IT Scrum Product Owner III

UDR, Inc. is now hiring a IT Scrum Product Owner III to join our team.

GENERAL SUMMARY OF DUTIES: Responsible for setting, prioritizing, and evaluating the work generated by the IT Software Scrum team. This position is meant to identify and prioritize key features for the success of a product prior to the delivery to the Development team for completion. This role will lead and drive the focus (vision) for the project team on the "big picture" side during development and throughout the software development life cycle (SDLC).

SUPERVISION RECEIVED: Reports to Senior Manager - IT Business Systems

SUPERVISION EXERCISED: N/A

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
Level I: Stories and features will be drafted then reviewed by manager prior to presentation to the team. Roadmaps and priorities will be reviewed by manager at a regular interval. Projects will be smaller in scope, focusing on smaller user base and/or smaller functional niche.
Level II: Stories and features will be reviewed by manager for larger efforts; smaller stories or enhancements can be handled by Product Owner. Roadmaps and priorities will be reviewed by manager at a regular interval. Projects will be medium in scope, focusing on a single larger product with a moderate strategic impact.
Level III: Stories and features will be reviewed by manager only as needed. Roadmaps and priorities are expected to be presented when needed to keep management informed. Projects will be large in scope, focusing on a multiple larger product with a moderate to significant strategic impact.
1. Define, maintain, and communicate vision and roadmap for current and future product development and evolution.
2. Manage relationships with multiple stakeholders throughout the business, seeking out ideas and input.
3. Remain in tune with customers, pursuing opportunities to gather input and feedback (both positive and negative) from customers across the portfolio.
4. Learn the market and business drivers for UDR to harmonize product features with business priorities.
5. Write user stories and/or ensure stories have the right attributes and acceptance criteria. Ensure stories are in alignment with business requirements, product vision, and architecture standards.
6. Manage and maintain the product backlog, re-evaluating product needs and continually balancing priorities of the product across maintenance and strategic initiatives.
7. Review product features as they are developed, providing feedback, guidance and, if needed, corrections to the feature as it proceeds through the SDLC.
8. Participate in Agile SDLC activities, including planning, refinement, stand-ups, and retrospectives. Provide support to manage iteration planning and refinement of user stories. Spotlight inter-dependencies among cross-product development teams to ensure seamless delivery.
9. Ensure appropriate functional and non-functional requirements align are incorporated in the definition-of-done and signed off prior to work beginning.
10. Solve product-related problems, make decisions, complete trade-off analysis to stay on track towards business deliverable commitments.
11. Perform other duties as assigned or necessary.

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

• Knowledge of organizational policies, procedures, and office management techniques. Ability to apply policies and procedures to solve everyday issues.
• Strong analytical and product management skills required, including a thorough understanding of how to interpret customer business needs and translate them into application and operational requirements. Ability to develop requirements and user stories according to standard templates, using natural language.
• Must be comfortable discussing the product with a wide array of audiences. This means being able to summarize and extract key product features for those that need a high-level overview, while being able to dive into details, when needed, to support the actual development of a feature.
• Demonstrated ability to utilize a variety of methods for communication, including flowcharts, dependency charts, tables, and narratives to find the best tool for communication of product features.
• Must be skilled in focusing on desired results, determining what is important and urgent, and balance features and priorities accordingly.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize and help stakeholders prioritize ideas and suggestions using analytical tools (e.g., support tickets, data reports, etc.), use case exploration and external market literature.
• Familiarity with working in an Agile environment. Able to interact with a scrum master, development team and QA team to keep them focused on the key success factors for a feature and for the product.
• Familiarity with the SDLC to plan and guide features as the development team brings these features to completion. This includes participation and leadership through planning, refinement, and sprint reviews.
• Able to drive cohesion across the team but focusing effort on the desired features, while ensuring that each team member is able to contribute to the product's goals.
• Familiarity in working in a SaaS environment, working with APIs that handle and produce data for external applications. This includes an understanding of underlying database models and basic security concepts around 3rd party usage of the public API endpoints.

TYPICAL PHYSICAL DEMANDS: Requires mobility sufficient to travel. Some bending, stooping, and stretching. Occasionally lifting items weighing up to 30 lbs. Requires eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate a keyboard, photocopier, telephone, calculator, and other office equipment. Requires good hearing, eyesight, and color perception to evaluate the quality of Web sites and internet content delivery systems as well as record, prepare, and communicate appropriate reports. Extensive data input and required ability to sit for long periods of time. Regular and consistent attendance on the job is an essential function.

TYPICAL WORKING CONDITIONS: Normal office environment. Frequent evening and weekend work.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

Level I:
1. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required.
2. Minimum of one - two years' experience operating in an Agile software development team required.
3. Minimum of two years of experience working as a Product Owner, creating, prioritizing, and maintaining a product backlog required.
4. Experience working in Jira and related tools preferred.
5. Must have and maintain a valid driver's license unless otherwise noted.

Level II: (Provides all functions noted above, plus the following):
1. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required.
2. Minimum of three - five years' experience operating in an Agile software development team required.
3. Minimum of two years of experience working as a Product Owner, creating, prioritizing, and maintaining a product backlog required.
4. Experience working in Jira and related tools preferred.
5. Must have and maintain a valid driver's license unless otherwise noted.

Level III: (Provides all functions noted above, plus the following):
1. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required.
2. Minimum of five or more years' experience operating in an Agile software development team required.
3. Minimum of two years of experience working as a Product Owner, creating, prioritizing, and maintaining a product backlog required.
4. Experience working in Jira and related tools preferred.
5. Must have and maintain a valid driver's license unless otherwise noted.

Benefits Offered:

• Medical, Dental, Vision Plans
• Medical Flexible Spending Account
• Dependent Care Spending Account
• Lifestyle Spending Account
• Supplemental Term Life Insurance
• Voluntary Cancer Insurance
• Supplemental Short-Term Disability Insurance / AD&D Insurance
• Voluntary Long Term Care Insurance
• 401(k) Plan with company match

Salary Range:
* $115,000.00/yr. - $125,000.00/yr., depends on experience

Bonus Potential:
* Eligible for 10% annual bonus potential, based on personal and company performance

Anticipated Close Date: March 25, 2024

UDR is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

UDR is committed to providing and maintaining a diverse workforce and an inclusive work environment with equitable access and opportunity for associates to participate, grow, and reach their full potential.