Product Owner (100%)

MDPI

Basel

On-site

CHF 120,000 - 160,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Prime location near Basel train staton

Full-coverage insurance for accidents

Team-building events

Company retreats

Job summary

MDPI, Basel, is seeking a Product Owner to drive data-driven product experiences across our digital platforms. You will own the backlog, translate requirements into user stories, and collaborate with design and engineering to deliver value in agile sprints.

On-site role in Basel with a focus on performance, privacy, and scalable solutions. The successful candidate will have 2+ years in product ownership, strong English communication, and experience with Jira/Microsoft 365.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Business, CS, Data Science or related field (Master's a plus).
2+ years in product ownership, backlog management, or similar role.
Experience in Agile/Scrum with backlog management and sprint planning.
Proven ability to collaborate with stakeholders across business and engineering.
Strong user story creation, acceptance criteria, and value-based prioritization.
Experience with product analytics, KPI tracking, experimentation, and data-informed decisions.
Familiarity with Jira and Microsoft 365 tools.
Excellent communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
Ability to work independently while managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Professional English communication; PO certification (PSPO/CSPO) is an advantage.

Responsibilities

Own the product backlog for the assigned product area with value-based prioritization.
Translate business requirements into user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
Facilitate sprint planning, reviews, and backlog refinement sessions.
Collaborate with development to ensure requirements are understood and deliverables meet expectations.
Communicate delivery timelines and manage stakeholder expectations as voice of the customer.
Track delivery and engagement metrics and run KPI reviews with stakeholders.
Maintain a ready backlog and elevate readiness risks early.
Ensure non-functional requirements (performance, scalability, privacy) are represented in planning.
Transparently communicate blockers, dependencies, and risks.

Skills

Agile/Scrum

Stakeholder collaboration

User story creation

Data-driven decisions

KPI tracking

Communication

Multi-priority management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/CS/Data Science or related field

Master's degree (plus)

Tools

Jira

Microsoft 365

Job description

Join us in shaping the future of user engagement and personalization at MDPI.

As a Product Owner, you will work closely with stakeholders and development teams to deliver innovative, data-driven product experiences across our digital platforms.

Your work will directly contribute to helping researchers and readers discover relevant content, engage more deeply with our journals and platforms, and benefit from a more personalized digital experience.

As part of our commitment to fostering a collaborative team environment, this role requires working fully on-site.

Tasks & Responsibilities

Core Responsibilities

Own the product backlog for the assigned product area, ensuring prioritization reflects business value and stakeholder needs.
Translate business requirements into well-defined user stories with clear acceptance criteria.
Facilitate sprint planning, reviews, and backlog refinement sessions, running the team’s delivery cadence.
Collaborate closely with the development team to ensure requirements are understood and deliverables meet expectations, translating strategy into deliverable, measurable increments.
Manage stakeholder expectations and communicate delivery timelines effectively, acting as the primary business liaison and voice of the customer for the product area where no dedicated Product Manager is assigned.

Additional Responsibilities

Track and report on delivery and engagement metrics, identifying and addressing impediments to team velocity, and run KPI reviews with stakeholders against a shared scorecard.
Maintain a ready backlog covering upcoming sprint planning cycles and elevate readiness risks early.
Ensure non-functional requirements, including performance, scalability, maintainability, and privacy/consent guardrails, are represented in planning and prioritization, facilitating trade-off discussions.
Transparently communicate delivery progress, blockers, dependencies, and risks to the development team and stakeholders.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field; a Master's degree is a plus.
2+ years of experience in product ownership, backlog management, or a similar product delivery role.
Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments, including backlog management and sprint planning.
Proven ability to collaborate with stakeholders across business, engineering, and other functions.
Strong understanding of user story creation, acceptance criteria definition, and value-based prioritization.
Experience with product analytics, KPI tracking, experimentation, and data-informed decision-making.
Familiarity with backlog management tools such as Jira and Microsoft 365 applications.
Strong communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
Ability to work independently while managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Professional English communication skills (minimum C1 level).
Product Owner certification (e.g., PSPO, CSPO) and experience with user engagement or digital product environments are considered an advantage.

What We Offer

The opportunity to contribute to the academic/scientific community;
Flexible working hours;
Team bond strengthening through team-building events;
Professional growth opportunities with our global training system;
Working in a collaborative and socially responsible team;
Company retreat facility;
Full-coverage insurance for accidents/daily sickness;
Prime location near Basel train station and city center;
And more.

About MDPI

A pioneer in scholarly open access publishing, MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996. Our mission is to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines. We operate more than 500 diverse, peer-reviewed, open access journals supported by over 66,000 academic editors. We serve scholars from around the world to ensure the latest research is openly and broadly available.

MDPI is headquartered in Switzerland with additional offices in Europe, Asia and North America. We are committed to ensuring that high quality research is made available as quickly as possible. We also support sustainability projects, with sustainability as a key theme in many journals and through the MDPI Sustainability Foundation.

Initiatives

At MDPI, we develop and maintain various platforms in order to better serve the scientific community. Please find here-below a list of our main platforms: