Product Owner

ANVIL; Ottawa; Hybrid; CAD 110,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible health benefits

Retirement contributions match

Job summary

Anvil is seeking a Product Owner to drive delivery of defence and public safety technology. You will own the product backlog, translate requirements into well-defined user stories, and coordinate with engineering to ensure timely delivery.

You’ll prioritize work, participate in sprint ceremonies, and align tactical delivery with strategic goals in a learning-oriented culture while supporting a flexible remote/hybrid setup in Ottawa.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in product ownership, business analysis, or related roles.
• Experience in agile/scrum environments with sprint ceremonies.
• Ability to translate requirements into clear user stories with acceptance criteria.
• Collaborative with engineering teams throughout the development lifecycle.
• Backlog management and prioritization in Jira or similar tools.
• Ability to balance priorities and make trade-off decisions under time pressure.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the product backlog, ensuring visibility and clarity for the team.
• Write clear user stories with detailed acceptance criteria.
• Prioritize backlog items based on value, dependencies, and stakeholder input.
• Participate in all scrum ceremonies and refine backlog regularly.
• Serve as the main contact for scope questions, blockers, and criteria.
• Translate strategic priorities into tactical delivery plans with stakeholders.
• Collaborate with UX/UI designers to reflect user experience in requirements.
• Support release planning and coordinate delivery timelines.

Skills

Product ownership

Agile/Scrum

Stakeholder collaboration

User stories

Acceptance criteria

Backlog management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering

Tools

Jira

Job description

About Anvil

Anvil is a trusted partner in the defence industry, delivering cutting‑edge solutions that enhance military capabilities and operational effectiveness. We extend our expertise to public safety, law enforcement, and national security organizations, accelerating mission‑critical decision‑making through analytical tools, automations, and game‑changing machine learning capabilities. ANVIL helps organizations discover, manage, enrich, fuse, and exploit the information available to them in support of Information Dominance and Decision Advantage.

About Anvil

Anvil is a trusted partner in the defence industry, delivering cutting‑edge solutions that enhance military capabilities and operational effectiveness. We extend our expertise to public safety, law enforcement, and national security organizations, accelerating mission‑critical decision‑making through analytical tools, automations, and game‑changing machine learning capabilities. ANVIL helps organizations discover, manage, enrich, fuse, and exploit the information available to them in support of Information Dominance and Decision Advantage.

Job Type: Full Time Remote (Hybrid option available for those in the Ottawa area - 55 Murray Street Office)

Total Compensation: CAD $110,000 - $135,000 base salary - Placement within range based on experience and qualifications

Vacancy Status: This posting is for an existing vacancy at ANVIL. We are actively hiring for this role

Role (Description)

We're looking for a Product Owner to drive the delivery of exceptional products for our defence and public safety technology platform. As the owner of the product backlog, you'll work closely with stakeholders to understand requirements and with engineering teams to translate those requirements into well‑defined user stories that move efficiently through to completion.

You’ll be the critical link between customer needs and development execution - prioritizing work, clarifying requirements, and ensuring the team always understands what they’re building and why. You’ll participate actively in sprint ceremonies, refine the backlog continuously, and make the day‑to‑day prioritization decisions that keep delivery on track. You’ll collaborate with product management to understand strategic direction and ensure that tactical execution aligns with broader product goals.

Our learning‑oriented culture is transparent, fun, and strongly encourages work‑life balance.

Prerequisites

Eligible for Government of Canada Secret or Top Secret security clearance.

Experience

• 3+ years of experience in product ownership, business analysis, or related roles, with demonstrated success owning and managing product backlogs
• Proven experience working in agile/scrum environments, participating in sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives
• Experience translating business requirements and user needs into clear, actionable user stories with well‑defined acceptance criteria
• Track record of effective collaboration with engineering teams throughout the development lifecycle
• Experience with backlog management and prioritization in tools such as Jira or similar platforms
• Demonstrated ability to balance competing priorities and make sound trade‑off decisions under time pressure

Skills & Competencies

• Strong understanding of agile and scrum principles, with the ability to apply them pragmatically in real‑world delivery contexts
• Excellent ability to decompose complex requirements into appropriately sized user stories that can be completed within a sprint
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to understand technical constraints and their implications for product decisions
• Exceptional communication skills—able to articulate requirements clearly to engineers and explain technical trade‑offs to stakeholders
• Collaborative mindset with the ability to build strong working relationships across disciplines
• Detail‑oriented approach to defining acceptance criteria and validating delivered functionality
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, International Relations, War Studies, or related field (or equivalent practical experience)

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with defence, public safety, intelligence, or other mission‑critical applications
• Understanding of data‑intensive applications, analytical workflows, or geospatial systems
• Background working with government customers or understanding compliance requirements
• Experience working with distributed or cross‑functional development teams
• Familiarity with user research methods and incorporating user feedback into product decisions

Key Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the product backlog, ensuring it is visible, transparent, and clearly understood by the development team, including continuously refining the product backlog by breaking down epics into features and ensuring upcoming work is ready for sprint planning
• Write clear, well‑structured user stories with detailed acceptance criteria that enable efficient development and testing
• Prioritize backlog items based on business value, technical dependencies, and stakeholder input, making trade‑off decisions as needed
• Participate actively in all scrum ceremonies—sprint planning, daily standups, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and retrospectives
• Serve as the primary point of contact for the development team on questions of scope, requirements, removing blockers, and acceptance criteria
• Collaborate with product management to understand strategic priorities and translate them into tactical delivery plans
• Work closely with stakeholders and customers to gather requirements, clarify needs, and validate that delivered functionality meets expectations
• Partner with UX/UI designers to ensure user experience considerations are reflected in story requirements
• Review completed work based on acceptance criteria and definition of done in order to inform User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
• Communicate sprint progress, risks, and impediments to stakeholders and product management
• Support release planning and coordinate with engineering on delivery timelines

Why Join Us?

Our Mission

This is more than just a job; you'll be part of a team of dedicated professionals who share a common goal: to increase the safety and security of western democracies through the effective use of data. Our workplace is not just a job, it's a community of like‑minded people working together to make a positive impact on the world we live in.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive salaries
• Flexible health benefits package through Equitable
• Industry‑leading employer retirement contributions match

Work Environment

• Remote and Hybrid (Ottawa market) work model combining remote flexibility with meaningful in‑person collaboration
• Modern office in the historic Carriageway building in beautiful downtown Ottawa
• Access to downtown amenities, transit, and Ottawa's vibrant cultural scene

What You'll Experience

• Work alongside dedicated professionals who value excellence and collaboration
• Contribute to projects with real‑world security impact
• Join a culture where your expertise and ideas matter

Use of AI in Recruitment: Anvil does not use artificial intelligence to screen, assess, or select applicants for this position. All applications are reviewed by members of our recruitment team. However, we do use AI for scheduling, note taking and other administrative functions.

Anvil is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We’re committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. If you require accommodation during the selection process, please let us know.