Director, Product Owner Management

Alternate Locations: Hartford, CT (Connecticut); Fort Wayne, IN (Indiana); Greensboro, NC (North Carolina)

 

 Work Arrangement:

Hybrid : Employee will work 3 days a week in a Lincoln office

 

Relocation assistance:  is not available for this opportunity.

 

Requisition #: 75705

 

The Role at a Glance

We are excited to bring on a Director, Product Owner Management to drive transformation, lead and build a high-performing Product Owner team supporting the Life and Annuity business and powering the FAST administrative platform, a cornerstone of Lincoln’s modernization strategy. This role will be hybrid and we are open to candidates in the following key city locations: Hartford (CT), Fort Wayne (IN), or Greensboro (NC). 

 

Background Details

The Director, Product Owner Management will:

• Lead and inspire a team of Product Owners to deliver capabilities that transform how we serve customers.
• Drive collaboration across business and technology teams to ensure alignment and seamless delivery.
• Shape outcomes by applying governance and prioritization frameworks that maximize business value.
• Develop top talent through coaching, mentorship, and growth opportunities.
• Champion innovation by identifying process improvements and leveraging data to measure success.

 

This is an amazing opportunity to make a real impact—improving customer experience, operational efficiency, and compliance across the policy lifecycle. If you thrive in a fast-paced environment, love solving complex challenges, bring strong Agile product management expertise, and want to be part of a program that’s redefining the future of our business, please read on!

What you'll be doing

• You will lead a team of Product Owners through discovery, definition, and delivery of system capabilities in support of our Life and Annuity business on the FAST administrative platform.
• You will proactively manage cross team dependencies and resolve conflicts impacting scope, schedule, quality, or risk; escalate through program channels when needed. 
• You will ensure stakeholder alignment at each lifecycle stage—requirements, design, testing, deployment, and post release validation—in coordination with the designated program and technology leads.
• You will execute the FAST program vision and roadmap; ensure Product Owners align epics, features, and backlog to approved priorities.
• You will apply the program’s prioritization and intake framework, balance business value, risk, dependencies, and team capacity within established guardrails.
• You will champion Agile delivery by ensuring Product Owners maintain clear, prioritized backlogs, define high‑quality user stories and acceptance criteria, and collaborate with teams to enable predictable, value‑driven iterations.
• You will hire, develop, and retain top talent Product Owners; provide coaching, stretch assignments, and candid feedback to build domain and delivery excellence.
• You will build team expertise in policy administration and FAST platform capabilities; raise product owner maturity through training and practice improvements.
• You will represent Product Owner perspectives in program forums and working groups; coordinate with the program’s designated points of contact.  
• You will identify and implement process improvements that reduce time to value, improve quality, and streamline collaboration across product and operations.
• You will collaborate with program leadership to define KPIs and success measures (e.g., for FAST capabilities, leveraging data to assess adoption, ROI, and operational impact); publish dashboards and retrospectives that inform future prioritization
• You will ensure alignment between business units and product owner teams at each stage of the FAST development lifecycle, from requirements through deployment.
• You will provide subject matter expertise to team members and internal/external stakeholders on the FAST Program. 

What we’re looking for

Must-have experience (Required):

• 4 Year/Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience (4 years of experience in lieu of Bachelor's)
• 7+ Years of experience in Business Analysis, Project Management, or a product-related role within a development team, including 3+ years of managerial, supervisory, and/or demonstrated leadership experience.
• Strong project management leadership skills including, critical ability to coordinate and balance multiple projects in a time-sensitive environment, under pressu