IT Product Owner - Project Accounting

Eaton; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 146,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Eaton is seeking an IT Product Owner for Project Accounting in Columbus, OH. This strategic role leads the enterprise Project Accounting capability, aligning governance, standards, and roadmaps across SAP Project Systems and Oracle Project Accounting.

You will partner with senior leaders to drive business outcomes, manage the product backlog, and ensure financial governance and policy compliance. You will define epics, collaborate with stakeholders, and guide cross‑functional teams through agile

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 10+ years of experience in highly complex technology projects and programs.
• 5+ years as a Product Owner or equivalent position.
• U.S. residency required.

Responsibilities

• Define the enterprise Project Accounting capability vision and roadmap.
• Own the capability backlog and prioritize features balancing development, financial tracking, and compliance.
• Set priorities for budgeting, forecasting, profitability, and spend visibility.
• Plan and track product funding; own the budget and profit plan.
• Develop persona and customer journeys for the product.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define business outcomes and KPIs.
• Communicate goals for increments and releases.
• Define sprint goals and oversee team execution.
• Support onboarding of internal and external resources.
• Ensure governance across data, cybersecurity, and policy compliance.
• Lead cross‑business alignment of standards across projects, regions, and entities.
• Represent the enterprise voice of the customer across SAP and Oracle ecosystems.

Skills

Executive communication

Stakeholder influence

Design thinking

Roadmapping

Lean principles

Data-driven decisions

Customer experience

Budget management

Cross-functional collaboration

Global teams

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

SAP Project Systems

Oracle Project Accounting

Job description

Eaton’s Corporate Sector division is currently seeking a IT Product Owner - Project Accounting.

The expected annual salary range for this role is $146000 - $215000 a year. Please note the salary information shown above is a general guideline only. Salaries are based upon candidate skills, experience, and qualifications, as well as market and business considerations.

What You’ll Do

This position is responsible for maximizing the value of enterprise value of Eaton’s Project Accounting capability by defining the product strategy, governance model, roadmap, prioritization framework, and measurable business outcomes across SAP Project Systems, Oracle Project Accounting, and related enterprise integrations. The Principal Product Owner is responsible for high complexity products with higher levels of impact on Eaton Business Outcomes. Work on these products may be considered transformational to Eaton's business. For Project Accounting, this role serves as the enterprise-wide strategic capability owner, accountable for aligning capability direction, standards, controls, and roadmap priorities across businesses, regions, project types, and legal-entity structures. The Principal Product Owner will set and champion the product vision, work with key senior leaders to influence strategic business objectives, develop and maintain the product roadmap, and define key operational processes like the product release schedule. The individual in this role will work closely with business partners and customers to define epics that align with key business objectives for the Scrum or Kanban team. The Principal Product Owner needs to be able to communicate strategy and status at the C level. The role partners with senior Finance, IT, business, and compliance leaders to influence enterprise investment priorities, standardize Project Accounting capabilities, and ensure roadmap decisions support financial governance, cost transparency, and business outcome delivery. The Principal Product Owner tracks and manages product funding and defines work priorities for individuals dedicated to the product team. They will balance new features against continuous improvement, system health, and support. The Principal Product Owner works across multiple product teams and cross‑functional Finance, IT, cybersecurity, compliance, data, architecture, and integration stakeholders to guide the Project Accounting capability lifecycle and represent the enterprise voice of the customer.

Essential Functions

• Define and champion the enterprise Project Accounting capability vision, roadmap, governance priorities, and epics, demonstrating alignment to business strategy, financial governance, cost transparency, and enterprise transformation outcomes.
• Own the enterprise Project Accounting capability backlog and prioritization model, ensuring roadmap decisions balance new capability development, financial tracking and cost‑control features, compliance requirements, system health, support, , and continuous improvement work.
• Set enterprise priorities for capabilities that improve project budgeting, cost forecasting, profitability analysis and real‑time visibility into project spend versus budget.
• Plan, manage, and track product funding. Is fully responsible for product budget and profit plan.
• Develops and maintains product‑specific persona and customer journeys.
• Work closely with business stakeholders and customers, understanding their priorities and defining business outcomes and KPIs for the product in collaboration with those key stakeholders.
• Communicate goals for product increments and releases.
• Define goals for team sprints.
• Support the onboarding of internal and external resources.
• Accountable for product support, stability, and governance: including data, policy, cybersecurity, and usage.
• Establish and oversee enterprise Project Accounting governance standards for financial controls, compliance checks, data handling, and policy alignment, including requirements related to SOX, revenue recognition policies, and capital‑versus‑expense treatment.
• Lead cross‑business alignment of Project Accounting process standards across different project types, end‑to‑end project lifecycles, business units, regions, and legal entities.
• Act as a functional expert in areas related to Project Accounting capabilities across Eaton’s portfolio, including SAP Project Systems, Oracle Project Accounting, related integrations, and cross‑platform process standardization.
• Drive definition and continuous improvement of Project Accounting product and process capabilities, coordinating with other key capability owners where project lifecycle, finance, integration, compliance, and reporting processes intersect.
• Understand commercial, business and go‑to‑market strategies where applicable.
• Support a Secure Product Development Lifecycle approach that establishes a strong cybersecurity focus and culture across the entire engineering lifecycle.
• Manage contracts with software and service vendors to support the product strategy.
• Manage vendor strategy and relationship.

Qualifications

• Required Qualifications:
  Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution
  Minimum of 10 years of experience as an analyst, project manager, engineer, BRM, or program lead on highly complex technology projects and programs.
  5+ years of experience as a Product Owner or equivalent position.
  Eaton will not consider applicants for employment immigration sponsorship or support for this position. This means that Eaton will not support any CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT plans, F-1 to H-1B, H-1B cap registration, O-1, E-3, TN status, I-485 job portability, etc.
  Relocation is not available. Candidates must currently reside within the United States to be considered.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree
• Strong understanding and deep experience with product management and modern product delivery processes
• Practical knowledge of and experience working with Agile, Scrum, and/or Kanban software delivery teams
• General understanding of DevSecOps principles
• Strong understanding of modern software development principles including code management, test automation, APIs, microservices, and cloud services.
• Deep Project Accounting domain expertise across SAP Project Systems and Oracle Project Accounting, including Work Breakdown Structures, project lifecycles, financial postings, project budgeting, cost forecasting, profitability analysis, and project spend‑versus‑budget visibility
• Advanced knowledge of financial governance, internal controls, compliance requirements, and data‑handling expectations for Project Accounting processes, including SOX, revenue recognition policies, and capital‑versus‑expense treatment.
• Ability to own and influence a cross‑platform Project Accounting roadmap.
• Understanding of complex enterprise project structures spanning multiple business units or legal entities and the implications for standard capability design, reporting, controls, and integration requirements.

Skills

• Soft skills :Executive communication skills
• Ability to influence senior Finance, IT, compliance, architecture, and business‑unit stakeholders on enterprise Project Accounting strategy, governance standards, roadmap trade‑offs, and investment priorities
• Practical knowledge of and experience working with design thinking methodologies
• Strong ability to create and manage product roadmaps
• Strong understanding of lean principles with respect to product and portfolio management
• Data orientation and ability to make data‑driven decisions
• Passion for great customer experiences
• Financial and budget management
• Comfortable working directly with business leaders, external customers, and engineering teams
• Proven ability to drive change across organizational boundaries
• Experience working with diverse, global cultures, organizations and teams

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job‑related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law. Eaton believes in second chance employment. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction history will be considered regardless of their arrest or conviction history, consistent with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, the California Fair Chance Act and other local laws. You do not need to disclose your conviction history or participate in a background check until a conditional job offer is made to you. After making a conditional offer and running a background check, if Eaton is concerned about conviction that is directly related to the job, you will be given the chance to explain the circumstances surrounding the conviction, provide mitigating evidence, or challenge the accuracy of the background report.

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We know that good benefit programs are important to employees and their families. Eaton provides various Health and Welfare benefits as well as Retirement benefits, and several programs that provide for paid and unpaid time away from work. Click here for more detail: Eaton Benefits Overview. Please note that specific programs and options available to an employee may depend on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements.