Director - Product Owner

Role Overview:

The Director - Product Owner (PO) is a crucial member of our product development team. As a bridge between stakeholders, development teams, and end-users, the PO contributes to the overall product vision and roadmap in collaboration with the VP of Product Strategy and other stakeholders in a continuous and comprehensive 3600 feedback loop. The PO is responsible for translating the product vision into actionable feature definitions and user stories and optimizing value delivery in collaboration with development team(s).

Responsibilities:

1. Subject Matter Expertise in Designated Domains of Consumer Finance
   
   
   • Provide the voice of the business by leveraging expertise of the business processes and requirements pertaining to specific aspects of Consumer and/or Commercial lending. These areas may include, but are not limited to:
     
     
     
     • Lending and Servicing Compliance
     
     
     • Ancillary Vendor Integrations
     
     
     • Bankruptcy
     
     
     • Repossessions
     
     
     • Payment Processing
     
     
     • Accounting
     
     
     • Etc.
     
     
   
   
   • Execute with a user centric approach to software vision and requirements
     
     
     
     • Advocate for the end-users throughout the software development process
     
     
     • Understand user personas, pain points, and desired outcomes
     
     
     • Validate assumptions through user testing and feedback loops
     
     
   
   


2. Product Vision and Strategy:
   
   
   • Contribute to the product vision, goals, and long-term strategy in collaboration with stakeholders, peers, and the SVP of Product Strategy
   
   
   • Champion and evangelize the product vision and goals with stakeholders and development teams
   
   
   • Understand market trends, user needs, and competitive landscape to shape the product roadmap
   
   


3. Backlog Management:
   
   
   • Create, prioritize, and maintain the product backlog
   
   
   • Break down high-level features into detailed user stories with acceptance criteria
   
   
   • Ensure backlog items are well-defined, estimated, and aligned with business priorities
   
   


4. Stakeholder Collaboration:
   
   
   • Engage with stakeholders (internal and external) to gather requirements, feedback, and insights
   
   
   • Facilitate workshops, user interviews, and feedback sessions
   
   
   • Balance competing interests and manage expectations
   
   


5. Release Planning and Execution:
   
   
   • Collaborate with development teams to plan and execute product releases
   
   
   • Define release scope, prioritize features, and manage dependencies
   
   
   • Monitor progress and adjust plans as needed
   
   
   • Directly engage in problem solving, requirement clarification, and issue resolution in partnership with development teams
   
   


6. Communication and Transparency:
   
   
   • Clearly communicate product requirements, priorities, and changes to the team
   
   
   • Act as a bridge between technical and non-technical stakeholders
   
   
   • Provide regular updates on product status and milestones
   
   


7. Risk Management:
   
   
   • Identify and mitigate risks related to scope, timeline, and quality
   
   
   • Make informed decisions based on data, feedback, and business impact
   
   
   • Adapt to changing circumstances and pivot when necessary
   
   
   • Work within defined processes to propose and execute approved changes in priorities, budget, and timelines
   
   


8. Client Software Support Leadership:
   
   
   
   • Directly engage with clients and aligned staff to support the software with end user clients
   
   
   • Actively manage support issues to achieve time to resolution and total inventory targets
   
   
   • Build relationships with client stakeholders and cultivate client satisfaction with the support experience
   
   


9. People Management:
   
   
   • Contribute to recruiting business systems analysts and Product Owners
   
   
   • Directly manage, professional develop, and retain other Product Owners based organizational needs
   
   
   • Directly manage, professionally develop, and retain a team of business systems analysts
   
   
   • Cultivate a culture for the free exchange of ideas and a customer centric approach to software development and support
   
   


10. Continuous Improvement:
    
    
    • Foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
    
    
    • Seek feedback, analyze metrics, and iterate on processes.
    
    
    • Stay informed about industry best practices and emerging trends
    
    

Qualifications:

Required:

• 8+ years of experience in full consumer and/or commercial finance and servicing


• 8+ years of experience with software development as a business stakeholder, business analyst, or within a software development organization


• 5+ years of experience in direct people management


• Proven track record for presenting concepts and ideas to a cross functional group of stakeholders ranging from software users to the C-suite


• Understanding of Agile software development methodologies


• Excellent communication, negotiation, and collaboration skills


• Analytical mindset with the ability to prioritize effectively

Preferred:

• 5+ years of experience as a Product Owner or similar role


• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Business, Design)


• SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager Certification


• 5+ years of experience managing business analysts


• Familiarity with product management tools (e.g., Jira)


• Basic SQL knowledge and expertise