Product Owner I/II

Description

This is a grade range posting 16/17. Your background and qualifications will be evaluated against the skills and experiences required for the position.

This position requires two in-office days per week for candidates who reside within 50 miles of Columbus, OH; Seattle, WA; Boston, MA; Portsmouth, NH; Indianapolis, IN; or Plano, TX.

It’s an exciting time to join Direct Distribution as we continue building the next generation of capabilities that will support our agents and help drive growth across the business. We’re looking for a Product Owner to join the Insurance Professional team and play a critical role in the Frontier program, helping design and build the user interface agents will use to quote and bind customers. This is a unique opportunity to help shape a highly visible capability from the ground up while improving the agent experience and enabling better outcomes for our customers.

The ideal candidate is a strong, hands-on Product Owner who can bring structure and clarity to complex work while keeping teams moving in an evolving environment. They are skilled at translating business and user needs into clear requirements, prioritizing effectively, and partnering closely with Engineering, Design, and business stakeholders to drive work from concept through delivery. They bring a strong customer and agent mindset, communicate effectively across teams, and are comfortable making decisions and navigating trade-offs.

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the Product Owner for a single Scrum team and lead the day-to-day product work needed to move capabilities from concept through delivery.
• Lead requirements gathering and translate business and customer needs into clear user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Prioritize and manage the product backlog based on business value, agent and customer needs, delivery dependencies, and technical considerations.
• Facilitate team sessions and stakeholder discussions and make timely decisions to keep work moving in ambiguous or evolving situations.
• Partner closely with Engineering, Design, Product, Underwriting, and other cross-functional teams to create shared understanding around goals, requirements, dependencies, and trade-offs.
• Help shape the agent quoting and binding experience by bringing a strong understanding of the user journey and advocating for solutions that are simple, intuitive, and effective.
• Communicate roadmap, delivery progress, risks, and key decisions to stakeholders while ensuring the team remains aligned on priorities and outcomes.
• Champion adaptability and continuous improvement by helping the team identify pragmatic paths forward while balancing speed, quality, and long-term sustainability.
• Build and maintain a foundational understanding of the DRC and IA channels and how the capabilities being developed support the broader Distribution strategy. Prior experience in either channel is a plus.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of Agile development methodologies and IT project management as typically acquired through a Bachelors` degree in relevant field (business, computer science, humanities etc.) and a minimum of 3 to 5 years direct experience with agile teams as well as 7 years in business, technology, or consulting.
• Able to depict and explain the importance of complex ideas, issues and designs to varied audiences; educate SBU/department(s) on business vision and plan and the impact of change.
• Able to influence a diverse group of stakeholders; strong leadership skills.
• Able to make difficult and quick decisions daily.
• Strong problem solver with demonstrated ability to lead a team to push the solutions and progress.
• Experience in the insurance industry preferred.
• Knowledge of relevant products and portfolio preferred.
• Strong experimental mindset to drive innovation amongst uncertainty.