Product Owner/Portfolio Manager

Mbi Llc; Des Moines (IA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Mbi Llc is seeking a Product Owner/Portfolio Manager in Des Moines, Iowa. In this role, you will manage a portfolio of IT products, ensuring alignment with business needs, guiding products through all lifecycle stages, and collaborating with internal and external teams. The position requires strong project management and communication skills, along with experience in agile development. Successful candidates will have a commitment to continuous improvement and the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• 5 years of project management experience, managing scope, budget, timeline, and resources.
• 5 years in requirement elicitation and documentation between teams.
• 5 years of experience in the software development lifecycle and related methodologies.
• 5 years managing vendor relationships and project teams.
• 5 years of creating high-quality documentation.
• 5 years of strong communication skills across technical teams and business stakeholders.
• 3 years of experience guiding agile software development and user story development.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of IT products and applications.
• Guide products through all lifecycle stages as Product Owner.
• Collaborate with business SMEs and vendors to define product scope.
• Create and prioritize product backlogs and maintain roadmaps.
• Oversee product releases and monitor performance.
• Manage relationships with vendors, ensuring SLA adherence.
• Oversee product IT financials and budget planning.
• Lead and manage cross-functional fusion teams.

Skills

Project management

Requirement elicitation

Software development lifecycle

Vendor management

High quality documentation

Communication skills

Agile development

Job description

- The Department of Management (DOM), Division of Information Technology (DoIT), is seeking a Product Owner/Portfolio Manager.

- The position involves close collaboration with business and IT management, oversight of cross-functional fusion teams, and a commitment to continuous improvement driven by performance data and user feedback.

Key Responsibilities

- Manage a portfolio of IT products and applications, ensuring successful completion and alignment with business needs for both internal and external users.

- Serve as a Product Owner to guide products through all lifecycle stages, ensuring efficiency, quality, and alignment with strategic goals.

- Work with business SMEs, internal teams, external agencies, and vendors to define product scope, identify IT-enabled solutions, and support procurement and implementation processes.

- Create and prioritize product backlogs and maintain roadmaps that align with long-term IT strategies and changing user and state needs.

- Oversee product releases, ensure readiness for deployment, monitor performance, gather feedback, and manage risks affecting delivery or budget.

- Collaborate with business and IT leadership to define and track performance metrics, ensuring all products and processes meet state, federal, and IT governance requirements.

- Manage relationships with vendors and service providers, overseeing performance, resolving issues related to interoperability, and ensuring adherence to service level agreements (SLAs) and availability targets.

- Oversee product IT financials, including budget planning and monitoring, while providing leadership with regular updates on product status, risks, and strategic roadmap progress.

- Lead and manage cross-functional fusion teams, ensuring effective collaboration among IT, vendors, and business units to deliver solutions that align with business needs and budget constraints.

- Partner with DoIT supervisors to allocate appropriate technical resources, monitor team performance, and provide ongoing support to fusion team staff.

- Facilitate agile meetings and lead sprint reviews, user story development, ensuring team alignment on priorities and presenting outputs to stakeholders.

- Use feedback and metrics to identify product needs and collaborate on acceptance criteria, testing, and feature delivery.

- Collaborate with Executive Technology Officers (ETOs) and product teams to prioritize and manage product development efforts, ensuring alignment with agency needs and effectively transitioning products to enterprise services.

- Build and maintain strong relationships with client/business teams, establishing regular communication and fostering trust to ensure successful collaboration and issue resolution.

Skill Matrix

Experience in Project management: planning/managing scope, budget, timeline, resources; coordinating project activities

Required

5

Required

2

Experience in Requirement elicitation, documentation and articulation between teams

Required

5

Proficient understanding of the software development lifecycle and related methodologies

Required

5

Experience partnering with vendor project teams, managing relationships and vendor management

Required

5

High quality documentation: project plans, status updates, presentations, requirements, user stories, process maps, instructions

Required

5

Demonstrated strong communication skills across technical teams and business stakeholders, specifically to leadership - setting/resetting expectations

Required

5

Guide stages of agile software development, including user story development, sprint planning, and prioritization of the product backlog.

Required

3

Required

3