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

Fitch Group•Chicago, IL

1d•$130,000 - $170,000•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 Workflow Innovation based out of our Chicago office. About the Team: 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. How You’ll Make an Impact: We’re looking for an experienced and creative Product Owner to lead an agile delivery team focused on supercharging our users’ workflows. This is your opportunity to be at the forefront of experimentation and innovation and be a key contributor to our strategy. If you thrive on thinking big, challenging the status quo, and inspiring people to do the best work of their careers, this is your chance to make a company-wide impact—and elevate our capabilities to the next level at Fitch Ratings. In this role, you’ll lead the team, work closely with different groups to understand their needs, solve problems, and ensure we’re building solutions that advance our business objectives in a bold, new way. You’ll work alongside analytical groups and technology teams to align priorities and deliver key outcomes. Strong change of leadership, communication, and organizational skills are important, and you should enjoy working with colleagues who have different levels of experience. A collaborative, customer-first, technology-first mindset is essential.

Requirements

A bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of product ownership experience
Experience scaling AI/ML products from proof of concept (POC) to launch
Agile practitioner capabilities and experience working with, or in, Agile teams
A proven track record of delivering workflow and data-driven solutions with a customer-first mindset
The ability to view the business as the customer and translate requirements into technical solutions
A track record of delivering results in a high-demand, matrixed organization
Strong interpersonal and organizational skills, with the ability to work effectively with teams and stakeholders
Proficiency in Jira, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word

Nice To Haves

Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification
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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