Senior Autonomy Engineer (Product Owner)
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
-
Own and maintain the team backlog, ensuring work items are structured, prioritized, and continuously refined.
-
Ensure Features and Stories have sufficient clarity for implementation (problem/context, acceptance criteria, dependencies, constraints).
-
Drive backlog hygiene and traceability so work remains visible, current, and actionable in the team's tooling (ex: Azure DevOps).
-
Refinement, Spring Planning & Execution Support:
-
Lead and/or coordinate backlog refinement to prepare work for upcoming sprints.
-
During sprint planning, present the highest-priority work and facilitate the conversation so the team can make realistic commitments based on capacity.
-
Provide ongoing clarification during execution to keep delivery unblocked and aligned to intended outcomes.
-
Stakeholder Alignment & Cross-Team Coordination:
-
Act as the team's primary day-to-day interface for stakeholders, ensuring the team plan remains aligned to stakeholder needs and inter-team dependencies.
-
Coordinate priority conflicts and dependency impacts with peer teams (and escalate where needed) to preserve flow and delivery confidence.
-
Story Acceptance & Quality Accountability:
-
Be accountable for Story acceptance, confirming work meets acceptance criteria, aligns to Definition of Done, and is suitable for release/use.
-
Ensure validation evidence is captured appropriately (tests, demos, notes, acceptance outcome) to avoid "nearly done" carryover.
-
Delivery Planning Visibility (Optional/Where Used)
-
Maintain delivery visibility by keeping planned work accurately represented (ex: sprint-level view, start/target dates where your process uses them).
-
Key Working Relationships:
-
Delivery Team (engineers, QA, design as applicable) - shared understanding of what "done" means and delivery sequencing.
-
Scrum Master/Team Coach - facilitation and flow; supports refinement and planning mechanics.
-
Product/Program Leadership (PM, TPM, solution roles where applicable) - priorities, outcomes, trade offs, and dependency alignment.
-
Stakeholders/SME's - requirements clarity, feedback loops, and acceptance inputs.
-
Other duties as assigned by Caterpillar management from time-to-time.
Requirements
-
Bachelor's degree in Engineering (electrical, software, computer) or equivalent experience in lieu of degree.
-
Fluency in English and French (both written and spoken) is preferred to effectively communicate with diverse stakeholders and ensure accurate interpretation of information.
-
Industry Knowledge: Knowledge of the organization's industry group, trends, directions, major issues, regulatory considerations, and trendsetters; ability to apply industry knowledge appropriately to diverse situations.
-
Problem Solving: Knowledge of approaches, tools, techniques for recognizing, anticipating, and resolving organizational, operational or process problems; ability to apply knowledge of problem solving appropriately to diverse situations.
-
Software Development Lifecycle: Knowledge of software development life cycle; ability to use a structured methodology for delivering and managing new or enhanced software products to the marketplace.
-
Software Product Testing: Knowledge of software product testing; ability to design, plan, and execute testing strategies and tactics to ensure software product quality and adherence to stated requirements.
-
Application Development Tools: Knowledge of application and system development; ability to utilize a variety of specific tools and toolkits for developing applications.
-
Artificial Intelligence: Knowledge of the concepts, technologies and methodologies of artificial intelligence (AI); ability to develop, implement and/or apply artificial intelligence products and services in specific industry domain to achieve business goals.
-
Programming: Knowledge of relevant programming languages and tools; ability to test, write, design, debug, troubleshoot and maintain source codes and computer programs.
-
Technical Troubleshooting: Knowledge of technical troubleshooting approaches, tools and techniques; ability to anticipate, recognize, and resolve technical issues on hardware, software, application or operation.
What Will Set You Apart (Preferred Qualifications):
-
Demonstrated ability to effectively manage and optimize a product backlog, including backlog refinement, prioritization aligned to business value, breaking down complex work in deliverable increments (slicing), and ensuring items meet a clear "definition of ready."
-
Strong track record of operating within Agile frameworks, actively contributing to key ceremonies such as backlog refinement, spring planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and acceptance activities, with a focus on continuous delivery and improvement.
-
Confident in managing and maintaining work items within delivery tools (ex: Azure DevOps), including creating, updating, organizing, and tracking work items; ensuring data integrity, traceability, and alignment across teams.
-
Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, facilitate discussions, remove ambiguity, and make timely, informed decisions to maintain delivery momentum.
-
Experience within mining operations and/or familiarity with the MineStar product suite is advantageous, with an understanding of operational workflows, constraints, and domain-specific challenges considered a strong plus (but not essential).
Benefits & conditions
Subject to plan eligibility, terms, and guidelines. This is a summary list of benefits.
-
Medical, dental, and vision benefits*
-
Paid time off plan (Vacation, Holidays, Volunteer, etc.)*
-
401(k) savings plans*