Technical Product Owner

Sidley Austin; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 108,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Sidley Austin LLP is seeking a Technical Product Owner to drive the data platform and BI capabilities, translating business needs into epics, managing the backlog, and coordinating Agile delivery for a dedicated scrum team.

You will partner with engineering leadership to roadmap, plan releases, and ensure timely delivery of ingestion pipelines, transformations, models, and reporting solutions across the data ecosystem.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business Administration, Product Management, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 5 years in technical product ownership or related roles.
• Experience translating requirements into epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience coordinating day-to-day Agile delivery for a scrum team.
• Knowledge of modern data architectures, data integration, APIs, data modeling, and BI concepts.
• Experience coordinating dependencies, risks, testing, release activities, and stakeholder communications.

Responsibilities

• Manage and maintain the product backlog for data platform and BI capabilities, in partnership with leadership and stakeholders.
• Translate requirements into epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria; clarify scope and dependencies.
• Coordinate Agile delivery for a scrum team; facilitate planning, stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Monitor delivery plans, milestones, risks, and metrics; report status to stakeholders.
• Coordinate cross-functional delivery across data engineering, BI, QA, DevOps, and security teams.
• Support roadmap and release planning with estimates and technical considerations; assist with release readiness activities.
• Collaborate with data/BI teams on ingestion pipelines, transformations, models, reporting, and self-service analytics.
• Apply data quality, governance, lifecycle, and documentation practices; identify process improvements.
• Liaise between business and technical teams to align requirements and priorities.

Skills

Agile delivery

Data modeling

Data governance

Communication

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree (IS/CS/Business/PM)

Tools

Jira

Azure DevOps

Databricks

Power BI

Job description

The Technical Product Owner supports the development and ongoing enhancement of Sidley’s Databricks data platform and business intelligence layer, including data ingestion, transformation, modeling, and reporting capabilities. The role translates business and technical needs into product requirements, manages the product backlog, coordinates Agile delivery for an assigned scrum team, and supports roadmap and release planning in partnership with engineering leadership and stakeholders. Applying advanced knowledge of Agile delivery and data management practices, the Technical Product Owner helps ensure the delivery of reliable, scalable, and well-governed data solutions that meet Firm business needs.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manage and maintain the product backlog for assigned data platform and business intelligence capabilities, prioritizing work in partnership with engineering leadership and business stakeholders.
• Translate business and technical requirements into epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria, working with engineering teams to clarify scope, feasibility, dependencies, and expected outcomes.
• Coordinate Agile delivery for an assigned scrum team, facilitating sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives and supporting adherence to established Agile practices.
• Monitor delivery plans, milestones, dependencies, risks, issues, and Agile metrics to identify potential delivery concerns and communicate status to appropriate stakeholders.
• Coordinate activities across data engineering, BI engineering, QA, DevOps, infrastructure, security, and other participating teams to support timely development, testing, and release activities.
• Support product roadmap and release planning by providing delivery estimates, dependency information, technical considerations, stakeholder requirements, and other information necessary to establish priorities.
• Coordinate release readiness activities, including acceptance criteria, testing, user acceptance testing, deployment planning, stakeholder communications, and post-release validation.
• Partner with data and BI engineering teams on the delivery of data platform capabilities, including ingestion pipelines, data transformations, enterprise data models, semantic models, reporting solutions, and self-service analytics capabilities.
• Apply established data quality, governance, lifecycle, and documentation practices throughout product delivery and identify opportunities to improve processes within the assigned area.
• Serve as a liaison between business stakeholders and technical teams, communicating requirements, priorities, delivery status, risks, and technical concepts to support alignment throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Education and/or Experience:

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Business Administration, Product Management, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in technical product ownership, software delivery, project delivery, Scrum Master, or related roles.
• Experience supporting or managing data platform, business intelligence, or other technical products and translating business and technical requirements into epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Experience coordinating day-to-day Agile delivery for a scrum team, including sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, retrospectives, and delivery tracking.
• Working knowledge of modern data architectures, data integration, APIs, data modeling, and business intelligence concepts.
• Experience coordinating dependencies, risks and issues, testing, release activities, and stakeholder communications in a cross-functional environment.
• Proficiency with Agile delivery tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar platforms.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills, including the ability to communicate technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred:

• Experience with Databricks, Power BI, medallion architecture, or comparable modern data and analytics platforms.
• Experience with data governance, data quality, metadata management, or related data-management practices.
• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), or comparable Agile certification.
• Certified Data Management Professional (CDMP) or comparable data-management certification.
• Experience in a professional services environment, including legal, financial, or consulting organizations.

Other Skills and Abilities:

• Strong organizational skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Good judgment
• Strong interpersonal communication skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Able to work harmoniously and effectively with others
• Able to preserve confidentiality and exercise discretion
• Able to work under pressure
• Able to manage multiple projects with competing deadlines and priorities

#LI-OE1

#LI-Hybrid

Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or in the future

The target salary range for this role is:

$107,650 - $130,000 if located in Illinois.

Salaries vary by location and are based on numerous factors, including, but not limited to, the relevant market, skills, experience, and education of the selected candidate. Our compensation package also includes bonus eligibility and a comprehensive benefits program. Benefits information can be found at Sidley.com/Benefits.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the Duties and Responsibilities above satisfactorily and meet the requirements. The requirements listed above are representative of the minimum knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job. If you need such an accommodation, please email [e-mail] (current employees should contact Human Resources).

Sidley Austin LLP is an Equal Opportunity Employer.