Fintech Innovation Product Owner - Discovery & Pilot

UFCU Financial Services, LLC; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

UFCU Financial Services, LLC is seeking an Innovation Product Owner in Austin to drive fintech initiatives from discovery through pilot to production. You will manage the fintech pod backlog, run delivery ceremonies, translate ambiguous ideas into testable hypotheses, and define success metrics to guide scaling decisions.

This exempt role reports to the Director, Fintech Strategy and Partnerships. The incumbent will coordinate capacity planning and ensure readiness of technical resources while

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, or related field or equivalent years of experience.
• 3-5 years of experience in product management, fintech operations, or roles requiring structured execution in ambiguous environments.
• 3+ years of experience leading cross-functional teams through discovery, pilot, or early-stage product development.
• 2+ years of experience defining and tracking success metrics for experimental or pilot initiatives, with demonstrated ability to translate outcomes into actionable recommendations.
• Must be bondable.

Responsibilities

• Manages and maintains the pod backlog, ensuring work is clearly defined, properly sequenced, and aligned with the strategic priorities set.
• Runs day-to-day delivery operations including standups, backlog refinement, sprint planning, and reviews.
• Translates ambiguous, early-stage ideas into testable hypotheses with clear scope, success criteria, and integration approach.
• Drives initiatives through time-boxed discovery and pilot cycles, ensuring each phase produces measurable learning that informs the decision to scale, pivot, or sunset.
• Defines and tracks success metrics for each initiative, grounded in speed of learning, decision quality, and validated member and business impact.
• Manages the discovery-oriented intake process, working with the Fintech Partnership Lead and Director to determine which opportunities enter the pod's pipeline.
• When the pod carries an initiative beyond pilot, defines the implementation scope, success criteria, and progression decisions required to move from validated learning to production readiness.
• Coordinates with receiving business areas and platform teams to support clean transitions and sustained ownership post-implementation.
• Lead a parallel readiness and capacity track during discovery and pilot phases to identify system dependencies and required skill sets early.
• Translates resource needs into targeted capacity reservations during quarterly planning, leveraging the enterprise resourcing process for capacity allocation.

Skills

Agile delivery

Product management

Stakeholder communication

Ambiguity handling

Lean startup

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business/CS or related field

Tools

Jira

DevOps

Job description

UFCU Financial Services, LLC is seeking an Innovation Product Owner in Austin to drive fintech initiatives from discovery through pilot to production. You will manage the fintech pod backlog, run delivery ceremonies, translate ambiguous ideas into testable hypotheses, and define success metrics to guide scaling decisions.

This exempt role reports to the Director, Fintech Strategy and Partnerships. The incumbent will coordinate capacity planning and ensure readiness of technical resources while