Digital Product Owner

Cortex Consultants LLC; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Cortex Consultants LLC in Houston is seeking a Digital Product Owner to lead delivery of enterprise digital products on-site from Day 1. You will own the product vision, roadmap, and backlog, working with cross-functional teams.

The ideal candidate has 8+ years in IT and 5+ years in product leadership, with SAFe/Agile experience, and strong stakeholder influence. Exceptional communication and data-driven decision making are essential.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of overall IT/digital product/tech experience.
• 5+ years in Product Owner or equivalent leadership roles.
• Experience defining product vision, strategy, and lifecycle.
• Experience with backlog management, epics, features, user stories, and releases.

Responsibilities

• Define product vision, strategy, and roadmap in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Prioritize backlog, epics, features, and user stories with acceptance criteria.
• Engage executives and technology leadership to align priorities.
• Coordinate with BA, Dev, QA, UX/UI, Architecture, DevOps and Agile delivery teams.

Skills

Product ownership

Stakeholder management

Agile/Scrum

Backlog prioritization

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

Data-driven decision making

Negotiation

Analytical thinking

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / IT / Engineering / Business

SAFe POPM / CSPO / PSPO certification

Tools

Azure DevOps

Jira

Confluence

Job description

Position: Digital Product Owner

Location: Houston TX-Day 1 on-site

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 8 10+ years of overall professional experience within Information Technology, Digital Products, Product Management, Business Analysis, software delivery, or related technology domains.
• 5+ years of experience in Product Owner, Product Management, Business Product Owner, or equivalent product leadership roles, preferably supporting enterprise-scale digital products and platforms.
• Proven experience defining and driving product vision, strategy, roadmap, prioritization, and product lifecycle activities.
• Strong experience managing and prioritizing product backlogs, epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, and release priorities.
• Demonstrated ability to engage and influence business stakeholders, senior leadership, and technology leadership while driving alignment on priorities and outcomes.
• Extensive experience collaborating with Business Analysts, Development, Quality Engineering, UX/UI, Architecture, DevOps, and Agile delivery teams.
• Strong understanding of Agile/Scrum methodologies and product delivery practices, including backlog refinement, sprint planning, sprint reviews, release planning, and continuous improvement.
• Experience managing cross-team dependencies, risks, competing priorities, and stakeholder expectations within complex enterprise environments.
• Strong communication, facilitation, negotiation, analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Experience with Agile and product delivery platforms such as Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence, or equivalent tools.
• Preferred Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or a related discipline.
• Product Management/Product Owner certification such as SAFe POPM, CSPO, PSPO, or equivalent.
• Experience working within SAFe or other enterprise Agile delivery environments.
• Experience delivering enterprise digital platforms, web/mobile applications, APIs, cloud solutions, or digital transformation initiatives.
• Working knowledge of UX/UI, Quality Engineering, DevOps, APIs, cloud technologies, analytics, and modern digital architecture.
• Experience working with geographically distributed and/or onshore-offshore delivery teams.

Key Competencies

• Product Leadership | Product Vision & Roadmap | Stakeholder Management | Executive Communication | Backlog Prioritization | Agile/Scrum | Business & Technology Alignment | Cross-Functional Collaboration | Customer-Centric Thinking | Data-Driven Decision Making | Release Planning | Risk & Dependency Management | Continuous Improvement