Product Owner

Job Summary  

The Product Owner is responsible for the success of the product by maximizing the output of the development team within a scrum framework. They will support the Product Development team in maintaining product focus and vision during and after roll-out of a product. They work closely with business stakeholders, product/project managers, and technical teams to understand, analyze, refine, prioritize, and communicate needs to ensure full understanding of project scope, objectives, and requirements. They work with Managers of Product to analyze results after product launch.  They support the product development team in its effort to engage all cross-functional teams within RouteOne’s owners and stakeholders to ensure success of the product. 

Job Responsibilities

• Manage the product lifecycle from planning through development, launch, and ongoing product enhancements.  Support the definition, development, and delivery of the product(s) following the RouteOne systems lifecycle process.  
• Drive release planning process. 
• Regularly communicate with product stakeholders. 
• Identify dealership and finance source problems through market research including visits to dealer and finance source customers.  Communicate dealer and finance source needs via clearly defined and detailed problem statements. 
• Define the solutions for validated and known market problems by writing detailed requirements, user stories, and maintaining a product backlog. 
• Work with development team(s) to groom and refine the product backlog to ensure the development team works on priority items from the perspective of the stakeholders. 
• Interact with customers to deliver enhancements to their specifications when custom functionality is required. Work with user experience designer to define how users will interact with the product(s).    
• Understand the competitive landscape and expectations of persons (users and buyers) interacting with the product. 
• Ensure acceptance criteria are met. 
• Coordinate, facilitate, and conduct regular product updates.  
• Provide input into long-term product roadmap. 
• Coordinate with Legal and Security department to ensure any legal- or security- specific requirements are contemplated and addressed. 
• Support dealer and finance source sales efforts as needed for assigned projects (including creation of sales materials and delivery of presentations).     
• Act as subject-matter expert for functional product area(s). 
• Maintain safety, security, and privacy standards throughout all areas of responsibility. 

Knowledge  

• Strong knowledge of automotive financing dealer and finance source processes 
• Knowledgeable in technology (specifically software) 
• Familiar with agile software implementation methodologies, specifically Scrum 

Skills   

• Proficient in Microsoft Office products including but not limited to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Visio  
• Experience with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms 
• Familiarity with software mockup and prototyping tools such as Axure or Balsamiq 
• Familiarity with issue tracking tools such as JIRA 

Abilities  

• Ability to think critically 
• Ability to work in a team environment  
• Time management  
• Experience in owning and managing projects as well as displaying strong leadership and facilitation skills 
• Effective verbal and written communications skills, including presentation skills 
• Problem solver with a strong solution / implementation focus 
• High degree of flexibility and adaptability and conflict management capability 
• Self-motivated, self-directed, and politically astute; able to communicate effectively with all levels of internal and external organizations

Other Essential Requirements  

• Computer Science or Engineering degree or work experience a plus 
• 3 years of experience as a software product owner.  
• Sales and Marketing experience, specifically focused on new Product Development 
• Pragmatic Marketing certification a plus 
• Willingness to travel - This position requires occasional travel to customer sites in North America (10%)