Product Owner

Ntara•Johnson City, TN

6d•Remote

About The Position

The Product Owner, AI Initiatives is a seasoned product leader who drives the vision, roadmap, and delivery of Ntara's internal AI initiatives and product developments. This role sits at the intersection of business strategy, data, and engineering, translating opportunities for AI-driven efficiency and innovation into clear, prioritized, and well-defined work for delivery teams. This is not a traditional software Product Owner role with AI tacked on. It requires a genuine understanding of what makes AI initiatives distinct: the emphasis on data quality and availability, the iterative nature of model and agent development, the importance of responsible and explainable AI practices, and the need to manage ambiguity while still delivering measurable outcomes. The Product Owner will partner closely with Ntara leadership, engineering, and cross-functional teams to ensure our internal AI investments translate into real, adopted, value-generating capabilities across the business.

Requirements

5+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Product Manager, or similar product leadership role, with demonstrated ownership of a product roadmap and backlog.
2+ years of experience working directly on AI, machine learning, or data-driven product initiatives, ideally including generative AI or agentic workflows.
Demonstrated experience leading product initiatives end-to-end, from discovery through launch and adoption, in ambiguous or evolving environments.
Experience facilitating Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, and retrospectives.
Experience presenting product strategy and outcomes to executive leadership and non-technical stakeholders.
Experience driving change management or adoption efforts for new tools, workflows, or technology within an organization.
Strong working understanding of AI and machine learning concepts, including large language models, generative AI, and agentic systems, sufficient to make informed product decisions.
Proficiency with Agile project management and collaboration tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar platforms.
Experience writing clear epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria for both traditional software and AI-driven features.
Familiarity with data quality, data governance, and the data requirements underlying successful AI products.
Understanding of responsible AI principles, including bias mitigation, transparency, and appropriate human oversight.
Ability to read and interpret technical documentation and communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field preferred; equivalent professional experience may be considered in place of a formal degree.
Agile or Scrum certification (CSPO, PSPO, or equivalent) preferred.
Prior experience in a consulting, agency, or professional services environment is a plus.
Familiarity with PIM, DAM, or ecommerce platforms is a plus.
Experience with prompt design, model evaluation, or working alongside data science and engineering teams is a plus.

Responsibilities

Define and maintain the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for Ntara's internal AI initiatives, aligned with company goals and business priorities.
Partner with leadership to identify, evaluate, and prioritize opportunities where AI and automation can meaningfully improve internal processes, delivery quality, or client outcomes.
Translate ambiguous business problems and emerging AI capabilities into a clear, sequenced roadmap of initiatives.
Continuously reassess priorities as AI tools, models, and internal needs evolve, balancing quick wins with longer-term platform investments.
Own and groom the product backlog for AI initiatives, writing clear epics, features, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
Facilitate sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, and retrospectives in partnership with the delivery team.
Make day-to-day prioritization calls that balance technical feasibility, data readiness, business impact, and effort.
Serve as the primary point of contact for delivery teams, unblocking decisions and clarifying requirements in real time.
Act as the bridge between business stakeholders, engineers, data scientists, and leadership, ensuring shared understanding of goals, constraints, and tradeoffs.
Facilitate discovery sessions to surface requirements, workflows, and success metrics for new AI use cases.
Present roadmap updates, demos, and outcomes to internal stakeholders and leadership on a regular cadence.
Gather feedback from internal users and adjust the backlog and roadmap accordingly.
Champion responsible AI practices throughout the product lifecycle, including data privacy, bias, transparency, and appropriate human oversight.
Partner with engineering to define quality, performance, and evaluation criteria for AI features before and after launch.
Monitor adoption and performance of shipped AI capabilities, and use that data to inform the ongoing roadmap.
Maintain clear documentation of decisions, requirements, and known limitations for each AI initiative.
Drive internal change management and enablement efforts to support adoption of new AI tools and workflows across teams.
Identify and address barriers to adoption, including training needs, workflow friction, and trust in AI-driven outputs.
Build the business case and communicate the value of AI initiatives to stakeholders at all levels, including executive leadership.