Product Owner

Michael Baker International•Middletown, PA

3d•$90,000 - $130,000•Remote

About The Position

Michael Baker International's Tidal Basin practice delivers integrated emergency management, public program management, and technology-enabled resilience solutions that help governments, communities, and critical infrastructure partners prepare for, respond to, and recover from, and mitigate disasters and disruptions. The Tidal Basin practice brings together the combined strengths of Tidal Basin Group, Michael Baker International, and MLU Services to deliver the full resilience lifecycle under one roof, aligning planning, funding and compliance, engineering and design, program delivery, contingency operations and logistics, and technology tools that improve visibility and decision-making. Backed by decades of experience managing complex federally funded disaster and non-disaster programs, the team provides advisory support, technical assistance, grant program management, risk and financial compliance, customer service, and customized software solutions that help clients move from strategy to execution faster and build stronger, more resilient communities. We are looking for an experienced Product Owner who thrives at the intersection of field operations and software delivery — someone who can translate the real-world complexity of disaster response logistics into clear, actionable development work. In this role, you will serve as the connective tissue between end users in demanding, time-critical environments and a vendor development team building operational tools that matter when it counts most. You bring a track record of owning product backlogs end to end, writing user stories and acceptance criteria that developers and testers can act on, and leading User Acceptance Testing with confidence and rigor. The ideal candidate is organized, communicative, and comfortable holding the line on scope and quality in a fast-moving agile environment. You know how to manage a vendor relationship, read a contract for traceability obligations, and produce client-facing reporting that builds trust. All candidates must be eligible to work for any employer in the United States without restrictions indefinitely.

Requirements

5+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Senior Business Analyst, or equivalent role on custom software delivery projects, with demonstrated ownership of the full product delivery lifecycle.
Proven ability to write well-formed user stories and acceptance criteria, manage and prioritize a product backlog, and facilitate sprint ceremonies within an agile/Scrum framework.
Hands-on proficiency with Azure DevOps or a comparable tool (e.g., Jira), including work-item hierarchies, queries, and dashboards used to track delivery status.
Direct experience planning and leading User Acceptance Testing, including defect management, end-user coordination, and formal signoff processes.
Experience maintaining requirements traceability against a contract, SOW, or regulatory framework, with an understanding of audit and compliance documentation expectations.
Experience collaborating with or managing an outsourced or vendor development team in a structured agile delivery environment.
Strong written communication skills with the ability to produce polished, client-ready reports, documentation, and stakeholder updates independently.
All candidates must be eligible to work for any employer in the United States without restrictions indefinitely.

Nice To Haves

CSPO, PSPO, or comparable product owner certification.
Experience working on products that include a mobile application component alongside a web platform.
Familiarity with change-control processes and release management on contracted fixed-scope or level-of-effort engagements.
Domain experience in disaster response, emergency management, field or logistics operations, workforce management, or fleet and asset tracking.

Responsibilities

Own the product backlog end to end across the Epic → Feature → User Story → Task hierarchy in Azure DevOps, ensuring every item is refined, prioritized, and aligned to release goals before development begins.
Serve as the authoritative voice of field end users — translating operational realities from dispatch, logistics, driver operations, finance, and HR into testable user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
Hold the story approval gate, formally reviewing and signing off on user stories prior to development handoff to maintain scope integrity and delivery quality.
Lead User Acceptance Testing for each release cycle — defining scope and priorities, coordinating end-user testers, tracking and resolving defects, and delivering formal UAT signoff.
Make go/no-go release recommendations based on feature coherence, UAT outcomes, and readiness criteria, ensuring releases meet defined "demo-ready" and "training-ready" standards.
Maintain a Requirements Traceability Matrix that maps all contract and SOW obligations to delivered, tested functionality, providing audit-ready coverage documentation for client stakeholders.
Monitor development level-of-effort hours against contracted scope, identifying capacity or scope risks early and escalating to leadership before they become delivery gaps.
Produce client-facing status reports, roadmap communications, and traceability dashboards; audit vendor-provided reporting against Azure DevOps actuals to ensure accuracy.
Partner day to day with the external development vendor's BA, development, and QA leads to unblock handoffs, manage change requests, and keep the delivery pipeline moving across sprint ceremonies.