Product Owner

Unum•Portland, ME

13d

About The Position

When you join the team at Unum, you become part of an organization committed to helping you thrive. Here, we work to provide the employee benefits and service solutions that enable employees at our client companies to thrive throughout life’s moments. And this starts with ensuring that every one of our team members enjoys opportunities to succeed both professionally and personally. To enable this, we provide: Award-winning culture Inclusion and diversity as a priority Performance Based Incentive Plans Competitive benefits package that includes: Health, Vision, Dental, Short & Long-Term Disability Generous PTO (including paid time to volunteer!) Up to 9.5% 401(k) employer contribution Mental health support Career advancement opportunities Student loan repayment options Tuition reimbursement Flexible work environments All the benefits listed above are subject to the terms of their individual Plans. And that’s just the beginning… With 10,000 employees helping more than 39 million people worldwide, every role at Unum is meaningful and impacts the lives of our customers. Whether you’re directly supporting a growing family, or developing online tools to help navigate a difficult loss, customers are counting on the combined talents of our entire team. Help us help others, and join Team Unum today! General Summary: We’re seeking an Agile Product Owner to join our team! This role blends strategy and delivery, partnering with IT and business stakeholders to define the roadmap, drive feature development, and ensure operational readiness for new capabilities. You’ll work closely with development teams during PI planning, remove roadblocks, and keep the team focused on delivering what matters most. The ideal candidate brings product management or ownership experience, strong knowledge of Scaled Agile, and the ability to influence stakeholders while maintaining executive presence. Experience building digital, mobile first consumer-facing portals is highly valued.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and experience
Strong verbal, written communication and presentation skills, including the ability to translate technical subject matter to nontechnical audiences
Demonstrated success in progressive delivery of technical projects
Proven ability to lead a team, influence with and without authority, challenge the status quo, and create a competitive advantage for the organization
Proven understanding of product management lifecycle and agile methodologies
IT technical acumen to effectively collaborate with architects, designers and all DevOps team members
Experience developing and understanding digital technology roadmaps, including identification and understanding of technical requirements
Strong interpersonal skills and track record of engaging with customers and cross-functional stakeholders at all levels; demonstrated ability to listen, influence, and relate to stakeholders in their own language
Ability to help inform leaders in making difficult decisions
Creative thinker and problem solver who can confidently express complex ideas in an articulate, concise manner
Experience in negotiation and persuasion skills
High levels of ownership and accountability; self-starter able to navigate ambiguity and chart a path forward
Ability to champion change and support teams through change
Able to coach, mentor, and identify and address skill gaps for continuous improvement of self and team
Demonstrated results aligned with Our Value principles
Some travel may be required

Nice To Haves

Product Owner certification preferred (PSPO and/or CSPO)
Experience building digital, mobile first consumer-facing portals is highly valued.

Responsibilities

Develop business cases and cost-benefit analyses within product scope.
Align IT delivery roadmap with the strategic annual product roadmap.
Identify business opportunities and execute on the product roadmap.
Define product and adoption KPIs with business partners and cascade metrics through development and delivery activities.
Maintain a holistic understanding of client personas; engage internal and external clients to validate assumptions and articulate needs to the Agile team.
Translate client needs from discovery into prioritized product backlog items, including acceptance criteria (features, user stories).
Ensure client feedback informs prioritization, trade-offs, and roadmap decisions.
Build and maintain an updated, prioritized product backlog that includes technical work for long-term integrity.
Apply Agile methodologies and frameworks (e.g., Customer Journey, Program Ways of Working) throughout delivery.
Use tools and techniques (focus groups, surveys, usability sessions, prototyping) to gather client insights and feedback.
Apply tactical Agile practices for work decomposition, planning, estimation, backlog management, and status reporting.
Maintain internal business expertise and monitor industry trends, technology, and market advancements.
Share best practices and actively participate in Product Owner forums.
Ensure operational readiness for new capabilities moving to production.
Partner with operational leaders to design digital adoption strategies.
Track benefit realization and monitor KPIs for deployed solutions; incorporate feedback into future backlog enhancements.
Use backlog management tools to report metrics, status, and progress toward deployment.
Monitor delivery progress against timelines and communicate adjustments as needed.

Benefits

Award-winning culture
Inclusion and diversity as a priority
Performance Based Incentive Plans
Competitive benefits package that includes: Health, Vision, Dental, Short & Long-Term Disability
Generous PTO (including paid time to volunteer!)
Up to 9.5% 401(k) employer contribution
Mental health support
Career advancement opportunities
Student loan repayment options
Tuition reimbursement
Flexible work environments