Technical Product Owner

Oxford University Press; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Oxford University Press is seeking a Technical Product Owner to translate roadmaps into detailed requirements and manage the backlog for technical delivery across divisions.

You will work with Product Managers/Owners, Key Users and delivery teams, prioritising epics, features and stories while ensuring quality and non-functional needs are met.

This role supports a hybrid work model with a requirement to be in the Oxford office part of the week.

Qualifications

• Create, own and prioritise the product backlog to meet roadmaps and PI objectives.
• Coordinate with Product Managers/Owners and delivery teams to define features and stories.
• Align epics and features with non-functional requirements such as performance, security and UX.

Responsibilities

• Create, own and prioritise the product backlog for technical delivery.
• Manage backlog with the delivery team and accept work in collaboration with PM/PO.
• Participate in stand-ups, sprint demos, sprint planning, retrospectives and system demos.
• Engage with other teams to manage dependencies and align planning so delivery is not delayed.
• Monitor and track progress to roadmap and program increments (PIs).

Skills

Backlog management

Agile / Scrum

Requirements elicitation

Stakeholder collaboration

Job description

About the Role

OUP’s digital products serve researchers, teachers and learners across educational and academic institutions. They include a broad range of digital, content and data-centric platforms, learning & assessment services, online journals, research platforms and integration with web and eCommerce application as well as a range of mobile product apps. The Press’s enterprise Book Publishing applications and services manage the end-to-end content lifecycle of this digital content and data.

The Technical Product Owner (TPO) works in close collaboration with divisional and group Product Management team(s) and is accountable for the implementation of the approved product roadmap and strategy. The TPO works in collaboration with Product Managers and/or Owners, Key Users and delivery teams to transform product roadmaps into detailed requirements. Breaking concepts down from epics to features and user stories, ensuring clarity of well-defined deliverables to meet product and business goals. Varying by division, business unit and type of product, the TPO creates, owns, manages, and prioritises the product backlog for technical delivery.

The TPO works closely with delivery teams to plan iterations, provides day-to-day input, ensures that velocity is maintained as well as reviewing and being accountable for acceptance of technical outputs from teams. Where appropriate, the TPO is an empowered decision maker at the delivery team level, often working as the key OUP contact with third party delivery partners.

Key responsibilities in this role will include:

• Understand, align with, and contribute to the delivery of roadmaps and associated non-functional requirements (e.g. performance, security, UX, accessibility, legal, and development, business processes, and standards). Ensure that all epics, features and stories meet OUP standards so that features and functions meet the required quality standards and non-functional requirements.
• Based on the roadmap and PIs, create and manage the backlog of work for the product
• Manage the backlog of work through the delivery team and be accountable (with the Product Manager and/or Product Owner) for the acceptance of work
• Participate in regular product ceremonies, such as stand-ups, sprint demos, sprint planning, retrospectives and system demos so that customer and business needs are continuously reflected to the delivery team.
• Engage with other teams to ensure that dependencies are understood, and planning takes place as part of regular agreed alignment processes to ensure that dependencies on other teams do not delay product delivery. Be available to team(s) outside of your team when required
• Monitor and track progress to roadmap and PIs.

We operate a hybrid working policy that requires a minimum of 2 days per week in the Oxford office.