Product Owner

NTT; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 300 000 - 400 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology services provider in Johannesburg is seeking a Product Owner to drive Agile development for their services. The successful candidate will manage the product backlog and collaborate with teams to prioritize features. Strong experience in product ownership, along with knowledge of Agile methodologies and contact center operations, is essential. This hybrid role offers a dynamic environment for career growth while contributing to impactful projects.

Benefits

Hybrid working model

Qualifications

• Knowledge of the technologies and portfolio of offers.
• Relevant knowledge of SAFe’s practices and its application.
• Understanding of contact center operations and metrics.

Responsibilities

• Support the Agile development team with vision and direction.
• Manage the product backlog and prioritize tasks.
• Analyze market data and user feedback to refine product vision.

Skills

Strong communication skills

Collaboration skills

Conflict resolution skills

Knowledge of product development processes

Education

3+ years in Product Ownership or similar roles

Tools

Amazon Connect

AWS Services

Job description

Make an impact with NTT DATA Join a company that is pushing the boundaries of what is possible. We are renowned for our technical excellence and leading innovations, and for making a difference to our clients and society. Our workplace embraces diversity and inclusion – it’s a place where you can grow, belong and thrive.

Your day at NTT DATA

The Product Owner (PO) is a developing subject matter expert, considered as the content authority for the team level of the Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprises (SAFe). The PO is responsible for a product or service or a number of feature releases, including managing the team backlog, writing, prioritizing and accepting user stories, and representing the customer to the Agile team. They optimize return on investment by ensuring that the Scrum team members are engaged in delivering the most valuable product features.

The role has relevant relationships and responsibilities outside the local team, including working with Product Management to prepare for Program Backlog, participating in Agile Release Train (ART) Synch meetings, and cooperating to deliver Solution value.

Key Responsibilities:

• Supports the provision of vision and direction to the Agile development team and stakeholders.
• Ensures that the team always has an adequate amount of prior prepared tasks to work on.
• Plans and prioritizes less complex product feature backlog and development for the offer/product.
• Fully understand the product vision, roadmap and growth opportunities to enable onward articulation into the development team.
• Assesses value, prioritizes backlog items based on this value, time, and other team dependencies determined in the PI planning meeting and refined during the PI, to ensure focus on those with maximum value that are aligned with the offer/product strategy.
• Supports with providing backlog management, iteration planning, and elaboration of the user stories.
• Works closely with Product Management to create and maintain a product backlog according to business value or ROI.
• Leads the planning product release plans and sets expectation for delivery of new functionality/capability.
• Provides an active role in mitigating impediments impacting successful team completion of release and Iteration goals.
• Drives iteration goals and iteration content via prioritized stories.
• Establishes story acceptance criteria, accepts stories into the baseline.
• Performs research and analyzes the market, the users, and the roadmap for the product.
• Follows business competitors and the industry and keeps abreast with Agile/Scrum/SAFe best practices and new trends and seeks to relentlessly improve the operation of the Product Owner role.

Knowledge and Attributes:

• 3 + years in Product Ownership or similar roles, preferably in Contact Center or SaaS environments.
• Knowledge of the technologies and portfolio of offers.
• Knowledge of product development in an ITC industry.
• Relevant knowledge of the SAFe’s practices and its application/operation.
• Strong communication skills.
• Effective escalator and has some conflict resolution skills.
• Has collaboration and knowledge brokering skills.
• Understands fundamentals of iterative development.
• Understands fundamentals of product/ software development processes and procedures.
• Understands the value of commitments to delivery made by a development team.
• Understands incremental delivery and the value of metrics.
• Understands backlog tracking, burndown metrics, velocity, and task definition.
• Has the ability to relate to, and integrate with alternate development methodologies (for example, waterfall).

Contact Center Expertise

• Strong understanding of contact center operations, call flows, IVR design, and omnichannel strategies.
• Familiarity with key metrics (AHT, FCR, CSAT, SLA) and workforce management principles.
• Knowledge of compliance standards (GDPR, POPIA) and call recording policies.

Nice to have:

Amazon Connect

• Experience designing and managing contact flows using Amazon Connect.
• Ability to integrate Connect with CRMs (Salesforce, ServiceNow) and custom APIs.
• Proficiency in leveraging AWS Lambda and Lex for automation and AI-driven interactions.
• Understanding of real-time and historical reporting capabilities.
• Cost optimization strategies for Amazon Connect usage.

AWS Services

• Hands‑on experience with core AWS services (EC2, S3, Lambda, DynamoDB).
• Strong grasp of IAM roles, permissions, and encryption for secure data handling.
• Knowledge of serverless architecture and API Gateway for scalable solutions.
• Familiarity with monitoring tools (CloudWatch, CloudTrail) for performance and compliance.
• Exposure to AI/ML services like Amazon Lex, Polly, and Transcribe for advanced customer interactions.

Workplace type:

Hybrid Working

About NTT DATA

NTT DATA is a $30+ billion business and technology services leader, serving 75% of the Fortune Global 100. We are committed to accelerating client success and positively impacting society through responsible innovation. We are one of the world’s leading AI and digital infrastructure providers, with unmatched capabilities in enterprise‑scale AI, cloud, security, connectivity, data centers and application services. Our consulting and industry solutions help organizations and society move confidently and sustainably into the digital future. As a Global Top Employer, we have experts in more than 50 countries. We also offer clients access to a robust ecosystem of innovation centers as well as established and start‑up partners. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in R&D.

Equal Opportunity Employer

NTT DATA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer with a global culture that embraces diversity. We are committed to providing an environment free of unfair discrimination and harassment. We do not discriminate based on age, race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability, pregnancy, marital status, veteran status, or any other protected category. Join our growing global team and accelerate your career with us. Apply today.

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