Product owner & Manager

Sr. Product Owner / Product Manager 

Location: Charlotte, NC - Must be local to Charlotte currently, no relocation candidates considered. Interview will be onsite next week

Interviews: Screen with me / Interview with Manager onsite / Interview with Panel

Duration: Renewable contract position

Onsite hybrid in Charlotte, NC 

Only send me the original version of the resume, not the version you created, I only want the original version the candidate submitted

Position Summary

We are looking for a detail-oriented Sr.Product Owner to join our team. This role combines business analysis, systems analysis, and product ownership, bridging the gap between business needs and technical solutions. You will be responsible for understanding business processes, evaluating system capabilities, documenting requirements, owning the product backlog, and ensuring delivered solutions align with both business goals and technical architecture.

Key Responsibilities

- Engage with stakeholders to elicit, analyze, and document business requirements

- Translate business needs into functional specifications, user stories, and acceptance criteria

- Facilitate requirements workshops, interviews, and discovery sessions

- Create process flow diagrams, use cases, and data flow documentation

- Perform current state analysis and identify gaps and improvement opportunities

- Support project planning, estimation, and prioritization of the product backlog

- Collaborate with development, QA, and UX teams throughout the software development lifecycle

- Plan and coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with business stakeholders

- Track and manage requirement changes through proper change control processes

- Prepare presentations and status reports for leadership and project sponsors

Systems Analyst Duties

- Evaluate existing systems, platforms, and infrastructure to identify technical constraints and opportunities

- Define system requirements, technical specifications, and integration points

- Analyze and document system architecture, data flows, and dependencies across applications

- Perform feasibility studies and impact assessments for proposed system changes

- Collaborate with developers and architects on solution design and technical approach

- Support system configuration, environment setup, and deployment planning

- Troubleshoot system issues, perform root cause analysis, and recommend fixes

- Design and document database schemas, data mappings, and ETL processes

- Review and validate API contracts, integration patterns, and data exchange formats

- Coordinate with infrastructure and DevOps teams on system performance, scalability, and security

- Develop and maintain system documentation including technical specs, Product Documentation

- Participate in code reviews and QA processes to ensure requirements are met

- Support production releases, smoke testing, and post-deployment validation

Product Owner Duties

- Own and maintain the product backlog, ensuring it is prioritized, refined, and aligned with business strategy

- Define and communicate the product vision, roadmap, and release plan to stakeholders and development teams

- Write and refine user stories with clear acceptance criteria, ensuring the team has a shared understanding of what to build

- Make prioritization decisions balancing business value, technical debt, and stakeholder needs

- Participate in sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives

- Accept or reject completed work based on acceptance criteria and definition of done

- Gather and incorporate feedback from end users, stakeholders, and analytics into product decisions

- Collaborate with UX/UI designers to ensure the product delivers a strong user experience

- Define and track product KPIs, success metrics, and OKRs

- Manage stakeholder expectations through regular communication, demos, and progress updates

- Conduct competitive analysis and market research to inform product direction

- Coordinate cross-team dependencies and align delivery timelines across workstreams

- Champion the voice of the customer within the development team

- Make trade-off decisions on scope, timeline, and quality when needed

Required Qualifications

- 5+ years of experience in a Product Owner or Business Analyst role

- Strong requirements gathering and documentation skills

- Experience writing user stories, use cases, functional and technical specifications

- Demonstrated experience owning and managing a product backlog

- Proficiency with process modeling and documentation tools (Visio, Lucidchart, or similar)

- Understanding of system architecture, databases, and integration patterns

- Familiarity with SQL and ability to query and analyze data

- Strong working knowledge of Safe Agile/Scrum methodologies and ceremonies

- Experience with project management and collaboration tools (JIRA, Confluence)

- Excellent written and verbal communication skills

- Strong analytical and critical thinking abilities

- Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities simultaneously

- Comfortable making prioritization and trade-off decisions under pressure

Preferred Qualifications

- CBAP, CCBA, PMI-PBA, CSBA, or CSPO / PSPO certification

- Proficiency in SQL and experience with relational databases (SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle)

- Background in sales, marketing, or operations domains

- Knowledge of API integrations (REST/SOAP), middleware, and system architecture concepts

- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform)

- Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices

- Experience with monitoring and logging tools (Splunk, Datadog, CloudWatch)

- Track record of delivering products from concept through launch

- Experience facilitating stakeholder workshops and design thinking sessions

- Experience SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager

Soft Skills

- Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships across teams

- Comfortable navigating ambiguity and asking the right questions

- Detail-oriented with a commitment to accuracy

- Proactive and self-motivated with a solutions-oriented mindset

- Effective at managing competing stakeholder priorities