AI Product Owner

CAI Software, LLC; Bengaluru Urban; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 3,200,000; Full time

Job summary

CAI Software is seeking a Product Owner for its AI-DLC enabled MES product in Bangalore. You will translate manufacturing needs into unambiguous specs for AI agents, own the backlog, and collaborate with Product Management, Engineering, QA, UX, and AI coding partners to drive delivery.

You will review AI-generated plans, set acceptance criteria, guide sprint work, and make human decisions in the oversight loop to ensure value, control, and traceability on the shop floor.

Qualifications

• 4–7 years of product ownership or business analysis on software teams.
• Hands-on experience with LLM tools used in production contexts.
• Experience writing precise specs for AI agents.
• Proven backlog management in Jira or Azure DevOps.
• Strong understanding of Scrum or Kanban methods.
• Ability to discuss MES/ERP/PLM/SCADA concepts with engineers.

Responsibilities

• Own the MES product backlog as AI-DLC intents and work units, scoped for agentic execution.
• Translate high-level MES strategy into precise specs, acceptance criteria, and workflows.
• Collaborate with Engineering, QA, and UX in mob-programming/pod sessions with AI agents.
• Review AI-generated plans, user stories, and proposals before execution proceeds.
• Make day-to-day scope, priority, and risk-acceptance decisions for the team.
• Define evals and acceptance checks for AI agents and QA to verify work.
• Translate stakeholder feedback into new specs and backlog priorities.
• Monitor MES usage and AI-DLC metrics to identify improvements.
• Maintain transparency on progress, AI changes, risks, and dependencies.
• Build product markdown files to provide AI agents contextual background.

Skills

Product ownership

LLM tools experience

Spec-Driven Development

Backlog management

Agile (Scrum/Kanban)

MES/ERP/PLM/SCADA concepts

Tools

Jira

Azure DevOps

Job description

CAI Software builds purpose-built solutions that help manufacturers, processors, and distributors accelerate performance. Our mission is to enable manufacturers to transform performance through a connected, AI-assisted ecosystem that delivers visibility, control, and continuous improvement. We bring the deep operational expertise and enterprise infrastructure to be a true long-term performance partner.

With 6,200+ active customers worldwide and a market-leading position in every vertical we serve, CAI combines 45+ years of industry expertise with modern AI-driven execution - helping businesses move faster, operate smarter, and perform at their peak. We work across 15+ industries and 10+ countries, guided by three values built into our name: Candor, Accountability, and Impact.

CAI Business Units and the Markets We Serve

CAI Software is organized into three business units: Graphic Communications, Process Manufacturing, and Discrete Manufacturing - aligned to the industries we serve. This structure keeps our teams close to customer needs while operating with the scale and support of a global software company.

This role is part of our Discrete Manufacturing business unit, which delivers software solutions for manufacturers that produce components and assemblies that become part of larger products. Serving small through enterprise manufacturers in industries such as aerospace, automotive, industrial equipment, and engineered products, Discrete Manufacturing focuses on modern execution-connecting planning, production, traceability, and automation to help manufacturers run more resilient, efficient, and predictable operations.

CAI India

CAI India is a strategic investment in the company's future. Our Bangalore Center of Excellence is a place of ownership, expertise, and accountability. Teams in India work on global products end to end, contribute to key decisions, and influence how CAI evolves as a business. This is not a support‑led model, but rather a center designed to lead through knowledge, responsibility, and trust.

About the Role

The Product Owner will operate within our AI-DLC (AI-Driven Development Lifecycle) model, partnering with Product Management, Engineering, and AI coding agents (Claude, Gemini, OpenAI-based tools) to translate manufacturing and customer needs into precise specs and intents that AI agents can implement directly. Rather than authoring only traditional user stories, this role owns Spec-Driven Development (SDD) for the team — writing unambiguous specifications, reviewing AI-generated plans and code before execution proceeds, and making the human judgment calls that AI-DLC defers to people. This is a hands‑on execution role focused on driving agentic delivery of MES capabilities that improve shop‑floor efficiency, visibility, and control, while maintaining human oversight and accountability at every stage of the AI-DLC cycle.

Location

Responsibilities

• Own the MES product backlog as a set of AI-DLC intents and units of work, ensuring each is scoped precisely enough for agentic execution within a delivery cycle (bolt).
• Translate high‑level MES product strategy into precise specs, acceptance criteria, and workflows detailed enough for AI agents to implement directly.
• Work closely with Engineering, QA, and UX — often in mob‑programming/pod sessions with AI agents — to refine specs, clarify requirements, and remove ambiguity before and during delivery cycles.
• Review and validate AI‑generated plans, user stories, and implementation proposals before execution proceeds, acting as the human decision‑maker in the AI‑DLC oversight loop.
• Make day‑to‑day scope, priority, and risk‑acceptance decisions for the team, deferring to Engineering only the technical calls AI-DLC reserves for specialists.
• Define acceptance criteria and evaluation checks ("evals") that AI agents and QA use to verify completed work against business intent, and provide timely feedback and sign‑off.
• Collaborate with stakeholders (Product Management, Implementation, Support, Customer Success) to translate plant and user feedback into new specs and backlog priorities.
• Monitor MES usage, defects, and AI‑DLC cycle metrics to identify improvements and incremental value opportunities, feeding learnings back into specs.
• Maintain transparency on team progress, AI‑generated changes, risks, and dependencies through clear communication and reporting.
• Ability to build Product markdown files to provide AI agents contextual background to the MES product.

Required Qualifications

• 4–7 years of experience in a Product Owner, Business Analyst, or similar role on software development teams.
• Hands‑on experience with LLM tools such as Claude, Gemini, or OpenAI, used in a professional product or development context.
• Working knowledge of Spec-Driven Development (SDD) — able to write specs precise enough for AI agents to implement directly.
• Strong experience writing user stories/Intents, defining acceptance criteria, and managing backlogs in tools like Jira or Azure DevOps.
• Solid understanding of software methodologies (Scrum or Kanban) and how to adapt them to agentic, AI‑DLC‑based delivery.
• Ability to understand technical concepts relevant to MES (APIs, integrations with ERP/PLM/SCADA, data models) and communicate effectively with both engineers and AI agents.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with AI‑DLC (AI-Driven Development Lifecycle) methodology is a plus.
• AI & Technical Fluency — comfortable evaluating AI‑generated code, plans, and test coverage well enough to approve or redirect them.
• Experience with AI‑DLC & agentic delivery — working in mob‑programming/pod formats with cross‑functional teams and AI coding agents.
• Data‑driven product management — using shopfloor KPIs, usage analytics, and AI‑DLC cycle metrics to shape backlog priorities.

Candidate Profile

• Hands‑on, detail‑oriented, and comfortable owning the “what” and “why” for the MES team while directing AI agents on the “how” — knowing when to step in personally.
• Thrives in a collaborative, fast‑moving environment; curious and adaptable to a methodology where tooling and process evolve quickly. Works effectively across time zones and functions (engineering, implementation, product, and customer‑facing teams), including alongside AI agents as delivery partners.

Why Join CAI

You will build software that runs real factories — the systems that tell operators what to make, capture what happened on the shop floor, and keep supply chains moving. You will be paired with experienced engineers, given ownership of well‑scoped features from your first sprint, and exposed to the full product lifecycle: requirements, design, code, test, release and customer feedback. You will learn both modern engineering practices and the manufacturing domain in depth, building a career foundation that is in high demand across the industry.

At CAI, we are building something that matters. With 6,200+ customers across 15+ industries and active investment in AI-driven performance tools, we are positioned to define what the next generation of manufacturing software looks like — and we are building the team to lead that work.

Our four pillars define how we deliver for customers — and how we work:

• Built to Fit - Fits how your business runs so performance comes standard
• Built to Expedite - Speeds time to performance without heavy lifts or delays.
• Built to Deliver - AI turns action and insights into measurable performance.
• Built to Scale - Sustains and scales performance without disruption.

CAI Software is an "EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer."

CAI Software is an Equal Opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression), religion, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other basis protected by local, state or federal law.

Disability Accommodation

CAI Software endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or are limited in the ability or unable to access or use the online application process and need an alternative method for applying, please contact us at [e-mail] or send an e‑mail with your specific accommodation request.

CAI Software will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c).