Senior IT Product Owner

Alliance of Professionals & Consultants, Inc.; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

Alliance of Professionals & Consultants, Inc. is seeking a Senior IT Product Owner to lead digital solution strategies and roadmaps in a hybrid Pittsburgh setting.

You will translate business needs into clear product requirements, manage the backlog, and collaborate across Engineering, QA, UX, and security teams to deliver scalable digital capabilities. The role emphasizes ownership of Pega, SmartComm, DMS, and RM related initiatives, with a strong focus on automation, employee and customer

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, Product Management, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience working as a Product Owner or similar role within an Agile environment.
• Experience developing user stories, functional requirements, acceptance criteria, and test cases.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain the product vision, strategy, roadmap, and priorities for assigned digital solutions.
• Represent the end user throughout the Agile lifecycle, prioritizing the product backlog based on value and risks.
• Create, refine, and maintain detailed user stories and acceptance criteria; break down work into Epics and features.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Architecture, QA, UX, PM, Cybersecurity, Data, and other teams.
• Monitor product performance and drive continuous improvement; manage stakeholder communications and expectations.

Skills

Product Ownership

Agile Methodologies

User Stories & Acceptance Criteria

Education

Bachelor’s degree in IT/CS/Business/Product Management

Job description

Job Title

Senior IT Product Owner

Type

Direct Hire

Work Location

Hybrid position in Pittsburgh, PA

Job Overview

The I Senior IT Product Owner, Digital Solutions is responsible for defining and advancing the vision, strategy, roadmap, and priorities for Life’s digital technology products and solutions. This role represents the end user throughout product planning, development, testing, implementation, and release and serves as the primary liaison between business stakeholders, end users, and technology delivery teams. As a key member of an Agile development environment, the Senior Product Owner translates business needs, user feedback, operational challenges, and strategic objectives into clear product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and prioritized development work. The role owns and manages the technology product backlog and partners closely with Engineering, Architecture, Quality Assurance, UX, Project Management, and business teams to deliver scalable, secure, effective, and user-focused digital solutions. The I Senior IT Product Owner will have responsibility for digital solutions including Pega, SmartComm, Document Management System (DMS), and Records Management (RM) and will help identify opportunities to enhance automation, improve the employee and customer experience, increase operational efficiency, and support broader digital transformation strategy.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Product Vision, Strategy & Roadmap

Own and maintain the product vision, strategy, roadmap, and priorities for assigned digital solutions. Develop a clear understanding of business objectives, user needs, operational processes, and technology capabilities to establish product priorities. Partner with business leaders, subject matter experts, end users, and technology stakeholders to identify opportunities, pain points, and areas for improvement. Develop and communicate product roadmaps that align with organizational priorities, technology strategy, and business goals. Identify opportunities for automation, process improvement, system integration, and new digital capabilities. Evaluate competing priorities and make recommendations regarding product investments, enhancements, and resource allocation. Communicate product priorities, dependencies, tradeoffs, progress, risks, and expected outcomes to stakeholders and leadership.

Agile Product Ownership

Represent the end user throughout the Agile development lifecycle, including planning, development, testing, implementation, and release. Own, maintain, and continuously prioritize the product backlog based on business value, user needs, risk, technical dependencies, and organizational priorities. Define users, personas, business needs, and desired outcomes for product enhancements. Create, refine, and maintain detailed user stories and functional requirements. Establish clear acceptance criteria for user stories and features. Break down large or complex requirements into manageable epics, features, user stories, and deliverables. Develop milestones and development schedules and provide estimates for anticipated release dates. Adjust priorities and schedules based on changing business needs, technical considerations, risks, and delivery capacity. Participate in Agile ceremonies, including backlog refinement, sprint planning, sprint reviews, demonstrations, and retrospectives. Work closely with development teams to clarify requirements and resolve questions throughout development. Review completed functionality, validate that requirements have been met, and approve user stories for release.

Requirements & User Experience

Conduct stakeholder interviews, workshops, process reviews, and other discovery activities to understand business and user requirements. Translate business needs and user pain points into actionable technology requirements and user stories. Develop process flows, functional specifications, use cases, acceptance criteria, and other supporting documentation as appropriate. Partner with UX and business teams to ensure solutions provide intuitive, effective, and consistent user experiences. Gather and incorporate feedback from users and stakeholders throughout the product lifecycle. Identify opportunities to simplify processes, eliminate manual work, improve usability, and enhance the overall user experience.

Testing, Quality & Release Management

Develop or support the development of test cases and scenarios based on user stories and acceptance criteria. Partner with QA teams to validate that solutions meet defined business and functional requirements. Participate in user acceptance testing and support business stakeholders through testing and validation. Review defects and determine business impact and priority. Approve completed stories and features when acceptance criteria and quality expectations have been met. Support release planning, implementation, communications, and post-release validation. Monitor production issues and collaborate with appropriate teams to identify root causes and prioritize resolution.

Digital Solutions Product Ownership

Pega

Serve as Product Owner for assigned Pega capabilities and solutions. Partner with business and technology teams to identify opportunities to leverage Pega for workflow automation, case management, process optimization, and improved user experiences. Prioritize Pega enhancements, integrations, workflows, and functionality based on business value and user needs. Ensure Pega solutions align with established architecture, security, data, and development standards.

SmartComm

Own and prioritize product enhancements related to SmartComm and document composition capabilities. Partner with business users and technology teams to improve document generation, personalization, automation, and delivery. Translate business and regulatory communication requirements into actionable SmartComm features and user stories. Identify opportunities to improve document quality, consistency, efficiency, and customer experience.

Document Management System (DMS) + Records Management (RM)

Serve as Product Owner for assigned DMS and RM capabilities. Partner with business stakeholders to understand document management, storage, retrieval, workflow, retention, and records management needs. Prioritize enhancements that improve document accessibility, operational efficiency, information governance, and user experience. Support integration and interoperability between DMS/RM and other systems and digital solutions. Ensure product requirements consider appropriate security, access, retention, auditability, and business process needs.

Stakeholder & Cross-Functional Collaboration

Serve as the primary product liaison between business stakeholders and technology delivery teams. Collaborate with Engineering, Architecture, QA, UX, Project Management, Cybersecurity, Data, and other technology teams. Build strong relationships with business leaders and subject matter experts to establish shared understanding of product priorities. Facilitate discussions around scope, priorities, dependencies, risks, and tradeoffs. Ensure stakeholders have appropriate visibility into product roadmaps, delivery status, upcoming releases, and decisions. Promote a collaborative, Agile, customer-focused product culture.

Product Performance & Continuous Improvement

Establish and monitor product performance measures and key outcomes. Measure and evaluate adoption, user satisfaction, efficiency, productivity, cost savings, quality, and other relevant product outcomes. Analyze user feedback, operational data, and performance metrics to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. Conduct post-release reviews to evaluate whether solutions achieved intended business outcomes. Recommend enhancements, new capabilities, or changes based on data and user feedback. Stay informed of emerging digital technologies, industry practices, and product management trends that may benefit.

Business & Product Support

Partner with business leaders and, when appropriate, Product Marketing or Communications, to articulate product value propositions and communicate new capabilities. Assist with development of product-related communications, training materials, demonstrations, and other resources. Support change management and adoption activities associated with new products and enhancements. Provide product expertise and guidance to stakeholders and end users. Maintain appropriate product documentation, requirements, roadmaps, and decision records. Perform other duties as assigned. Properly adheres to company risk management principles: Adhering and supporting Enterprise Risk Management Framework Understanding and complying with applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures; completing all required training; executing and monitoring controls effectively (as applicable); appropriately identifying, assessing, escalating and remediating risks, potential issues and control failures (as applicable); and reporting compliance or regulatory concerns to management. Understanding and conducting oneself in accordance with the Employee Handbook and preserving brand and reputation.

Required Skills & Experience

Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, Product Management, or a related field required; equivalent combination of education and relevant experience may be considered. Demonstrated experience working as a Product Owner, Business Analyst, or similar role within an Agile development environment. Experience managing technology product backlogs and prioritizing features based on business value, user needs, risk, and technical considerations. Experience developing user stories, functional requirements, acceptance criteria, and test cases. Experience working with cross-functional technology and business teams to deliver software products or digital solutions.

COMPETENCIES

Decision Making – Effectively identifies and evaluates alternative solutions; Makes decisions consistent with skills and experience; Recognizes decisions that have to be deferred until all pertinent facts are gathered and analyzed; Flexible in modifying decisions.

Managing People – Includes staff in planning, decision-making, facilitating and process improvement; Takes responsibility for subordinates' activities; Makes self-available to staff; Provides regular performance feedback; Develops subordinates' skills and encourages growth; Solicits and applies customer feedback (internal and external); Fosters quality focus in others; Improves processes, products and services; Continually works to improve supervisory skills.

Teamwork – Balances team and individual responsibilities; Exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; Gives and welcomes feedback; Contributes to building a positive team spirit; Puts success of team above own interests; Able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; Supports everyone's efforts to succeed.

Problem Solving – Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; Gathers and analyzes information skillfully; Develops alternative solutions; Works well in group problem solving situations; Uses reason even when dealing with emotional topics.

Oral Communication – Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; Listens and gets clarification; Responds well to questions; Demonstrates group presentation skills; Participates in meetings.

Change Management – Develops workable implementation plans; Communicates changes effectively; Builds commitment and overcomes resistance; Prepares and supports those affected by change; Monitors transition and evaluates results.

Ethics – Treats people with respect; Keeps commitments; Inspires the trust of others; Works with integrity and ethically; Upholds organizational values.

Motivation – Sets and achieves challenging goals; Demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles; Measures self against standard of excellence; Takes calculated risks to accomplish goals.

Strategic Thinking – Develops strategies to achieve organizational goals; Understands organization's strengths & weaknesses; Analyzes market and competition; Identifies external threats and opportunities; Adapts strategy to changing conditions.

Professionalism – Approaches others in a tactful manner; Reacts well under pressure; Treats others with respect and consideration regardless of their status or position; Accepts responsibility for own actions; Follows through on commitments.

Big Bonus Points if you Have

Agile, Scrum, Product Owner, or product management certification preferred. 7+ years of progressive experience in technology, product ownership, business analysis, software development, or a related field, preferred. Experience working with enterprise applications, integrations, APIs, data, and digital transformation initiatives preferred. Experience with Pega, SmartComm, DMS, and/or Records Management solutions strongly preferred. Experience with workflow automation, document management, records management, enterprise content management, or similar technologies preferred. Experience in insurance, financial services, or highly regulated industry preferred.

Job Requisition # 40378

A reasonable estimate of the Base Salary for this role is $140,000 - $145,000 per year. The disclosed pay range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled. The compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case, such as skills and experience levels. Meet APC APC is a professional staffing and services organization focused on engaging people and positively impacting lives. As "Professionals serving Professionals"®, we take pride in providing our employees and contractors with the highest level of customer service and support. APC is committed to creating a diverse work environment and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, genetics, or veteran status.