Digital Product Owner

Job Classification

Requisition: 137776 Digital Product Owner

Division: BITE Mobile and Digital 

TA: Nozi Masabalala

Closing date: 31 January 2025

Please Note: Preference will be given to applicants from Underrepresented Groups

Job Family

Project, Process & Product

Career Stream

 Product

Leadership Pipeline

Manage Managers

Job Purpose

To create internal and external product vision and lead product management from scratch. Develop positioning strategy while working with stakeholders and teams throughout the process Is responsible for setting, prioritizing, and evaluating the work generated by a Scrum team in order to ensure impeccable features and functionality of the product. Serve the end-user, customer or stakeholders of the product and act as a bridge between customer and scrum team. 

Job Responsibilities

• Manage the scope and move through iterations.
• Assist the Scrum Master to organise Sprint Review Meetings.
• Take lead of scrum teams as the Product Owner.
• Provide guidance in mitigating impediments impacting the completion of Release/Sprint Goals.
• Develop and maintain, prioritized and manage backlog of user stories for implementation.
• Write user stories.
• Create and maintain the Product Backlog according to business value or ROI.
• Prioritize the features in the Backlog before Sprint and set Sprint goals.
• Plan and prioritize product feature backlog and development for the product.
• Provide backlog management, iteration planning, and elaboration of the user stories.
• Develop appropriately detailed specifications for product features so that it is clearly understood by the development teams.
• Act as an ambassador for the product internally and externally, and as the primary technical contact for queries related to the product.
• Develop product pricing and positioning strategies. 

Job Responsibilities Continue

• Lead the planning product release plans and set expectation for delivery of new functionalities.
• Build and follow a roadmap.
• Provide insights into the user test cases and arrange product testing groups.
• Define feature acceptance criteria and test cases.
• Manage the user acceptance testing process.
• Track progress in a running system, proven to work by passing repeatable tests.
• Drive product launch.
• Build and maintain product awareness on all levels among product teams.
• Incorporate feature requests into product roadmap.
• Develop user stories and define acceptance criteria.
• Plan releases and upgrades.
• Review solution design plans.
• Define product vision, road-map and growth opportunities.
• Declare the business priority of every user story.
• Substitute functionality and to change priorities.
• Manage the development teams to deliver innovative solutions with an appropriate sense of urgency.
• Follow progress of work and address production issues during sprints.
• Ensure the team focus on behaviour and outcomes that drive customer value.
• Communicate the Business Requirements to the team.
• Work with key stakeholders across the company to ensure successful product releases.
• Ensure understanding of the customer experience.
• Analyse preferences and requests of end users.
• Refine the agile methodology based on results and client feedback.
• Communicate, negotiate, and resolve conflicting interests between key stakeholders.
• Represent customer needs and priorities to the team.
• Assess value, develop cases, and prioritize stories, epics and themes to ensure work focuses on those with maximum value that are aligned with product strategy.
• Facilitate demos and customer feedback sessions.
• Conduct Sprint planning and resource estimation.
• Prioritize processes and activities.
• Participate in the promotion plan development.
• Provide vision and direction to the Agile development team and stakeholders throughout the project and create requirements.
• Coordinate with other Agile team leaders.
• Provide status updates to business leadership.
• Research and analyse market, the users, and the roadmap for the product.
• Follow competitors and the industry and keep track of industry trends.
• Support the achievement of the business strategy, objectives and values.
• Stay abreast of developments in field of expertise.
• Ensure personal growth and enable effectiveness in performance of roles and responsibilities.
• Seek opportunities to improve business processes, models and systems though agile thinking.

Essential Qualifications - NQF Level

Preferred Qualification

Product Owner Training/Course (Formal)

Minimum Experience Level

6 - 10  years' Digital Product and Agile experience.

Technical / Professional Knowledge

Behavioural Competencies