Product Owner

James Douglas Middle East; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 350,000 - 550,000; Full time

Job summary

James Douglas Middle East is seeking an experienced Product Owner to lead the development of industrial software platforms for mining operations in the UAE. You will translate business and customer needs into clear product features, epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria, and work with engineering, QA, UX, and implementation teams to deliver scalable solutions for complex industrial environments.

The role requires 12+ years in industrial software or OT/IT settings, strong Agile/Scrum

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in software development, product ownership, or solution delivery for industrial automation, mining, industrial IoT, asset management, production management, or OT/IT platforms.
• Experience in software development, product ownership, business analysis, or solution delivery for industrial, mining, manufacturing, energy, utilities, or process automation platforms. Industrial domain knowledge is mandatory.
• A software engineering background prior to moving into product ownership is strongly preferred.
• Good understanding of the software development lifecycle, Agile/Scrum practices, sprint execution, backlog management, and release planning.
• Ability to write clear epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, and functional specifications.
• Strong understanding of industrial or mining operational workflows.
• Experience working with engineering teams on backend, frontend, integration, data, or platform-related software features.
• Ability to understand technical concepts such as APIs, databases, integrations, telemetry data, dashboards, edge platforms, and cloud-based systems.
• Experience working with tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence or similar product management tools.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to interact with technical teams, product managers, business users, and customer stakeholders.
• Ability to analyze problems, identify gaps, define priorities, and drive issues to closure.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to balance business priorities, customer expectations, and engineering feasibility.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage the product backlog for industrial or mining software applications.
• Translate business requirements, operational workflows, and customer needs into clear features, epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Prioritize backlog items based on business value, customer impact, technical dependencies, and delivery timelines.
• Work closely with product management to understand product vision, roadmap, priorities, and customer expectations.
• Ensure user stories are detailed enough for engineering teams to estimate, develop, test, and deliver.
• Define acceptance criteria, validation rules, business workflows, edge cases, and expected system behaviour.
• Collaborate with software architects, engineering teams, QA teams, UX designers, and implementation teams to ensure requirements are technically clear and feasible.
• Participate in requirement grooming, sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and release planning.
• Support engineering teams during development by clarifying requirements, resolving functional gaps, and making timely decisions.
• Validate delivered functionality against requirements and acceptance criteria before release.
• Work with QA teams to define test scenarios, functional test cases, and validation approaches.
• Support product demonstrations, release notes, user training material, and functional documentation.
• Ensure alignment between product requirements, technical architecture, UX design, and customer operational needs.

Skills

Agile/Scrum

Backlog ownership

Stakeholder management

Industrial software

OT/IT platforms

Technical requirements

Technical writing

Communication skills

Education

Software engineering background

Tools

Azure DevOps

Jira

Confluence

APIs & Integrations

Job description

Our client is a global mining company securing the critical minerals behind the energy transition, including copper, cobalt, nickel, tin, and rare earths; they invest in and operate premium mining assets.

They are seeking an experienced Product Owner with a strong background in industrial or mining software platforms. The ideal candidate should have prior experience working with software development teams and a good understanding of how industrial digital solutions are designed, developed, deployed, and supported.

The role requires the ability to translate business, operational, and customer requirements into clear product features, epics, user stories, acceptance criteria, and release priorities. The Product Owner will work closely with product management, engineering, architecture, QA, UX, implementation teams, and customer stakeholders to deliver scalable and practical solutions for industrial and mining operations.

Prior exposure to mining applications such as Short Interval Control, Fleet Management, Asset Health, RTLS, Production Monitoring, Dashboards, Process Historians, or Industrial IoT platforms will be an added advantage.

Key Responsibilities

1. Backlog Ownership & Prioritization

• Own and manage the product backlog for industrial or mining software applications.
• Translate business requirements, operational workflows, and customer needs into clear features, epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Prioritize backlog items based on business value, customer impact, technical dependencies, and delivery timelines.

2. Requirements Definition

• Work closely with product management to understand product vision, roadmap, priorities, and customer expectations.
• Ensure user stories are detailed enough for engineering teams to estimate, develop, test, and deliver.
• Define acceptance criteria, validation rules, business workflows, edge cases, and expected system behaviour.

3. Agile Delivery & Team Collaboration

• Collaborate with software architects, engineering teams, QA teams, UX designers, and implementation teams to ensure requirements are technically clear and feasible.
• Participate in requirement grooming, sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and release planning.
• Support engineering teams during development by clarifying requirements, resolving functional gaps, and making timely decisions.

4. Validation, Release & Alignment

• Validate delivered functionality against requirements and acceptance criteria before release.
• Work with QA teams to define test scenarios, functional test cases, and validation approaches.
• Support product demonstrations, release notes, user training material, and functional documentation.
• Ensure alignment between product requirements, technical architecture, UX design, and customer operational needs.

Key Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience, with prior hands-on experience in software development, product ownership, or solution delivery for industrial automation, mining, industrial IoT, asset management, production management, or OT/IT platforms.
• Prior experience working in software development, product ownership, business analysis, or solution delivery for industrial, mining, manufacturing, energy, utilities, or process automation platforms. Industrial domain knowledge is mandatory.
• A software engineering background prior to moving into product ownership is strongly preferred.
• Good understanding of the software development lifecycle, Agile/Scrum practices, sprint execution, backlog management, and release planning.
• Ability to write clear epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, and functional specifications.
• Strong understanding of industrial or mining operational workflows.
• Experience working with engineering teams on backend, frontend, integration, data, or platform-related software features.
• Ability to understand technical concepts such as APIs, databases, integrations, telemetry data, dashboards, edge platforms, and cloud-based systems.
• Experience working with tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence or similar product management tools.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to interact with technical teams, product managers, business users, and customer stakeholders.
• Ability to analyze problems, identify gaps, define priorities, and drive issues to closure.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to balance business priorities, customer expectations, and engineering feasibility.