Product Owner

Kainos; Belfast City District; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Kainos is seeking a Product Owner to drive the Smart Test Product for Workday, shaping AI-enabled testing strategy. You’ll translate customer needs into actionable work, lead cross-functional teams, and continuously validate customer value through measurable outcomes.

You will collaborate with engineering, sales, and marketing to deliver innovative capabilities, ensuring alignment with business goals and a strong market position during this growth phase.

Qualifications

• Minimum 2–3 years' experience as a Product Owner in a SaaS environment.
• Experience creating customer value using generative or agentic AI is preferred.
• Outcome-oriented mindset linking product investments to measurable value and outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Know your customer’s needs, personas, and why they engage with the product.
• Lead workshops with customers and internal stakeholders to unpack requirements.
• Build alignment across engineering, sales, pre-sales, marketing and professional services.
• Scope MVP and Early Adopter programmes with clear criteria and timelines.
• Launch products and features to market and drive adoption.

Skills

Backlog management

Roadmap prioritisation

Stakeholder alignment

Excellent communication

Customer value focus

Work with development teams

Travel willingness

Job description

Join Kainos and Shape the Future

At Kainos, we’re problem solvers, innovators, and collaborators - driven by a shared mission to create real impact. Whether we’re transforming digital services for millions, delivering cutting-edge Workday solutions, or pushing the boundaries of technology, we do it together.

We believe in a people-first culture, where your ideas are valued, your growth is supported, and your contributions truly make a difference. Here, you’ll be part of a diverse, ambitious team that celebrates creativity and collaboration.

Ready to make your mark? Join us and be part of something bigger.

About The Role

As a Product Owner at Kainos, you'll be at the heart of how we bring generative and agentic AI into our market-leading Smart Test Product for Workday.

You'll have a hands-on role in shaping and delivering our AI and agentic testing strategy — bringing innovative capabilities into the product to maintain our leading market position.

Your passion for product management will shine through in everything you do. This is your chance to make a real difference and leave your mark on our products and services during this exciting growth phase. As a result, you will have opportunities to advance into senior roles within the Kainos Smart business or the wider Kainos organisation.

You Will

• Know your customer’s needs, personas, and why they engage with your product.
• Become an expert in the problems we solve for our customers and “why” they matter.
• Know your competition and how to stay ahead of them.
• Use generative and agentic AI to deliver real‑world customer value.
• Continually validate that you deliver measurable customer value.
• Lead workshops with customers and internal stakeholders to unpack requirements.
• Be ready to back your decisions with quantitative and qualitative data.
• Build alignment across engineering, sales, pre‑sales, marketing and professional services.
• Use AI to accelerate discovery and rapidly prototype ideas.
• Manage roadmap delivery – Creating actionable user stories, setting measurable success criteria, and tracking actual outcomes against target.
• Ensure close alignment to business goals and values.
• Launch products and features to market – organising and enabling delivery, pre‑sales, and onboarding – and drive adoption.
• Contribute to marketing campaigns and support Sales with product demos.
• Scope MVP and Early Adopter Programmes – setting and communicating expectations, time scales, ideal customer profiles, acceptance criteria and exit gates.
• Be responsible - Identifying and mitigating risks to the business and to the project.

Minimum (essential) Requirements

• A minimum of 2-3 years' experience working as a Product Owner in a SaaS environment, managing backlogs, working with development teams and prioritising roadmaps.
• Demonstrable experience of creating customer value using generative or agentic AI.
• Outcome oriented mindset – Demonstrated aptitude to connect product investments with measurable customer value and outcomes, not just feature delivery.
• Customer focused – Comfort and ability engaging with customers and users. You will act as the voice of the customer in functional or technical product discussions.
• Proven ability to navigate competing priorities and align stakeholders.
• Excellent communication skills. A persuasive and effective communicator with strong negotiating skills. It's not only about talking — you'll need to listen, understand, and build on others' viewpoints.
• Being flexible to travel if required to customer and partner locations worldwide.

Desirable

• Workday experience
• Relevant commercial experience in Test Automation and/or HCM, Payroll, Financial or Recruitment systems.
• Enthusiasm for new technologies and innovation – include agentic and generative AI - and a proactive approach to integrating these into how we work and into the product roadmap.
• Good understanding of AI trends, and AI-driven development practices.

Embracing our differences

At Kainos, we believe in the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected, and given an equal chance to thrive. We actively seek out talented people from all backgrounds, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them who they are. We also believe every candidate deserves a level playing field.

Our friendly talent acquisition team is here to support you every step of the way, so if you require any accommodations or adjustments, we encourage you to reach out.

We understand that everyone's journey is different, and by having a private conversation we can ensure that our recruitment process is tailored to your needs.