Project Owner
Founded in 2001, Adage is a web design and development firm that combines strategic thinking with a passion for technology to advance our client's purpose. We bring together a diverse team of creative and technical professionals who partner with our clients to create their digital strategy. It’s our people first approach that drives us to win awards, work with prestigious clients, and break ground with exciting technology. Adage has consistently been recognized as one of Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois, and on Crain's Best Places to Work in Chicago.
An Adage Project Owner is a unique hybrid of Project Manager, Product Owner, Account Manager, and Client Advocate. As the Project Owner, you will represent the vision and roadmap of our client partners to our cross-functional scrum team who will deliver on this vision. This scrum team is comprised Developers, a Scrum Master, Adage UX/UI Designers and you, serving as the liaison and the primary point of contact between the client stakeholders and internal teams.
You will work with a portfolio of up to 15 clients that span a variety of industries. Your role will include promoting and overseeing just some of the things that we excel at; from website and mobile development, delivery of complex e-commerce solutions, integrations, implementation of content management systems and more.
You will work closely with clients to understand their goals through effective communication, using interview techniques, data gathering and analysis, user story documentation and collaborative road-mapping.
Our ideal candidate can quickly grasp highly complex requests and craft creative approaches to digital solutions that effectively meet and exceed our clients’ expectations. Well-versed in big picture thinking, the candidate is also comfortable dealing with uncomfortable situations that require transparency and clarity, and possesses an effortless communication style that conveys curiosity, humility and confidence.
What you will be doing:
- Partner with clients to understand, analyze and prioritize goals and create well-defined user stories with acceptance criteria
- Collaborate with internal team and clients to prioritize the roadmap and champion the features which will provide the most value to all stakeholders
- Work closely with the Scrum Master and development leads to ensure that user stories are understood and that each sprint delivers its full potential
- Manage a portfolio of clients in different stages of project delivery and prioritize user stories based on individual client roadmaps
- Manage project forecasts and ensure that they are consistently updated
- Track project budgets, deadlines and general progress towards project completion
- Monitor threats, risks and opportunities that might affect the success of projects and hold accountability for the overall solution
- Maintain an open and honest line of communication with clients on project status
- Stay well-informed about clients’ business initiatives to conceptualize features that achieve their objectives now and in the future
- Assist team to develop test plans, user scenarios and test conditions to ensure that the expected results meet functional and user experience requirements
- Participate in testing for quality assurance and user acceptance
- Provide digital strategy and leadership to the Adage team and your clients
We want someone who:
- Has at least 4 – 8 years’ experience in a client-facing role at a digital marketing, web or software development organization and/or consulting background
- Has agile scrum delivery experience in a full-time product owner, business analysis or project management role
- Has worked in a fast-paced client environment, managing multiple clients and priorities concurrently
- Has experience cultivating new work with existing clients, writing detailed statements of work, estimating project costs and estimating project timelines
- Understands and can create tangible clarity around abstract ideas
- Has strong business writing skills and presentation skills
- Communicates exceptionally well in video conference and through email
- Can effectively communicate vision to different levels of stakeholders (from C-level to development managers) and team members
- Has proven organization skills and attention to detail while retaining big picture goals
- Enjoys working with developers and designers to understand technology requirements
- Is unafraid of asking questions
- Is willing to challenge certain feature sets or ideas in a positive and collaborative manner
- Has a track record of successful delivery of medium and large-scale software development projects to production
- Has experience using Jira to manage backlogs and roadmaps
What Adage Offers
Adage has consistently been recognized as one of Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois, and on the Crain’s list of Best Places to Work in Chicago. We have a people first approach, and support our employees with the things that matter most. You’ll enjoy work life balance with flex schedules, work from home options, and 20+ days paid time off annually. Adage offers great benefits with 90% employer paid insurance, profit sharing bonuses, 401k, and FSA. We have monthly happy hours, quarterly social events, an annual retreat, and a great office environment with a stocked kitchen.
Adage Technologies is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that represents and respects diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skill sets. All qualified candidates that share Adage's core values are strongly encouraged to apply.