Agile Product Owner - Monitor & Control Systems

Associated Universities Inc. • Charlottesville, VA

1d • $99,882 - $120,837 • Hybrid

About The Position

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) is seeking a technically oriented Monitor & Control (M&C) Systems Product Owner to lead product strategy for the software systems that operate NRAO’s world-class radio telescope facilities. M&C software products are the operational backbone of the Observatory, integrating hardware and software for mechanical telescope controls, translating high-level observing parameters into real-time commands, and underpinning science operations for various programs. The successful candidate will possess deep familiarity with hardware-software integration in control systems environments, along with the organizational and communication skills to translate complex technical requirements into a prioritized, actionable development roadmap. Using Agile/Scrum, this role drives alignment between software development teams and the scientists, engineers, and operations staff who depend on M&C products. The M&C Systems Product Owner will serve as the primary interface between the M&C software development team and a highly technical stakeholder community, including telescope engineers, observatory scientists, and operations staff. The M&C software team supports products across the Observatory portfolio, from legacy systems to new development. The candidate must develop and maintain substantive knowledge of M&C system architectures, real-time control constraints, and hardware integration challenges. The Product Owner will translate this domain understanding into a clearly defined product backlog, collaborate with stakeholders to write user stories and acceptance criteria, and review completed work to ensure it meets operational requirements. A working understanding of Agile frameworks and Scrum methodology is essential.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, electrical engineering, physics, astronomy, or a related technical field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• At least four years of combined experience in control systems, hardware-software integration, or scientific software development - including at least two years in a Product Owner, technical lead, or systems engineer role responsible for defining and managing requirements.
• Demonstrated hands-on background with control system software products that integrate hardware and software - such as SCADA systems, telescope control systems, industrial automation, or similarly complex real-time hardware-software environments.
• Expertise using Atlassian tools, including Jira and Confluence, to manage backlogs and team workflows.
• A passion for Agile and Scrum practices and a dedication to inspiring continuous improvement across teams.
• Demonstrated ability to craft a clear product vision and roadmap that aligns with long-term organizational goals.
• Expertise in prioritizing user stories based on value, technical dependencies, and stakeholder needs.
• Ability to navigate complex stakeholder relationships and balance competing demands while maintaining buy-in across the organization.
• Technical depth sufficient to engage credibly with M&C software engineers on system architecture, hardware interfaces, and implementation tradeoffs - not just to relay requirements, but to participate meaningfully in technical conversations about feasibility and risk.
• Experience working with large, long-lived software systems - particularly operational or legacy systems where stability, reliability, and backward compatibility are as important as new feature delivery - in a distributed team environment.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with the proven ability to establish and maintain working relationships with a wide range of people and personality types.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, and the ability to communicate comfortably and effectively with software engineers, scientists, and senior managers.
• Observatory employees must be authorized to work in the United States. The Observatory presently cannot sponsor H-1B visas for this position.

Nice To Haves

• Active certification as a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO), or equivalent Agile credential preferred. Candidates who demonstrate strong Agile practice through direct experience but lack formal certification are encouraged to apply; NRAO will support certification upon hire.
• Advanced degree in computer science, electrical engineering, physics, astronomy, or a related technical discipline.
• Background that includes Physics or Mathematics.
• Prior experience as a software developer, systems engineer, or technical lead on control systems or hardware-integrated software; familiarity with C++ or Python in a scientific or real-time systems context is a strong plus.
• Experience supporting scientific operations in radio astronomy or related fields.
• Substantial experience developing or supporting hardware-software integration in domains such as telescope control, industrial automation, embedded systems, or scientific instrumentation.
• Familiarity with basic astronomical principles, in particular radio astronomy, and observatory operations.
• Ability to work with international colleagues and across geographically distributed teams.

Responsibilities

• Develops deep working knowledge of M&C system architectures, hardware-software integration challenges, and real-time control constraints, and uses that domain understanding to articulate a clear, credible product vision to software development teams working within a Scrum framework.
• Engages deeply with a highly technical stakeholder community - including telescope engineers, observatory scientists, and operations staff - to translate complex M&C system requirements into well-defined user stories, acceptance criteria, and a clearly prioritized product backlog.
• Prioritizes the product backlog by weighing scientific and operational value against technical risk, system dependencies, and engineering feasibility - making informed tradeoff decisions that reflect both stakeholder needs and M&C system realities.
• Serves as the primary liaison between a skeptical, expert stakeholder community and the software development teams, earning trust through technical credibility and consistent follow-through on commitments; identifies and removes roadblocks that impede delivery of M&C system improvements.
• Gathers and organizes operational feedback from scientists and engineers across multiple NRAO facilities to continuously refine the M&C product roadmap, ensuring development priorities stay aligned with real-world observatory needs as telescope programs evolve.
• Reviews and accepts completed development work with sufficient technical depth to evaluate whether M&C system requirements have been correctly implemented, catching gaps before they reach operational systems.
• Participates in Scrum ceremonies, as appropriate, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, and retrospectives, adapting Agile product owner practices to the realities of complex M&C system development without losing the benefits of iterative delivery.
• Continuously evaluates Agile product backlog definition to improve requirements and story effectiveness, always in service of delivering better M&C software - not process for its own sake.
• Proactive compliance with NRAO and government safety policies and procedures in own work area is expected.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Excellent paid time off (13 holidays, annual accrual of up to 24 vacation days)
• Medical, dental and vision plans are effective on the first day of employment.
• AUI’s retirement benefit contributes an amount equal to 10 percent of a qualified participant’s base pay with no required employee contribution.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior