Senior Product Owner

Turn complex product priorities into clear, high-quality software while driving alignment and delivery excellence across teams.

Position Summary

The Senior Product Owner owns backlog management and delivery execution for a high-complexity product area or multiple interdependent products within VBA's solution suite. Working closely with Product Management, Engineering, Quality Assurance, Client Success, Implementation, and other business stakeholders, this role ensures product initiatives are clearly defined, thoughtfully prioritized, and successfully delivered.

While Product Managers establish the product vision and roadmap, the Senior Product Owner serves as the bridge between strategy and execution, translating business priorities into actionable work for development teams and bringing clarity, alignment, and disciplined execution across the product lifecycle.

How You Will Make an Impact

As a Senior Product Owner, you will play a critical role in transforming product strategy into high-quality solutions that help healthcare payers and benefits administrators improve operational efficiency and deliver better experiences for the clients and members they serve.

Working across cross-functional teams, you will lead delivery across complex product initiatives, bringing structure to ambiguity, anticipating dependencies and risks, and keeping teams aligned on the highest-value work. By balancing customer needs, business priorities, and technical considerations, you will help improve the quality, predictability, and effectiveness of product delivery.

Your impact will extend beyond your assigned product area. You will mentor other Product Owners, strengthen delivery practices, and help establish scalable, repeatable ways of working across the Product organization, including practical uses of AI that improve the speed and quality of how product work is defined, refined, and delivered.

To be considered for this position, all applicants must complete the Wonderlic Select Assessment.

Please click the link below to complete the assessment as part of your application process:

https://apply.select.wonderlic.com/XHJJSC/VBA

The assessment is designed to help us better understand how your strengths align with the requirements of the role. It includes brief questions related to cognitive ability, motivation, and work preferences. Your responses will be kept confidential and used solely to support fair and consistent hiring decisions.

What are we looking for in this position?

• Demonstrated success as a Product Owner or in a comparable product delivery role, with experience owning complex products, product areas, or interdependent initiatives.
• Healthcare payer industry experience with hands-on knowledge of claims adjudication platforms (CAPS), including claims adjudication, benefits administration, and related payer workflows.
• Experience managing and prioritizing complex Agile backlogs and supporting software delivery across one or more Agile teams.
• Strong ability to translate business needs and stakeholder input into clear requirements, actionable user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Hands-on experience using AI tools to improve personal productivity and product delivery, such as drafting requirements, synthesizing stakeholder input, analyzing information or data, and accelerating backlog refinement.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities, work independently, and build strong relationships across cross-functional teams.

What do we consider a plus?

• Experience with reinsurance, stop-loss, or other complex healthcare payer workflows.
• Experience defining requirements for AI-enabled product features, including acceptance criteria, quality evaluation, and human review workflows.
• Understanding of responsible AI use in healthcare, including data privacy, PHI considerations, and appropriate human oversight.
• Experience mentoring or coaching Product Owners or other product team members.
• Familiarity with Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence, or similar Agile tools.

What will you be doing?

Product Ownership & Delivery Leadership

• Own and prioritize the backlog for a high-complexity product area or multiple interdependent products, keeping delivery teams focused on the highest-value work.
• Translate product strategy and business priorities into clear, actionable user stories, acceptance criteria, and well-defined requirements.
• Lead backlog refinement and actively support sprint planning, sprint reviews, and ongoing backlog management across one or more Agile delivery teams.
• Make informed prioritization decisions by balancing customer needs, business objectives, technical complexity, dependencies, and delivery considerations.
• Serve as a trusted point of contact for complex, ambiguous, or cross-product requirements throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality product enhancements and ensure shared understanding of requirements and desired outcomes.
• Coordinate work across teams to maintain alignment on priorities, timelines, dependencies, and business objectives.
• Facilitate decisions, clarify requirements, and help remove obstacles that could affect successful product delivery.
• Communicate delivery progress, risks, dependencies, and recommendations to stakeholders while facilitating timely resolution of issues.

Delivery Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Drive backlog quality, delivery readiness, and consistent Agile execution across assigned product areas.
• Partner with Quality Assurance to support testing strategy, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), release readiness, and production validation.
• Identify delivery risks, competing priorities, and cross-team dependencies early, and drive practical mitigation and resolution before they affect delivery.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI within Product team workflows and help establish practical, repeatable ways of using AI to improve efficiency and delivery quality.
• Strengthen Product team processes, Agile practices, documentation standards, and scalable delivery methods that improve quality, predictability, and organizational effectiveness.

Leadership & Team Development

• Mentor and coach Product Owners on backlog management, story writing, prioritization, acceptance criteria, and Agile practices.
• Share knowledge and develop reusable standards, playbooks, and practices that promote consistency across the Product organization.
• Lead through influence by fostering collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement across cross-functional teams.
• Serve as a trusted resource for Product Owners and cross-functional partners, helping navigate complex delivery challenges and strengthen organizational capability.

Other Responsibilities

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Travel Requirements: Up to 10% travel to client sites

Location: Remote

What Success Looks Like

Successful Senior Product Owners at VBA:

• Build trusted partnerships across cross-functional teams by providing clarity, consistency, and strong delivery leadership.
• Lead complex product initiatives with confidence, balancing customer needs, business priorities, technical complexity, dependencies, and delivery timelines.
• Translate ambiguous business needs into well-defined, actionable work that enables delivery teams to execute efficiently.
• Maintain a healthy, prioritized backlog while proactively identifying and resolving risks, dependencies, and competing priorities before they affect delivery.
• Use AI thoughtfully to increase the speed and quality of product delivery and help establish effective, responsible ways of using AI across Product workflows and help the team do the same.
• Influence decision-making through thoughtful recommendations, delivery insights, and a strong understanding of technical and implementation considerations.
• Coordinate effectively across complex product areas or multiple Agile teams while maintaining quality, predictability, and transparency throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Mentor and develop Product Owners by sharing knowledge, strengthening product delivery practices, and promoting consistent standards across the organization.
• Continuously improve how Product works by identifying opportunities to strengthen Agile practices, documentation, collaboration, and team effectiveness.
• Serve as a trusted partner who helps transform product strategy into successful execution while advancing VBA's mission of making the healthcare experience better for everyone.

What can VBA offer you?

Purposeful Work. Flexible Culture. Human-Centered Tech.

At VBA, you’ll be part of a team that’s connected by mission and driven by innovation. We offer the flexibility to do your best work from wherever you are, the tools and support to grow your career, and the chance to make a real impact on the healthcare experience. Our culture blends trust, collaboration, and curiosity-giving you space to think boldly and the structure to succeed.

Work/Life Balance:

• Remote/Hybrid Schedules (depending on job role)
• Time off:
  • 12 Paid Holidays
  • Responsible Time Off
  • Volunteerism Day
  • Paid Parental Leave:
    • 2 Weeks: Bonding Leave
    • 10 Weeks: Supplemental Medical Leave (for Birthing Parents Only)

Financial Health-Company Sponsored Benefits:

• Life insurance-$500,000 guaranteed issue
• Short- and long-term disability insurance
• Employer match on employee 401(k) contributions
• Broadband Reimbursement up to $120

Health & Wellness:

• Health (2-Medical Plan Options), Dental, and Vision Insurance