Lead Product Owner – Hybrid (Chicago) | UAT & Change Leadership

The AES Group; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 96,000 - 105,000; Full time

Job summary

The AES Group is seeking a Lead Product Owner to guide customers and field teams through implementation, customization, integration, and ongoing support in a hybrid Chicago environment. You will partner with engineering, testing, and business stakeholders to translate needs into actionable requirements and drive adoption.

Ideal candidates bring 10+ years in lead PO roles, strong BA and stakeholder management skills, and extensive experience with UAT and software change processes.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in a Lead Product Owner or senior Product Owner role.
• Bachelor's degree preferred but not required.
• Strong business analysis experience identifying business needs and delivering measurable stakeholder value.
• Strong decision-making, analytical, problem-solving, and critical-thinking capabilities.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, influencing, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Extensive experience managing and coordinating software change requests.
• Working knowledge of software engineering, software development methodologies, software design practices, and product integration.
• Extensive experience with User Acceptance Testing (UAT), including acceptance criteria, test planning, test strategies, testing environments, and end-user involvement.

Responsibilities

• Partner with product development engineers to track and communicate design, development, support, maintenance, and product issues.
• Identify, document, prioritize, and report design, reliability, maintenance issues, and software defects.
• Gather, analyze, and consolidate feedback from customers and field service teams.
• Coordinate with customers and field support specialists to resolve product issues and increase product adoption.
• Address customer and field support questions involving product integration, infrastructure, and technical functionality.
• Support product implementations, installations, customizations, and integration activities.
• Manage software change requests from customers, vendors, development teams, and internal stakeholders.
• Track software problems through resolution, including documentation, escalation, status reporting, and customer communication.
• Gather, document, maintain, and prioritize functional product requirements.
• Provide recommendations based on business needs, customer feedback, product capabilities, and stakeholder priorities.
• Support major product installations, implementations, and customization initiatives.
• Participate in User Acceptance Testing (UAT), including acceptance criteria, test strategies, test plans, and testing approaches.
• Collaborate across product, engineering, development, testing, field support, customer, and business teams.
• Facilitate clear communication between technical teams and business stakeholders throughout the product lifecycle.

Skills

Lead Product Owner experience

Business analysis

Stakeholder management

UAT experience

Software change requests

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree (preferred)

Job description

The AES Group is seeking a Lead Product Owner to guide customers and field teams through implementation, customization, integration, and ongoing support in a hybrid Chicago environment. You will partner with engineering, testing, and business stakeholders to translate needs into actionable requirements and drive adoption.

Ideal candidates bring 10+ years in lead PO roles, strong BA and stakeholder management skills, and extensive experience with UAT and software change processes.