At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead product backlog management and collaborate with teams to deliver innovative solutions.
- Company: Dynamic insurance services company focused on collaboration and innovation.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Join a supportive team culture that values creativity and continuous improvement.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by guiding teams to achieve their product goals and drive success.
- Qualifications: Proven experience as a Product Owner in Agile environments and strong communication skills.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.
With a company culture rooted in collaboration, expertise and innovation, we aim to promote progress and inspire our clients, employees, investors and communities to achieve their greatest potential. Our work is the catalyst that helps others achieve their goals. In short, we enable possibility.
Responsibilities
- Product Backlog Management: Create, maintain, and prioritize multiple product backlogs, ensuring items align with product vision and strategy to meet business objectives, and reflect evolving business needs and priorities aligned to business outcomes. Responsible for ensuring the backlog's content includes user stories, enablers and defects with work ready for the team to execute. Responsible for accepting stories while confirming the story meets approved standards, acceptance test and complies with definition of done to ensure quality. Ensure the backlog supports architectural runway. Coach other Product Owners on backlog management.
- User Story Refinement: Ensure user stories are clear, concise, and well-defined to accurately represent the business need and fit with the product strategy with the clear direction and ability to facilitate development. Responsible for breaking down stories into small parts, clarifies details and ensures usability.
- Prioritization: Collaborate with the product management team to ensure the team is focused on the highest value work based on business needs, product strategy and/or initiative delivery and user feedback. Ensure the backlog reflects the vision and delivery roadmap, addresses solutions and delivery expectations. Responsible for ranking backlog items and ensuring proper sequence based on high value aligned with the product strategy.
- Coaching and Team Collaboration: Provides coaching to Product Owners and acts as a bridge between product management and delivery teams. Facilitate communication and collaboration between the development team, designers, and other stakeholders.
- Sprint and Increment Planning: Collaborate with the domain product managers and development team to define sprint goals, select user stories, and facilitate sprint planning aligned with team capacity each sprint in line with the domain’s priorities and strategy. Communicate with the agile delivery team on the vision during planning to prepare teams to execute and deliver solutions.
- Acceptance Criteria: Define clear acceptance criteria for each user story to ensure quality and delivery expectations are met.
- Release Management: Collaborate with the team to plan and manage product releases in line with the domain’s product and/or initiative delivery strategy as defined by the product manager. Facilitate frequent team conversations to resolve questions, manage dependencies and communicate emerging priorities as stories are implemented.
- Metrics and Analysis: Track and analyze key product metrics to measure success and identify areas for improvement. Regularly check progress toward meeting story acceptance criteria and ensure quality standards are met, like Definition of Done and nonfunctional requirements. Collaborates closely with the team to identify and fix quality issues.
Requirements
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to influence and present complex, technical information to varying stakeholder groups, gather and provide feedback, and effectively engage with diverse teams across the organization.
- Proven experience in playing a product owner role managing multiple products in the development of large scale commercial and specialty systems (DuckCreek, Guidewire, Unqork, UW Platforms, Submission & Clearance Systems, Extraction or AI-driven platforms etc.) and demonstrated value creation and business outcomes.
- Ability to lead, partner and guide multiple Agile teams (Dev, QA, Design) and business teams in achieving product goals and resolving conflicts.
- Experience developing productive relationships across the organization.
- Ability to empathize with users and advocate for their needs as aligned with the domain’s product strategy and ability to translate and articulate aligned user stories for execution with the development teams.
- Advanced technical and business acumen knowledge to effectively articulate the business outcomes and priority and ability to translate into technical user stories for various development teams.
- Ability to convey complex, technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
- Must demonstrate proficiency in Teamwork and Interpersonal Skills, Communication, Technical, Problem Solving, Continuous Improvement and Service Skills.
- Self-starter demonstrating flexibility, accountability, and adaptability. Able to balance and drive progress against key domain deliverables across multiple development teams.
- Proven experience Agile frameworks like Scrum and SAFe and tools such as JIRA, Confluence, MIRO and other product management and roadmap tools.
- Deep understanding of commercial and specialty insurance product lifecycle.
Education And Experience
- Bachelor’s Degree in related field.
- Certified Scrum Product Owner and/or SAFe POPM certification strongly preferred.
- 8-10 years’ prior experience in Insurance, Product Owner with IT development teams in Agile delivery & execution through software development lifecycle using Agile/Scrum/SAFe frameworks or related / relevant role(s).
Senior Product Owner employer: Arch Insurance (UK) Limited
At Arch Europe Insurance Services Ltd, we pride ourselves on fostering a collaborative and innovative work culture that empowers our employees to reach their full potential. As a Senior Product Owner, you will benefit from extensive professional development opportunities, a supportive team environment, and the chance to make a significant impact in the insurance sector. Our commitment to employee growth and a dynamic workplace makes us an exceptional employer in the heart of the industry.
Contact Details:
Arch Insurance (UK) Limited Recruitment Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Product Owner
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage on platforms like LinkedIn. We all know that sometimes it’s not just what you know, but who you know that can help you land that Senior Product Owner role.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for those interviews by practising common questions and scenarios related to product ownership. We recommend using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers. This will help you showcase your experience effectively!
✨Tip Number 3
Don’t forget to research the company culture and values! Tailor your responses to reflect how you align with their mission of collaboration and innovation. We want to see how you can contribute to their goals and inspire others.
✨Tip Number 4
Finally, apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets noticed. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take the initiative to connect directly with us. Let’s make that possibility happen together!
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Product Owner
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application:Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience as a Product Owner. We want to see how your skills align with our product vision and strategy, so don’t hold back on showcasing relevant projects!
Showcase Your Communication Skills:Since excellent communication is key for this role, use your application to demonstrate your ability to convey complex ideas clearly. We love seeing examples of how you've influenced stakeholders or collaborated with teams in the past.
Highlight Agile Experience:We’re looking for someone with solid experience in Agile frameworks like Scrum and SAFe. Be sure to mention any specific tools you’ve used, like JIRA or Confluence, and how they’ve helped you manage product backlogs effectively.
Apply Through Our Website:Don’t forget to submit your application through our website! It’s the best way for us to keep track of your application and ensure it gets the attention it deserves. We can’t wait to hear from you!
How to prepare for a job interview at Arch Insurance (UK) Limited
✨Know Your Product Backlog Inside Out
Before the interview, make sure you understand the concept of product backlog management thoroughly. Be ready to discuss how you would create, maintain, and prioritise backlogs that align with business objectives. Think of examples from your past experience where you successfully managed a backlog and how it contributed to achieving product goals.
✨Master User Story Refinement
Prepare to talk about your approach to user story refinement. Have specific examples ready that demonstrate how you've broken down complex stories into manageable parts and ensured clarity for development teams. This will show your ability to facilitate development and align with the product strategy.
✨Showcase Your Coaching Skills
Since coaching other Product Owners is part of the role, think about times when you've guided others in backlog management or Agile practices. Be prepared to share how you foster collaboration between teams and resolve conflicts, as this will highlight your leadership capabilities.
✨Understand Metrics and Analysis
Familiarise yourself with key product metrics and be ready to discuss how you've tracked and analysed them in previous roles. Highlight how you've used these insights to drive improvements and ensure quality standards are met, as this will demonstrate your analytical skills and commitment to continuous improvement.