Product Owner

The purpose of the Technical Product Owner (TPO) is to work with our service line to ensure they successfully increase the value of their digital development efforts. This is achieved by defining, designing and prioritising technical product features of the programs/services (including IAM, Global Portal & GRP ) provided by BDO Global IT to our service lines. The Technical Product Owner translates the product(s) vision into the product/programme roadmap and weighs the different requirements coming from different stakeholders to realise the highest business value. Product Owners lead the Product Teams and are accountable for developing, managing, and supporting their Product(s). The Technical product owner is responsible for:

• Managing the relationship with their Service Line.
• Setting the technical roadmap for their product(s) and determining which feature releases are included in each version.
• Working with the Business Owner/Product Owner to prioritise the technical backlog in support of the product(s) roadmap.
• Managing the team responsible for supporting the technical and technology requirements of their product(s) ("you make it, you own it, you fix it").
• Delivering upgrades or enhancements required to support the technical roadmap and/or business requirements for their product(s).
• Facilitating user acceptance of technical functional requirements and upgrades to minimise business disruption.
• Communicating and articulating the benefits of their product(s), including new features, and how they support BDO's strategic goals.
• Assisting in the adoption of new features to empower users of their product(s).
• Maintaining the quality of their product(s) to ensure key performance targets are consistently met.
• Ensuring their product(s) remain aligned with the Global IT strategy., Product management
• Develop a clear vision for the technical direction of the product(s), that will ensure maximum business value stream of the product, realizing ROI in alignment with the Portfolio roadmap of product(s).
• Close collaboration with the business/service line Product Owner to prioritise the product backlog and ensure refined backlog is ready for the development team.
• Own the design and build of the BDO Global IT products and services, including maintaining and prioritising the product's technical backlog of features, enablers and defects.
• Determine the product(s) vision and roadmap in conjunction with the Service Line, ensuring alignment with the Global IT vision.
• Develop and maintain an appropriately prioritised backlog of technical/non-functional user stories for implementation.
• Develop appropriately detailed specifications for product(s) features so that they are clearly understood by the development teams.
• Use data analysis and reporting to drive product(s) decisions, stakeholder engagement and backlog prioritisation.
• Coordinating between Global IT technology teams and firms' technology teams to deliver the product(s) or service(s).
• Prioritise and maintain the product(s) backlog of technical requirements, ensuring a refined backlog is always ready for the development team.
• Successfully deliver high quality content & design that aligns to the Global IT strategy and provides substantial and measurable business outcomes for firms.

Scheduling & communications

• Responsible for communicating and promoting the technical vision and roadmap to their Business Owners, scrum team and Global IT.
• Responsible for accurately authoring/reviewing, providing feedback and articulation of non-functional user stories and specs to the development team.
• Ensuring delivery team capacity, allocation and resourcing to meet delivery goals.
• Ensure regular communication and scheduled meetings with individual firms to be appropriately advised, informed, and facilitated around their specific business requirements.
• Communicate effectively, develop strong relationships, and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure time-effective bespoke content.
• Confidently and tactfully challenge prioritisation of needs as necessary, ensuring appropriate consideration and balance of technical and business requirements in order to drive to positive overall outcomes for the Product and roadmap.

Technical design & integration liaison

• Work closely with Architects and Integrators to ensure alignment, knowledge and awareness of ongoing deployments & changes.
• Responsible for working with architects and development teams to ensure that business, quality and functional goals are met with each product release.
• Available during sprints to the team to clarify any issues surrounding bugs, feature and scope.
• Validate the solutions and verifies whether the quality is acceptable from a business and end-users perspective.
• Act as an ambassador for the product internally and externally, and as the primary technical contact for queries related to the products.
• Inspire and motivate the development teams to deliver innovative and exciting solutions with an appropriate sense of urgency.

Troubleshooting & issue resolution

• Focus on delivering quality solutions in a timely and effective manner in close cooperation with the Service Desk.
• Effective escalation of risks, issues and dependencies.

Reporting

• Clearly communicate the technical product(s) roadmap to deliver against program vision, goals and priorities.
• Milestone reporting on product(s) status to the Program Delivery Manager.
• Provide detailed written specifications and acceptance criteria for business, design and technical review of technical requirements.

• Tertiary qualifications in Information Technology or a related discipline (e.g. University degree), entry-level vendor-aligned certification (e.g. Scrum Alliance/Scrum.org) required.
• At least 5 years' experience as a Product Owner in a complex, professional global environment.
• Data driven and demonstrated experience using big data, analysis and research to produce product decisions.
• Experience developing, analysing and designing digital products and software.
• Strong stakeholder management skills at all levels with excellent communication skills both verbal and written.
• Strong understanding of Agile/ITIL methodologies.
• Proactive self-starter capable of managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrate expertise in product lifecycle, UX/CX design and analysis understanding.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Operating Systems (e.g. Windows 7/8/10).
• Knowledge of MS Office productivity, communication & collaboration technologies (e.g. MS Office/Skype etc.).
• Effectively demonstrate teamwork skills, problem solving skills, initiative and integrity.
• Excellent English language proficiency.