Product Owner

PKWARE; Milwaukee (WI); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

PKWARE is seeking a Product Owner to join our Product Management team, focused on PK Protect Endpoint Manager. This role is a hybrid position based in Milwaukee, WI, and requires turning product strategy into clear engineering work, leveraging AI tools to improve planning, documentation, and releases.

You will manage backlog execution, support sprint planning, translate requirements into user stories, coordinate releases, and help keep development teams aligned with Product, Engineering, QA, UX,

Qualifications

• Experience writing clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and specs.
• Experience with agile/scrum ceremonies and sprint planning.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and ability to manage multiple priorities.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the product backlog in Jira, prioritize stories for sprint planning.
• Write clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and definitions of done.
• Support sprint planning, backlog grooming, and release readiness.
• Coordinate with Product, Engineering, QA, UX to turn business needs into requirements.
• Use AI-assisted tools and automation to improve requirements and docs.
• Maintain product documentation and roadmap artifacts in Confluence and Miro.
• Coordinate release activities and deployment tracking.
• Identify ways to streamline SDLC workflows via AI and Jira automation.
• Help the team reduce manual effort and increase execution velocity.

Skills

User stories

Agile / Scrum

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Self-starter

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Miro

CI/CD

Job description

PKWARE is seeking a Product Owner to join our Product Management team, focused on PK Protect Endpoint Manager. This role is ideal for someone who can turn product strategy into clear engineering work and is excited to use AI tools and automation to improve planning, documentation, and releases.

Reporting to the Director, Product Manager for PK Protect Endpoint Manager, you will manage backlog execution, support sprint planning, translate requirements into user stories, coordinate releases, and help keep development teams aligned. This is primarily an internal-facing role working closely with Product, Engineering, QA, UX, and product leadership.

What You’ll Do:

• Own and maintain the product backlog in Jira, ensuring stories are refined, prioritized, estimated, and ready for sprint planning.
• Write clear user stories, acceptance criteria, functional specifications, and definitions of done.
• Support sprint planning, backlog grooming, retrospectives, daily standups, and release readiness checkpoints.
• Partner with Product Management, Engineering, QA, UX, and internal stakeholders to turn business needs into actionable requirements.
• Use AI-assisted tools and automation to improve requirements development, documentation, release notes, workflow diagrams, and product artifacts.
• Maintain product documentation, meeting notes, decision logs, roadmap artifacts, and release materials in tools such as Confluence and Miro.
• Coordinate release activities, including readiness checkpoints, deployment tracking, branch/version coordination, and stakeholder communication.
• Identify ways to streamline SDLC workflows through AI, Jira automation, CI/CD integration, and process improvements.
• Help the team reduce manual effort, improve clarity, and increase execution velocity.

What You Bring:

• Enthusiasm for using AI tools and automation to improve individual and team productivity.
• Strong ability to write user stories, acceptance criteria, requirements, and functional specifications.
• Training or experience with agile/scrum methodologies and sprint ceremonies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Self-starter mindset with the ability to work independently while executing defined priorities.

Location:

This is a hybrid role based in Milwaukee, WI. Candidates must be located in the Milwaukee area and able to work regularly from our Milwaukee office

Preferred Qualifications:

• 2+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Business Analyst, or in a similar product-adjacent role.
• Hands-on experience with Jira, backlog management, sprint boards, workflows, and automation.
• Experience with Confluence and Miro for documentation and visual collaboration.
• Experience with release management, deployment coordination, or SDLC process automation.
• Experience in enterprise software, data security, cybersecurity, or data protection products.
• Familiarity with concepts such as encryption, masking, classification, and DLP.
• Hands-on experience with AI tools such as Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, or AI-powered workflow automation tools.

And just so you know…

PKWARE is located in Milwaukee, WI, and offers competitive benefits and compensation package.

PKWARE offers the only data discovery and protection solution that locates and secures sensitive data to minimize organizational risks and costs, regardless of device or environment. Our ultra-efficient, scalable software is simple to use on a broad range of data types and repositories, enabling precise, automated visibility and control of personal data, even in the fastest-moving, most complex IT environments. With more than 1,200 customers, including many of the world’s largest financial institutions, retailers, healthcare organizations, and government agencies, PKWARE continues to innovate as an award-winning global leader in data discovery, security, and compliance. To learn more, visit PKWARE.com.

PKWARE provides equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, veteran status, membership in the national guard, state defense force or any reserve component of the federal or state military forces, age, non-relevant arrest or conviction record, use or nonuse of lawful products off the company's premises during non-working hours, or other characteristic protected by law.