Product Owner-Insurance Technology

Preferred Risk Insurance•Bedford Park, IL

About The Position

Preferred Risk Insurance Services is seeking an experienced Product Owner with strong Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance knowledge to support technology delivery teams. The role combines product ownership, Agile/Scrum facilitation, backlog management, delivery coordination, and stakeholder engagement. The Product Owner works with business stakeholders, developers, QA, technical leads, architects, and leadership to define requirements, prioritize backlogs, maintain delivery metrics, and move initiatives toward agreed timelines. Experience with platforms such as Guidewire, AS400/iSeries, data warehouses, APIs/integrations, or UI/UX is valuable, but expertise across all platforms is not required. The position is responsible for managing and refining product and technical backlogs; translating business and technical needs into epics, stories, and acceptance criteria in Jira; facilitating Scrum ceremonies; planning work in line with team capacity and business priorities; and tracking delivery metrics such as capacity, velocity, sprint commitments, carryover, blockers, and backlog health. The Product Owner conducts timely reviews of completed work, coordinates UAT when required, supports quality and acceptance processes, and works with delivery teams to manage milestones, dependencies, risks, releases, and stakeholder communication. The successful candidate is hands-on and technically aware, with strong P&C insurance business knowledge and facilitation and stakeholder-management skills. Insurance domain expertise is essential; specific technology-platform experience is flexible.

Requirements

At least 5 years of experience as a Product Owner, Technical Product Owner, Business Analyst/Product Owner, or in a similar Agile delivery role.
Strong knowledge of the Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance industry is mandatory, including familiarity with policy administration, billing, claims, underwriting, or related insurance business processes.
At least 5 years of experience working with insurance technology or enterprise application delivery teams.
Hands-on experience facilitating Agile/Scrum ceremonies, planning team capacity, and maintaining delivery dashboards.
Strong working knowledge of Jira, including epics, stories, boards, workflows, dashboards, and backlog management.
Experience managing and prioritizing product and technical backlogs.
Experience tracking team capacity, velocity, sprint commitments, and delivery metrics.
Ability to coordinate stakeholders, manage dependencies, and support delivery timelines.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and facilitation skills.
Ability to work effectively with technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, ClaimCenter, or InsuranceNow.
Experience with AS400/iSeries or other legacy insurance platforms.
Experience with data warehouses, data integration, or reporting systems.
Experience with APIs, integrations, or enterprise services.
Experience with UI/UX or digital application development.
Experience supporting multiple Agile teams or cross-functional technology initiatives.
Experience with SAFe, Big Room Planning, or Program Increment planning.
Experience balancing strategic initiatives with production support, defects, and technical debt.
Agile or Product Owner certification such as CSPO, PSPO, CSM, PSM, or SAFe POPM.

Responsibilities

Own, maintain, refine, and prioritize product and technical backlogs for assigned technology teams.
Gather, clarify, and document business and technical requirements with stakeholders and technical teams.
Create and maintain epics, user stories, technical stories, and acceptance criteria in Jira.
Ensure backlog items are refined, prioritized, and ready for sprint planning, while balancing initiatives, production support, defects, enhancements, technical debt, and platform improvements.
Work with technical leads and architects to understand dependencies, risks, and priorities, and communicate requirements and expectations before development begins.
Review backlog health, including aging items, blocked work, priorities, and dependencies.
Facilitate and coordinate daily stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog refinement and replenishment, sprint reviews and demonstrations, retrospectives, sprint prioritization, and release planning.
Support sprint planning using team capacity, historical velocity, and business priorities; identify blockers, risks, and cross-team dependencies and coordinate their resolution.
Promote Agile practices, collaboration, and continuous improvement, and keep Jira boards and sprint activities current.
Track team capacity and availability, capacity allocation, focus factor, average sprint velocity, planned versus completed story points, sprint carryover, backlog health, WIP, blockers, dependencies, production support, unplanned work, and PO review turnaround.
Coordinate capacity planning while accounting for PTO, holidays, production support, and other commitments.
Maintain Jira dashboards and reports, analyze delivery trends, identify opportunities to improve predictability and effectiveness, and provide management updates on progress, capacity constraints, and risks.
Review completed stories, enhancements, and defect fixes against business requirements and acceptance criteria, including available QA evidence.
Collaborate with QA, developers, and stakeholders to clarify gaps and resolve defects or issues found in PO reviews.
Coordinate UAT with business stakeholders when required, including test scenarios, business validation, and sign-offs.
Identify recurring defects and requirement gaps, improve quality and reduce rework, and establish clear review and acceptance processes with QA and development teams.
Maintain accurate Jira statuses and ensure stories are accepted and closed after applicable review and acceptance requirements are met.
Partner with technical leads and delivery teams to establish realistic sprint goals, milestones, and timelines; monitor commitments and proactively address delays.
Communicate delivery risks, timeline changes, and mitigation plans, and support release planning, business readiness, testing, and implementation coordination.
Act as a primary coordination point between business stakeholders and assigned technology teams.
Facilitate discussions about requirements, priorities, scope, and delivery expectations; identify impacted teams and coordinate dependencies early.
Keep stakeholders engaged through requirements gathering, development, testing, and implementation, and communicate status, risks, blockers, and decisions in a timely manner.
Support Big Room Planning, roadmap discussions, and cross-team planning activities.