Product Owner, Telecom - Distribution & Industrial

We are seeking an experienced and technical Product Owner to own and drive the product backlog and lifecycle for our D&I wireless and edge portfolio. In this role, you will act as the Content Authority for the backlog, bridging customer needs, industry standards, and R&D execution. You will partner closely with systems engineering, R&D, NPI (New Product Introduction), and global cross-functional teams to deliver secure, highly reliable industrial wireless and edge platforms for utility and critical infrastructure customers., * Backlog Management: Own and maintain the product backlog; translate portfolio strategy and multi-year roadmaps into prioritized epics, features, and enablers.

• Content Authority: Make explicit trade-offs across scope, cost, schedule, and quality, ensuring a release-ready backlog ahead of each planning cycle.
• Requirements Definition: Translate customer insights, field feedback, and standards obligations into clear, testable system requirements-including non-functional requirements (coverage, latency, availability, cybersecurity, environmental ratings).
• Traceability & Change Control: Maintain requirements traceability and change control; assess and communicate the impact of scope changes on committed release plans.

1. Product Execution & Lifecycle * Portfolio Ownership: Own backlog and release execution across wireless platforms, including: * Private LTE / PLTE Core & RAN * Wireless Edge devices and industrial IoT platforms * Edge Applications for Distribution Automation (e.g., Smart RTU, protocol conversion) * Broadband power line communications * Microwave and narrowband radio systems * R&D & NPI Partnership: Act as the “voice of the customer” to R&D and NPI program teams. Lead backlog refinement, support Program Increment (PI) Planning and NPI tollgate reviews, and validate delivered value against acceptance criteria and the Definition of Done. * Architecture & Dependencies: Partner with System Architects to balance feature content against architectural/platform enabler work, managing cross-team and supplier dependencies. * Release Rhythm: Pace release content to portfolio operating rhythms, including multi-generation product plans, business plans, and NPI cycles. * Compliance & Security: Ensure product security, safety, certification, and type-approval requirements are integrated into the backlog (e.g., FCC/ISED/CE, 3GPP, IEC 62443, IEEE 1613). * Sustaining & EOL: Prioritize sustaining content (field issues, firmware maintenance, security patches, obsolescence-driven redesign) alongside new development; support product End-of-Life and installed-base migration plans.

2. Cross-Functional Collaboration * Alignment: Drive alignment across Technology/R&D, Global Supply Chain (GSC), Sourcing, Services, Quality, and Commercial teams on backlog priorities and release commitments. * Team Leadership: Partner with Technical Coordinators, Team Product Owners, and Scrum Masters to ensure team-level stories reflect customer needs and system intent. * Business Strategy: Support the Senior Product Manager with business case inputs, cost targets, and pricing structures for new platform content, while contributing to competitive and technology analysis.

3. Commercial & Customer Engagement * Voice of the Customer: Lead requirement workshops, pilots, field trials, and user acceptance testing with distribution utility and industrial customers. * Sales Enablement: Support global commercial teams, ITO (Inquiry-to-Order), and OTR (Order-to-Remittance) with release content, roadmap clarity, configuration guidance, and technical support arbitration. * Go-to-Market: Contribute to launch readiness, value propositions, sales enablement materials, and conference papers focusing on product and solution use cases.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Telecommunications, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience: Minimum 8 years of experience in product ownership, product management, systems engineering, or technical development within the Utility/Industrial Communication segment in a multicultural environment.
• Domain Expertise: Prior experience in the telecom industry with a strong focus on wireless communications (e.g., PLTE/LTE/5G, Wi-Fi, microwave backhaul, mission-critical wireless networks, IP, Cloud).
• Agile Acumen: Demonstrated experience defining and prioritizing requirements and backlogs in an Agile or SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) environment.
• Global Collaboration: Proven experience working successfully with global teams and customers.
• Modern Tools: Experience using AI-driven tools for requirement drafting, data analysis, or process automation., * Certifications: SAFe POPM, CSPO, or equivalent product ownership certification.
• Industry Knowledge: Understanding of energy, industrial, and transportation sectors; familiarity with distribution automation, SCADA, AMI, or Distributed Energy Resources (DER) communications.
• Specialized Tech: Experience with Broadband Powerline communication (e.g., IEEE 1901) or licensed microwave link engineering.
• Protocols & Standards: Familiarity with industrial protocols (DNP3, MQTT, IEC 60870-5-101/104) and product security/hardened-equipment standards (IEC 62443, NERC CIP, IEEE 1613, IEC 61850-3).
• Tooling: Proficiency with requirements and product management tooling (Jira, Airfocus, Azure DevOps, Polarion, or DOORS).
• Work Style: Schedule flexibility to collaborate effectively across global time zones, and a willingness to travel up to 40%.
• Process Improvement: Lean process or transformation experience.