Product Owner

Liberty Mutual Insurance•Boston, MA

21d•$106,000 - $197,000

About The Position

The Product Owner is part of an Agile team in Small Commercial Risk Pricing, supporting a Commercial Auto squad that delivers pricing updates to Small Commercial products. The role represents the voice of customers and the organization, and owns the backlog that guides pricing changes for customers and agents. The Product Owner partners with business and technology stakeholders, including line-of-business leadership, to define and prioritize features and stories that meet customer needs and organizational goals. The role requires understanding customer problems in detail, translating them into clear priorities, and keeping the squad focused on the most valuable work. The Product Owner communicates with stakeholders to align on how the squad can create value within the portfolio, and collaborates with teams, technology partners, and architects across portfolios to understand the systems they support. The role balances delivery speed, quality, capacity, product health, regulatory requirements, costs, and desired outcomes.

Requirements

Knowledge of Agile development methodologies and IT project management, typically acquired through a bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
At least 3 to 5 years of direct experience with Agile teams and 7 years of experience in business, technology, or consulting.
Ability to explain complex ideas, issues, and designs to varied audiences and educate business units or departments about business vision, plans, and the impact of change.
Ability to influence diverse stakeholders and demonstrate strong leadership skills.
Ability to make difficult, timely decisions.
Strong problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to lead a team toward solutions and progress.
Strong experimental mindset to drive innovation amid uncertainty.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on Product Owner or equivalent experience on an Agile team, including backlog ownership, writing clear and actionable user stories, and quarterly planning.
Ability to translate complex business concepts into clear requirements for business and technology partners.
Proven ability to influence and align stakeholders at multiple levels, including senior leaders, and make quick, well-reasoned prioritization decisions.
Comfort working with data to size problems, evaluate trade-offs, and measure outcomes.
Property and casualty insurance experience, ideally in commercial lines pricing, rating, or rate filings.
Experience with pricing or rating platforms, or large-scale platform migrations or modernization.
Familiarity with state regulatory and filing requirements and their effect on delivery timelines.
Experience in the insurance industry.
Knowledge of relevant products and portfolios.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with stakeholders to create product vision aligned with strategic priorities, contribute to portfolio vision, and communicate the vision to the squad and other teams.
Work with the squad to develop and achieve product-level KPIs and manage products with a moderate degree of strategy, scope, and complexity.
Own and maintain the product backlog, set its priorities, and ensure user stories are clear and actionable.
Set priorities and actively participate in squad quarterly planning; collaborate with more senior Product Owners on portfolio quarterly planning.
Set stakeholder expectations for delivery of capabilities, features, and functionality; participate in team demos, retrospectives, and other ceremonies.
Work daily with the Agile working group to clarify business requirements, remove roadblocks, communicate, and maintain alignment around product strategy.
Collaborate with IT and business leadership to align development and business goals and priorities, resolve open issues, and remove execution roadblocks.
Monitor product health and support long-term viability and efficiency while balancing short- and long-term considerations, costs, and desired outcomes.
Analyze and report on feasibility, cost-of-delay implications, economies, and other aspects of planned or potential product changes.
Understand regulatory, compliance, and industry constraints and prioritize accordingly; negotiate with teams inside and outside the portfolio to align priorities.
Collaboratively develop the squad product roadmap, contribute stakeholder inputs to strategy, and potentially contribute to program- or portfolio-level planning.
Communicate expected value and changes in value for each iteration based on squad capacity.
Lead customer-driven design and usability testing for the squad, collaborate on these activities across the portfolio, and support product positioning through market and industry analysis.