Product Owner
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
This role will be based in Barcelona, bringing product craft closer to R&D while helping bridge collaboration with teams across the US, India, and Nice.
The Product Owner role sit within the Distribution & Reservation Core (DRC) organization - which is shaping the fast-evolving landscape of Central Reservation Systems (CRS). While the primary focus will be on iHotelier, the long-term vision includes supporting ACRS initiatives and convergence planning as we move toward a unified CRS strategy.
The Product Owner (PO) is a key member of the Agile Release Train (ART) and serves as the bridge between the Product Manager and the Agile delivery team. In Distribution & Reservation Core the PO is accountable for ensuring that the development team delivers value aligned to customer needs, product vision, and PI objectives. The PO owns and manages the team backlog, translating the "what" and "why" from the Product Manager into actionable user stories, acceptance criteria, and prioritized work for the team.
In this role you will:
Customer & Business Alignment
- Partner closely with Product Managers to understand customer problems, product vision, and roadmap priorities.
- Break down high-level features (from PMs) into detailed, testable user stories and enablers that the team can execute.
- Ensure backlog reflects both business value and technical enablers needed to sustain long-term delivery.
Backlog Ownership & Delivery Focus
- Own and prioritize the team backlog in Rally/Jira, balancing new features, technical debt, and enabler work.
- Refine backlog continuously with the team; ensure stories are "ready" ahead of PI and sprint planning.
- Collaborate with architects and R&D leads on sequencing and dependencies to maintain the architectural runway.
- Accept completed stories, validating against acceptance criteria and Definition of Done.
Agile & SAFe Responsibilities
- Actively participate in all Agile ceremonies: Iteration Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Backlog Refinement, Iteration Reviews, Retrospectives.
- Represent the team in PO syncs, ART syncs, draft plan reviews, System Demos, and Inspect & Adapt workshops.
- Work with the Scrum Master to drive continuous improvement in team ways of working.
- Ensure alignment of sprint work with Program Increment (PI) objectives and ART-level commitments.
Stakeholder Communication
- Serve as the primary voice of the customer for the Agile team, ensuring development aligns with real business value.
- Provide clarity on scope and priorities to developers, testers, and UX.
- Organize demos for stakeholders to showcase progress and gather feedback.
Requirements
Do you have experience in UX?, * 2-4 years of experience as a Product Owner, Business Analyst, or similar role in an Agile / SAFe environment.
- Proven experience working in cross-functional delivery teams (engineering, QA, UX, architecture).
- Strong track record of backlog management and translating product vision into actionable stories.
- Experience with enterprise-level Agile frameworks such as SAFe or Scaled Scrum.
- Prior exposure to customer-facing products or B2B platforms preferred.
- Proficiency in Jira, Rally, or similar backlog management tools.