Software Product Owner



Job Details

Software Product Owner
Employer

State of Michigan

Location

Lansing, CA

Job Type

Permanent Full Time

Departmental - ABC

Judiciary - Supreme Court Administration

Opening Date

06/04/2017

FLSA

Exempt

Bargaining Unit

N/A

ND Testing 05/04

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Job Description...

If you are highly skilled and passionate about serving customers via IT products and services, and are looking for an opportunity to grow your career and knowledge, look no further than the Michigan Supreme Court. Judicial Information Services (JIS) is the IT arm of the Michigan Supreme Court. Our mission is to provide innovative technology solutions, and provide expert service and support for Michigan's courts. We have a rich culture characterized by opportunity, integrity, and teamwork, which facilitates career development and personal growth. The Supreme Court offers competitive compensation, 401(k) match, comprehensive medical and dental benefits, life insurance, flexible work schedules and additional benefits options.

As a Software Product Owner, you will be focused on the software product roadmap and managing the lifecycle for multiple software products and services that JIS provides to our customers. You will be the go-to expert that is responsible for all aspects of your assigned products including the conceptual stages of identifying customer needs and advocating for those needs with stakeholders, while ensuring the appropriate solutions provide real business value. The ideal candidate has a strong passion for product management, is an excellent communicator, has hands on experience writing user stories, and thrives in a fast-paced, agile environment. You will work with multiple teams, within a matrixed organizational environment, to ensure stakeholders needs are clearly understood, communicated and met. Essential duties and responsibilities for this position include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Manage assigned product and/or service lines lifecycles from roadmap development to tactical activities including communication of portfolio and project updates to stakeholders and coordination with other software product managers;
• Conduct market research supported by ongoing visits to customers and non-customers, including end users; work with customers as a trusted partner suggesting innovative approaches to solve business problems; use the information gathered to guide product/service decisions;
• Understand and evaluate the competitive landscape and market trends to promote, differentiate and position JIS products and services to our customers and non-customers;
• Implement and maintain software product management and agile product owner best practices;
• Serve as the subject matter expert in the relevant product and/or service domains;
• Collaborate to create product and service solutions within an Agile Scrum framework including:
o Assist the team in defining value stories; communicate business and customer value to teams in a manner that sparks innovative thought;
o Assist in establishing and understanding personas and using these to provide context to scrum teams;
o Develop epics and user stories for all new functionality;
o Groom and prioritize product/service backlogs;
o Partner with stakeholders to help define Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) that deliver incremental value via an agile approach; prioritize releases and manage associated stakeholder expectations;
o Maintain team focus by effectively managing scope and communicating with all stakeholders; ensure continuous engagement with scrum teams during product development lifecycle to provide user story clarifications and immediate feedback;
o Assist in ensuring new functionality meets acceptance criteria including Gherkin and test/QA support;
o Assist in providing user documentation;
• Participate and/or lead in guiding staff and customers through new product/service change management functions; attend Change Advisory Board meetings representing assigned products and services;
• Provide data and reporting of assigned products and/or services key performance indicators and trends to key stakeholders; coordinate communication of completed releases to stakeholders;
• Stay up to date on relevant industry trends and technology;
 

Required Education and Experience

JOB QUALIFICATIONS

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology or related field or equivalent combination of education and work experience;

EXPERIENCE
• 5+ years of relevant software product management, product owner, business analyst experience in a software product and service development environment;
• Proven success in delivering software with Agile Scrum methodologies preferred;
• Experience with Agile backlog management tools such as Confluence, Jira, TFS, etc.;
• Experience writing user stories with Gherkin format preferred;
• Usability testing experience preferred;
• Certified Scrum Product Owner preferred;
• Must possess a valid Michigan driver's license in order to operate state-owned vehicle for work travel;

KNOWLEDGE
• Agile Scrum framework development lifecycle methodologies and best practices;
• Strong understanding of software product lifecycle management (PLM);
• Strong understanding of solution development lifecycle (SDLC);
• Proficiency in the use of MS Office tools (Word, Excel, Outlook, Visio and Project);

ABILITIES
• Strong requirements elicitation, and proven writing skills including the ability to write concisely and clearly for different audiences;
• Facilitate working meetings, elicit and solicit information, and absorb the information being communicated; facilitate a shared understanding of the problem, possible solutions, and scope of the project in its entirety; facilitate solutions to challenges among multiple teams when they involve negotiation between multiple business and technical stakeholders;
• Lead and motivate others;
• Prioritize and manage multiple tasks simultaneously with exceptional follow through;
• Provide excellent customer service, problem solving and conflict resolution;
• Demonstrate outstanding interpersonal and communication (written and oral) skills;
• Explain technical information clearly to non-technical audiences;
• Demonstrate intense curiosity to understand how complex systems and challenges 'work'; demonstrate desire to seek out complex challenges that others may avoid and are relentlessly driven to improve them;
• Demonstrate deep empathic skills that allow exploration of insights from many different perspectives and enables ability to detect patterns that yield ideas;
• Work flexible hours;

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
• Lift and transport materials, equipment, and supplies weighing up to 45 pounds.

Additional Requirements and Information

WORK LOCATION: Hall of Justice, Lansing, Michigan. Work is typically completed in an office environment and requires occasional in-state travel.

TO APPLY: Please e-mail your cover letter and resume in Word or Adobe.pdf format to jobapps@courts.mi.gov and include "JIS Software Product Owner" in the subject line. If you are unable to e-mail applicant materials, you may send them to: Judicial Human Resources, Attn: JIS Software Product Owner, P.O. Box 30052, Lansing, MI 48909.

ND Testing 05/04

 

State employment benefits include everything from health insurance to retirement income and are worth about 40% of your salary
 
This page gives a brief explanation of some of the benefits that are provided by the State of Michigan according to union contracts or Civil Service Rules. See details on these and other employment information.


Leave Time

Full time employees receive between 15 and 35 vacation leave days per year. Employees also receive 13 sick days per year, and employees receive 8 hours of leave to participate in certain school functions or community activities. Employees may also qualify for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain family or medical situations.


Holidays

State employees receive 12 scheduled holidays each year, which include New Years Eve Day and New Years Day, Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day just to name a few.


Alternative Work Schedules

Flexible work schedules and telecommuting options are available in many jobs.


Insurance and Other Benefits

Insurances include health, vision, dental and life. Employees also have the option to purchase additional life, accidental death, long term disability, long term care insurance, and legal services. Flexible spending accounts for medical expenses and child care are also available.


Deferred Compensation

Employees may invest income in a tax-deferred retirement investment program. The state offers two optional deferred compensation plans, the 457 and 401(k). Employees decide the amount you want deducted from your paycheck.


Retirement

Employees receive a minimum 4% state contribution toward their retirement fund. If an employee elects to contribute more, the state will match that percentage (up to 3%). ORS administers two different retirement plans for State of Michigan employees: a Defined Benefit (DB) plan and a Defined Contribution (DC) plan. Use the following link for detailed information: 

Two plans for State Employees

Employer
State of Michigan