Product Owner 5

The AES Group•Chicago, IL

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

The client is seeking an experienced Lead Technical Product Owner (Product Owner 5). This role is suited to a technically strong professional who began a career in software development or engineering and later transitioned into product ownership. The position leads technical product ownership activities, translates business and customer needs into actionable requirements, manages software change requests, and coordinates product implementation, integration, testing, and ongoing maintenance. It requires hands-on technical knowledge, sound business judgment, and effective collaboration with engineering teams, customers, leadership, and field support specialists. The role is based in Chicago, Illinois, with a hybrid schedule requiring 2–3 days onsite per week. The stated pay rate is $70–$72 per hour.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
10+ years of experience in software engineering and/or product ownership.
6+ years of experience in a Lead Product Owner role.
Prior hands-on experience as a software developer or software engineer, followed by a transition into technical product ownership.
Strong, practical knowledge of AWS cloud services and API/web services.
Demonstrated experience managing technical software products, product requirements, enhancements, and software change requests.
Strong business analysis capabilities, including requirements elicitation, stakeholder management, impact assessment, and solution evaluation.
Experience in software defect management, problem resolution, issue tracking, escalation, and risk assessment.
Extensive experience with UAT, acceptance criteria, test planning, and end-user validation.
Strong understanding of software product functionality, customer use cases, product lifecycle management, and continuous improvement.
Excellent written and verbal communication, critical thinking, prioritization, and decision-making skills.

Nice To Haves

Agile certification.
Experience with Jira or Azure DevOps for backlog, requirements, and work-item management.
Experience with ServiceNow for incident, problem, or change management.
Familiarity with Agile software development methodologies and end-to-end product delivery processes.

Responsibilities

Partner with software engineering and product development teams to track development, integration, support, maintenance issues, and resolutions.
Gather, analyze, document, and communicate customer and field support feedback to identify product improvements and business opportunities.
Identify, prioritize, track, and report software defects, reliability concerns, maintenance issues, and product performance gaps.
Manage technical product requirements, features, enhancements, and priorities in alignment with business objectives and stakeholder expectations.
Lead software change request management, including requirements analysis, impact assessment, risk identification, cost estimation, resource planning, and status reporting.
Provide technical guidance on product implementation, configuration, customization, integration, and infrastructure-related challenges.
Apply business analysis techniques to evaluate business needs, assess alternatives, and recommend practical, value-driven solutions.
Coordinate software integration across platforms and systems, leveraging knowledge of AWS and API/web services.
Plan and coordinate user acceptance testing (UAT), define acceptance criteria, develop test strategies, and validate solutions with end users.
Facilitate issue resolution by collaborating with customers, development engineers, vendors, and field support teams.
Communicate technical updates, product changes, risks, and issue resolutions to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
Monitor product usage, customer feedback, and performance metrics to identify opportunities for continuous improvement and increased adoption.