes
(e.g., meeting minutes, decision logs).
• Support planning and prioritization discussions with program leadership.
Knowledge/Skill Requirements
• Bachelor's degree in a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in product ownership, technical business analysis, or a related
role, ideally in a platform, tooling, or developer-collaboration context.
• Proven track record defining product vision and translating business/stakeholder needs
into technical specifications and user stories.
• Experience working directly with business analysts, senior leadership, and engineers or
architects to validate feasibility and make technology decisions.
• Working knowledge of source-control/developer-collaboration platforms (e.g., GitHub),
technical authoring and research-collaboration platforms (e.g., Overleaf), and file collaboration/
research-sharing platforms.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to translate between
technical and non-technical audiences.
• Hands-on experience with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude
Code, Cursor) preferred.
• Ability to manage competing priorities across multiple stakeholders.
Preferred
• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO),
SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM), or equivalent.
• Experience supporting research-collaboration, academic-partnership, or external stakeholder
engagement effort.
• Familiarity with Agile delivery practices (Scrum/Kanban).
• Federal government experience.
• Experience in a DevSecOps or platform engineering environment.
