Product Owner

Urban Legend; Alexandria (VA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Unlimited PTO

Competitive compensation

Job summary

Urban Legend is seeking a detail‑oriented Product Owner to join our product team in Old Town Alexandria. You’ll own the backlog, write tickets engineers can pick up without guesswork, and keep the team aligned on high‑value work.

This hands‑on role lives inside Linear daily and ensures clear acceptance criteria and QA plans. You’ll work with our Product Manager and engineering leads to translate roadmap priorities into a well‑groomed, sequenced backlog the team can execute against, while

Qualifications

• 2–4 years of experience as a Product Owner or delivery-focused role.
• Sharp, unambiguous ticket‑writing skills; engineers should never guess what done looks like.
• Strong organizational instincts; backlog clean and prioritized.
• Solid understanding of how software is built and can discuss scope with engineers.
• Experience managing backlog and delivery cadence in Linear/Jira or similar.

Responsibilities

• Own the product backlog: break down projects into clear, well-scoped tickets with acceptance criteria, priority, and estimates.
• Run regular team syncs to keep the team focused and unblocked.
• Triage incoming bugs and requests, assess severity and impact, and slot them into the backlog.
• Translate roadmap priorities into an actionable, sequenced delivery plan with product and engineering leadership.
• Be the daily point of contact for engineering questions about requirements and edge cases.
• Write and maintain release notes, coordinate QA plans, and ensure releases ship with confidence.
• Track cycle time and delivery predictability; flag risks to timelines early.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with Execution, Sales, and Creator Success teams.

Skills

Ticket writing

Backlog management

Cross-functional communication

Software understanding

Linear/Jira proficiency

QA & release coordination

Delivery cadence

Tools

Linear

Jira

Job description

About Urban Legend

Urban Legend is a platform that empowers creators to promote issues that matter to them. We eliminate the hassle of traditional brand deals and give creators control over the issues they promote and the content they post.

Organizations with powerful ideas are finding it harder than ever to break through and reach new audiences. Creators are seeking more opportunities to use their voice for positive change and get rewarded for the results they drive. Urban Legend brings together these mission-driven organizations and creators who have the credibility, passion, and audience relationships to spark meaningful engagement.

The Role

We're looking for a detail-oriented Product Owner to join our product team and report directly to the SVP, Product. You'll be the connective tissue between product strategy and engineering execution—owning the backlog, writing tickets engineers can pick up without guesswork, and keeping the team focused on the highest-value work. This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role. You'll live inside Linear daily, keep the team unblocked, triage bugs, and make sure nothing ships without clear acceptance criteria and a plan for QA. You'll work closely with our Product Manager and engineering leads to turn roadmap priorities into a well-groomed, sequenced backlog the team can execute against.

What You'll Do

• Own the product backlog: break down projects into clear, well-scoped tickets with acceptance criteria, priority, and estimates.
• Run regular team syncs that keep the team focused and unblocked.
• Triage incoming bugs and requests, assess severity and impact, and slot them into the right position in the backlog.
• Partner with product and engineering leadership to translate roadmap priorities and PRDs into an actionable, sequenced delivery plan.
• Be the daily point of contact for engineering questions about requirements and edge cases.
• Write and maintain release notes, and coordinate QA plans so releases go out with confidence.
• Track cycle time and delivery predictability; flag risks to timelines early.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with Execution, Sales, and Creator Success teams to capture requirements and keep them informed of what's shipping and when.
• Maintain backlog hygiene—labels, statuses, dependencies—so the team always has a clear, trustworthy source of information.
• Support discovery and validation efforts (user interviews, bug reproduction, usability checks) as needed to clarify requirements before they hit the backlog.

What We're Looking For

• 2–4 years of experience as a Product Owner or in a delivery-focused product role. Startup, marketplace, adtech, or creator economy experience is a plus.
• Sharp, unambiguous ticket‑writing skills. Engineers should never have to guess what "done" looks like.
• Strong organizational instincts—you keep a backlog clean, prioritized, and easy to navigate even as priorities shift.
• Solid understanding of how software is built. You can speak fluently with engineers about scope, dependencies, and technical tradeoffs—even if you're not writing the code.
• Experience managing a backlog and delivery cadence in tools like Linear, Jira, or similar.
• Comfort triaging ambiguity—turning a vague bug report or stakeholder ask into a clear, actionable ticket.
• Familiarity with QA processes and release coordination.
• Clear, concise communicator across audiences—engineers, the Product Manager, and cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Bias toward action. You'd rather ship and learn than plan forever.
• A team player. This position is in-person in our Old Town, Alexandria office four days a week, with Fridays remote.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation
• Health benefits package
• Unlimited PTO