Strategic Product Lead: Data, AI & Backend Platform

The Planet Group; Illinois; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The Planet Group is seeking a Senior Product Manager / Product Owner to lead backend, data, and AI-enabled capabilities for a modernizing enterprise application transitioning to a scalable SaaS platform.

The role focuses on owning the backend and data product roadmap and providing Product Owner leadership for AI capabilities including AI Chat, RAG, trusted data and methodology, AI orchestration, and relational file ingestion.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of Product Management and/or Product Owner experience in complex technology environments.
• Experience modernizing legacy applications or platforms.
• Strong technical product management experience with complex systems, architectures, data, integrations, and dependencies.
• Experience with data platforms, pipelines, APIs, integrations, or enterprise data architectures.
• Experience with AI, LLMs, RAG, agent orchestration, or conversational analytics.
• Experience with enterprise SaaS and/or platform products.

Responsibilities

• Own product vision, roadmap, backlog, priorities, and release strategy for backend, data, and AI capabilities.
• Provide Product Owner leadership for AI Chat, RAG, trusted data, AI orchestration, and related capabilities.
• Translate business strategy into clear requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and measurable outcomes.
• Manage and prioritize complex backlogs using Azure DevOps (ADO) or Jira.
• Lead backlog refinement, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives, and other product delivery activities.
• Identify and manage technical dependencies, risks, blockers, and cross-team sequencing.
• Develop a strong understanding of data architecture, pipelines, data layers, APIs, integrations, and system dependencies.
• Partner with engineering and data teams on Databricks, data platforms, performance, scalability, and technical tradeoffs.
• Support UAT, business acceptance, production readiness, and release activities.
• Drive product capabilities from prototype through beta, release, and general availability.
• Help define AI-enabled capabilities including conversational analytics, RAG, AI guardrails, trusted/traceable answers, governance, and auditability.
• Continuously improve product management and delivery processes throughout the platform modernization.

Skills

Product management

Technical leadership

Stakeholder management

Strategic planning

Agile / backlog management

Tools

Azure DevOps

Jira

Databricks

Job description

The Planet Group is seeking a Senior Product Manager / Product Owner to lead backend, data, and AI-enabled capabilities for a modernizing enterprise application transitioning to a scalable SaaS platform.

The role focuses on owning the backend and data product roadmap and providing Product Owner leadership for AI capabilities including AI Chat, RAG, trusted data and methodology, AI orchestration, and relational file ingestion.