Product Owner

JOB SUMMARY

***CANDIDATE MUST BE US Citizen (due to contractual/access requirements)***

This job is accountable for the development and product management of a service and or analytic product within the organization with a unique focus on the applicable business unit.  The incumbent is the primary point of contact to agile, large cross-functional teams on behalf of the customer to identify the product requirements for development. The incumbent is accountable for the product's ability to produce business value by focusing on the translation of strategy to agile execution.  Oversees priority, scope and the validation of work that is required in order to deliver a quality product. Will need a deep understanding of the product, the market, business strategy and operating model.  Accountable for the alignment with product management leadership, direct stakeholder involvement and support of the primary business objectives for the organization.  

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Contributes to streamlining the execution of program priorities while maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of the features or components for the team.

• Manages, understands and supports prioritized Portfolio and Value Stream work by collaborating with stakeholders such as: Solution Architect, Business Architect, Product Manager and others to breakdown features into user stories. Act as a bridge to connect the product and development teams by translating the product manager's vision into business and functional requirements for the teams.  This will allow the teams to work with a heavy focus on user outcomes.  Key player in solution estimation.

• Maintain a well groomed and prioritized backlog sufficient to support optimal team allocation for multiple (3+) Sprints including acceptance of stories and enforcing definition of ready and definition of done (backlog health).  Recommend resolution paths to domain leadership when/if backlog health becomes insufficient.  

• Responsible for the acceptance of stories as “Done” from the team, ensuring that the stories have been developed, tested, and meet the defined acceptance criteria

• Collaborate as needed with stakeholders (e.g. Product Management, business leads, etc.) in the creation, maintenance, and communication of the product vision, strategy, and roadmap. Represent the product in team or minor level governance meetings.  Track and provide status to leadership. Perform work necessary with product managers to learn about what problems they are aiming to solve with the product. 

• Collaborate with external vendors to align roadmaps, ensuring delivery execution and scope alignment. Work on cross-functional teams, leveraging agile program and team metrics to drive success. 

• Contributes to the generation of a high-level release plan with the team.  Continually re-prioritizes team's tasks based upon new information, discussions with stakeholders, and probability to drive business outcomes.  Develop and maintain product delivery roadmap. Effectively communicate product release contents and expected product capabilities/behavior to stakeholders.

• Write clearly defined user stories for new product features, issues and future enhancements. Work with the team to define and implement improvement stories that will increase the quality of the program.

• Review, update and sign off on test scripts for both in-track and regression testing, ensuring full coverage of the user stories​.

• Other duties as assigned or requested.

EDUCATION

Required

• Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Healthcare Discipline, Information Management, or closely related field

Substitutions

• None

Preferred

• Master's Degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Healthcare Discipline, or Information Management

EXPERIENCE

Required

• 3 years experience in Product Ownership, Strategic Consulting or Design Thinking OR in Product Development & Management, Project/Program Management 

• 3 years experience working with external clients/fostering positive relationships and outcomes

Preferred

• Understanding of Healthcare & Insurance Domain:  Deep knowledge of enrollment processes, enrolled member lifecyle, regulatory requirements (e.g. HIPAA, ACA) and common industry challenges. 
• Requirements Gathering & Elicitation:   Demonstrated proficiency in various techniques to gather, analyze, and document user stories, epics, and acceptance criteria.
• Technical Understanding (Translational):  Prior Experienced with addressing technical constraints and possibilities, and to effectively communicate technical concepts to business stakeholders and vice-versa.
• Business Value Articulation:  Skill in identifying and articulating the business value of features and initiatives, ensuring alignment with Highmark’s strategic goals.
• Presentation & Facilitation: Skill in presenting product visions and developing content for presentations, leading meetings, and facilitation workshops.
• Active Listening & Empathy:  Ability to listen to understand and to empathize with user and stakeholder needs.
• Data Analysis & Interpretation: Ability to leverage data to inform product decisions and measure success.
• Critical Thinking:  Ability to analyze problems, breaking them down into management pieces, and propose effective solutions.
• Proactive Self-Starter Initiative:  Demonstrated ownership to drive initiatives forward.

LICENSES or CERTIFICATIONS

Required

• None

Preferred

• Agile certification from a known vendor (Scrum.org, SAFe, Scrum Alliance, etc.)

SKILLS

• Communication skills, ability to work in matrixed organization

• Translate business requirements into technical specifications

• Ability to "size" work for estimation / planning

• Ability to serve as product owner for multiple teams / products

• Ability to prioritze across stories / resources / teams / products

• Agile methodology

• Able to problem solve in conjunction with distilling research and applying to reach a relevant and beneficial solution

Languages (Other than English)

None

Travel Required

None

PHYSICAL, MENTAL AND WORKING CONDITIONS

Position Type

Office Based

Teaches / trains others regularly

Occasionally

Travel regularly from the office to various work sites or from site-to-site

Rarely

Works primarily out-of-the office selling products/services (sales employees)

Never

Physical work site required 

No

Lifting: up to 10 pounds

Constantly

Lifting: 10 to 25 pounds

Occasionally

Lifting: 25 to 50 pounds

Never

Disclaimer: The job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and essential duties and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this job title. It may not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to do this job.

Compliance Requirement: This position adheres to the ethical and legal standards and behavioral expectations as set forth in the code of business conduct and company policies.

As a component of job responsibilities, employees may have access to covered information, cardholder data, or other confidential customer information that must be protected at all times.  In connection with this, all employees must comply with both the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) as described in the Notice of Privacy Practices and Privacy Policies and Procedures as well as all data security guidelines established within the Company’s Handbook of Privacy Policies and Practices and Information Security Policy. 

Furthermore, it is every employee’s responsibility to comply with the company’s Code of Business Conduct. This includes but is not limited to adherence to applicable federal and state laws, rules, and regulations as well as company policies and training requirements.

Pay Range Minimum:

Pay Range Maximum:

Base pay is determined by a variety of factors including a candidate’s qualifications, experience, and expected contributions, as well as internal peer equity, market, and business considerations.  The displayed salary range does not reflect any geographic differential Highmark may apply for certain locations based upon comparative markets.

Highmark Health and its affiliates prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on any category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

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