Senior Product Owner

The candidate is capable of listening to and understanding the client, identifying and fulfilling their needs, possessing a high level of empathy and strong relationship-building skills, and managing expectations effectively. They can engage in difficult conversations with patience and composure. They should be adept at identifying issues and making decisions that satisfy the client, demonstrating that we care about their business more than they do — without compromising quality standards or the company’s interests.

The Product Owner is the person who wants success the most. They are responsible for strategic product management, aligning product goals with company objectives, and developing long-term strategies. They are able to set priorities based on company goals and client needs, with experience in applying and showcasing leadership in Scrum and Agile methodologies. Skilled in working within cross-functional teams, they can inspire and motivate the team, demand work strictly according to the company’s quality standards, and hold the team accountable for meeting these standards. They take any initiative necessary to achieve goals without hesitation, unafraid of unpopular or inconvenient decisions. They are willing to take responsibility for product outcomes and continually strive for improvement, leading by example to show what it means to be accountable for results. The candidate has hands-on product management experience, including successful launches and post-launch support, along with experience in developing and executing long-term product strategies. They know how to manage risks, are experienced in working with data-driven management metrics, and are ready to be accountable for these metrics. They are detail-oriented and focused on avoiding errors and oversights.

They can quickly adapt to changes and find solutions in unconventional situations. Open to new experiences and willing to learn from mistakes (without experimenting on a live product!). They share knowledge, lead, and develop the team. They can give and receive constructive criticism, using it to improve work. They do not rely solely on past experience, possessing both logic and the ability to analyze. They embody the company’s seven principles.Description

Goals:

• The product managed by PO meets the needs and expectations of the customer.
• The customer proactively demonstrates satisfaction with the product and continues to use our services both in its development and in ordering new products.
• The product achieves the company's goals set by management.

At this point:

• The project has defined goals and key results ensuring sufficient contribution of the project to achieve the company's goals.
• The project requirements are comprehensive, correct, non-contradictory, achievable, traceable, understandable, and constantly kept up to date.
• The requirements include the entire set of FURPS+ relevant to achieving product quality.
• The team has and adheres to a Definition of Done (DoD) sufficient to ensure product quality. [Ensuring that the product meets requirements is the team's responsibility, that's their hiring goal! Not just to write shitty code and not to architect shitty architecture!]
• Priorities are set and constantly kept up to date.
• The customer expresses their wishes then, there, and in the way that is convenient for them.
• The customer's wishes are fulfilled as they wanted, not as interpreted by the team.
• The customer has a clear understanding of what, how, when, with what risks, and at what cost will be obtained.
• The customer does not expect the impossible and is involved in decision-making and providing feedback. Both the team and the customer understand each other, and both the team and the customer are accountable for the deal.

Success Criteria:

Current Value Increased

Strategic Product Management:

• Aligning product goals with company objectives.
• Taking responsibility for the outcomes of all company products.

Effective PO Leadership:

• Demonstrating leadership within the product domain.
• Serving as a role model in the application of Scrum, Agile, and company standards.

Strategic Planning:

• Contributing to the development of the company's long-term strategy.
• Defining strategies and opportunities for product diversification and increased product profitability.

Ability to Innovate improved

• Co-creating development strategies with company leadership.
• Actively championing innovations in order to reach goals

Time to Market Improved

Strategic Sales Management:

• Taking responsibility for post-sales and cross-sales within the company.
• Collaborating with company leadership to define strategies and opportunities for improving Time to Market.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Collaborating with various company departments (including Sales/Marketing) to improve Time to Market through process optimization.

Customer Expectation Management:

• Actively managing customer expectations, including selling additional services, across all dimensions—revising CV, developing T2M, expanding UV, and enhancing A2I. Demonstrating growth points in T2M for the customer and establishing agreements within this growth.

Enhancing key project indicators through Evidence-Based Management metrics (Current Value, Unrealized Value, Time to Market, Ability to Innovate)

Anti-requirements: reliance on miracles, hiding information that we can’t make it in time (including the lack of a releasable increment no rarer than once every two weeks) until the last second, falsifying the real state of the development process. The above is strictly prohibited. Attempts to argue for "it’s more convenient/efficient/faster to complete all preparatory work first" will be immediately viewed as attempts to find a way not to do something, which will not do the PO any favors. We’ve heard it all before

You’ll fit in if:

• For you, criticism is like a gift, serving as fuel for improvement, rather than a reason to get hurt.
• You trust no one on word alone, not even yourself. You confirm knowledge with exams and practice. A lecture is not enough for you.
• A typo in your document is like a stain on your reputation, and overlooked feedback from the client is like the end of your career.
• Team success is more important to you than any personal achievement.
• You get constantly blamed for setting unrealistic standards, and are told that there is no need to do things that well for anyone.
• Clients invite you to their kids’ birthdays, and trust you with their most sensitive secrets‍

Requirements

• Experience as a Product Manager/Product Owner/Analyst.
• Experience interacting with international clients.
• Knowledge of Agile and Scrum methodologies, or a willingness to learn.
• Conversational and written English (at a level sufficient to understand what is required, and convey what is needed).
• Ability to formulate hypotheses supported by facts and analyze results.
• Ability to “keep your eyes peeled" (competitor analysis and adjacent areas).
• Practical familiarity with the OKR goal-setting approach.
• Understanding of Servant Leadership principles and how they differ from authoritarian management.
• Emotional intelligence.
• Communication skills (ability to speak the interlocutor's language, engage in constructive dialogue, manage conflict, give and receive criticism).
• Ability to conduct "difficult conversations" without losing patience and composure.
• Certified in Agile techniques no lower than PSPO II, ICP-EPO, IIBA-CCBA, PMI-PBA
• The courage to make decisions and take responsibility for them.
• Respect for the team, the company, and the client.
• Attention to detail.
• Strive for team success.
• Negotiation skills and the ability to build trusting relationships with clients.

Responsibilities

No set of instructions can cover every duty or foresee all situations. Therefore, observing engineers must take initiative and, guided by their professional knowledge and situational context, go above and beyond to prove their worth.

Required minimum

• Creation of a Product Vision: A clear conception of what the end product should be. This involves defining goals, understanding customer needs, and outlining a strategy for achieving success
• Customer Interaction: Establishing trusting relationships with clients, collecting feedback, identifying requirements, and ensuring the product adheres to customer expectations. Taking into account the interests of all types of stakeholders.
• Collaboration with the Development Team: Interacting with the development team by providing essential information, clarifying task details, and addressing arising questions.
• Making Decisions on Priorities: Allocating task priorities, ensuring alignment of the developed product with the company strategy and customer requirements.
• Taking Responsibility for project economics: The Product Owner is responsible for the project meeting the company's profitability standards. A project must have a roadmap outlining how it plans to increase revenue. Collaborating with other Product Owners, they are accountable for the company's overall financial metrics and alignment with financial goals.

Nice to have

• Knowledge of Evidence-based Management. It’s okay if there is no knowledge to speak of, as long as you are willing to learn. ·
• Experience in the IT environment.
• Practical familiarity with Kim Scott’s Radical Candor approach.
• Practical familiarity with Kerry Patterson’s Crucial Accountability approach.
• Understanding of Amy Edmondson's psychological safety model.
• Knowledge of Management 3.0.
• Would be a significant downside:
• Adherence to Daniel H. Pink's Drive! model.
• We are as anti-Pink as possible.
• "Spoiled" corporate pseudo-Agile understanding of a servant leader as a mix of а secretary/entertainer/teacher of a preschool group/mollycoddler.
• We do not need any of this; we will say "thank you, goodbye" immediately.
• Our ideal leader is not a nanny but a good sergeant ("servant to the king, father to the soldiers"©)

Working conditions

• Full remote work
• Vacation/sick leave/holidays follow the American model.
• Each employee has 15 days off per year, which can be used at their discretion.
  • 1 day off can be used at any time, more will have to be approved by the team.
  • Each year worked adds 1 additional day off per year.
• Official holidays: Christmas holidays (Catholic or Orthodox, so 12/24-1/2 or 12/31-1/7), Independence Day (7/4), Thanksgiving (4th Thursday of November). Holidays can be transferred to a different time if need be. You could say that there are 20 days off a year, and only Christmas (24-25) and New Year (31-1) are holidays. .
• Equipment reimbursement: A laptop is provided (to be returned if the person leaves before one year), or a $1000/year budget for personal equipment.
• Training: Internal training is provided and paid for; after training, a certain period of work commitment is required, usually at a rate 1 month per 200 dollars spent.
• Maternity leave: For employees who have worked for more than a year, the company pays for 15 working days of paternity leave and up to 60 working days for maternity leave.
• Severance pay: For those who have worked for 1 year - 1 month's salary, 2 years - 2 months' salary, 3 years and beyond - 3 months' salary. The salary is paid upon contract termination, regardless of the reason for termination.

For those who are useful and needed we are ready to provide аdditional benefits such as financial aid, low-interest loans, relocation assistance, etc. Basically, if you treat us well, we'll treat you well :)