Fitch Ratings | Director, Product Owner / Product Lead (AI) - Chicago, IL

Fitch Group•Chicago, IL

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

As one of the world’s top three credit ratings agencies, Fitch Ratings plays a critical role in global capital markets by providing supplementary credit analysis, ratings, research, and commentary to financial market participants. For over 100 years, Fitch Ratings has been creating value for global markets through its rigorous analysis and deep expertise, which have resulted in a variety of market leading tools, methodologies, indices, research, and analytical products. Fitch Ratings is part of Fitch Group, a global leader in financial information services with operations in more than 30 countries, which also includes Fitch Solutions. With dual headquarters in London and New York, Fitch Group is owned by Hearst. At Fitch Ratings, credit analysts play a pivotal role in moving markets, as quality credit analysis is the lifeblood of our organization. With a legacy of over a century, our unique approach to credit ratings offers unmatched opportunities for professional growth. Embracing a “challenger mindset,” you'll join a team dedicated to innovating service to our clients. Our people-driven analysis thrives on collaboration across all levels and locations, surpassing traditional financial modeling. Lastly, as part of our global community, you'll find inspiration, challenge, and support, with ample opportunities for visibility and influence in the global financial marketplace. Fitch Ratings is currently seeking a director level Product Owner / Product Lead focused on AI capabilities based out of our Chicago office. Ratings Workflow Solutions (RWS), part of the Ratings COO organization, is a cross-functional, agile team responsible for designing, implementing, and optimizing applications and workflows used by our Ratings staff. Our goal is to streamline processes, mitigate risks, and advance standardization and automation across Fitch’s ratings platforms and workflows. The team partners closely with analytical, business, and technology staff to ensure our systems support the needs of the Ratings organization and enable our staff to work effectively. We’re looking for an experienced and dynamic Product Owner to lead an agile delivery team focused on supercharging our users with Artificial Intelligence (AI) focused capabilities. This is your opportunity to be at the forefront of AI and innovation and be a key contributor to our strategy. If you thrive on scaling proven capabilities, driving change at enterprise scale, and inspiring people to do the best work of their careers, this is your chance to make a company-wide impact—and elevate our AI capabilities to the next level at Fitch Ratings. In this role, you’ll lead the squad, work closely with different groups to understand their needs, solve problems, and ensure we’re building AI solutions that advance our business objectives. You’ll work alongside analytical groups, technology, and specialized AI functions to align priorities, execute and deliver key outcomes. Strong change leadership, communication, and organizational skills are important, and you should enjoy working with colleagues who have different levels of experience with AI. A collaborative, customer-first, AI-first mindset is essential.

Requirements

You hold a bachelor’s degree and have at least 5 years of experience in product ownership
You have managed ML/AI products as platform services, not just as features
You possess a strong understanding of the AI product lifecycle and have hands-on experience scaling AI/ML products from proof of concept to launch
You are an agile practitioner with experience working with or within agile teams
You approach the business as a customer, skillfully translating requirements into technical solutions
You have a proven track record of delivering results in high-demand, matrixed organizations
You demonstrate strong interpersonal and organizational skills, and work effectively with teams and stakeholders
You are proficient in Jira, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word

Nice To Haves

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification
Understanding of AI governance, model risk management, and regulatory considerations
Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to engage and influence stakeholders at all levels
Demonstrated ability to oversee complex projects and excel in a high-demand, matrixed organization
Prior experience in debt capital markets, financial services or consulting

Responsibilities

Define overall strategy and direction of the team based on understanding of organizational goals and user groups’ needs.
Innovation Mindset: Foster team experimentation while maintaining production reliability.
Change Champion: Proven ability to drive and support organizational change and technology adoption across diverse stakeholder groups.
Own the backlog, feature prioritization, roadmap, and the MVP in support of business objectives.
Communicate and align with stakeholders to prioritize features and ensure a shared vision of sprint goals and backlogs.
Lead the Agile squad to define and align sprint goals, ensuring "ready" user stories and supporting the squad to deliver on sprint commitments. Supports squad in identifying dependencies and other execution risks.
Work closely with the squad to provide timely feedback and answers to their questions; ultimately accept or reject the product increments of the sprint.
Oversee the overall squad’s quarterly delivery, ensuring that the squad meets their goals and deliver business value.
Identify opportunities for process improvements and drive initiatives to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Ratings business.
Enhance and automate processes to improve data quality, standardize workflows, and integrate key systems.
Analyze and break down complex workflows and system processes for both current (As-Is) and future (To-Be) states in support of automation and standardization.
Oversee and guide user training, rollout, and change management processes.

Benefits

Hybrid Work Environment: 2 days remote and 3 days in the office
A Culture of Learning & Mobility: Dedicated training, leadership development and mentorship programs designed to ensure that your time at Fitch will be a continuous learning opportunity
Investing in Your Future: Retirement planning and tuition reimbursement programs that empower you to achieve your short and long-term goals
Promoting Health & Wellbeing: Comprehensive healthcare offerings that enable physical, mental, financial, social, and occupational wellbeing
Supportive Parenting Policies: Family-friendly policies, including a generous global parental leave plan, designed to help you balance career and family life effectively
Inclusive Work Environment: A collaborative workplace where all voices are valued, with Employee Resource Groups that unite and empower our colleagues around the globe
Dedication to Giving Back: Paid volunteer days, matched funding for donations and ample opportunities to volunteer in your community

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