Director, Product Owner (Hybrid)

Job Classification:

Technology - Project Mgmt/Business Analysis

This Product Owner will lead the development and execution of the enterprise chatbot strategy, ensuring alignment with organizational goals. This role involves defining the chatbot roadmap, managing cross-functional collaboration, and delivering AI-driven solutions that deliver exceptional customer and employee experiences. This role will work on the cutting edge of defining the future of our technology organization and the way our technology serves clients in this space going forward. We are an Agile shop and as a Lead Product Owner you must have experience working in the Agile Scrum SDLC. Knowledge of SAFe Agile is also highly desirable. Some technical background is also a plus.

Job Description Summary

A multi-faceted role with responsibility for defining the strategy and roadmap for a product or suite of related products collaborating with business functions, service teams, and technology teams to identify business value and define solutions that deliver on the product strategy. Will lead discussions and decisions around options e.g. buy vs build vs partner. Has sole responsibility for the product backlog. The backlog is maintained in priority order, groomed and enhanced as needed for the duration of the products life span. This position works directly with the development team to support the implementation and test of documented user stories. Also responsible for communication to the stakeholders, product demos and any market analysis related to their product. Typically over 7 years of experience across a number of disciplines including business and systems analysis and experience in the delivery of business solutions via agile methodologies. May also have a significant level of expertise in a specific business domain or high value specialization e.g. digital, financial services. Has achieved product owner certification (or will need to complete shortly after). Solves unique and complex problems that have a broad impact on the business. Provides leadership to professional staff through projects with notable risk and complexity. May be regarded as an expert in their particular field.

The current employee work arrangement for this position is Hybrid and requires your on-site presence on a reoccurring basis as determined by your business. Your manager will provide additional details relative to the specific number of days you are expected to be on-site.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborate across the enterprise, working closely with business partners, technologists, experience designers, and the Chief Product Owner to develop and maintain the product backlog to refine high level features and epics across journeys.
• Define and implement a data-driven chatbot strategy aligned with enterprise objectives, focusing on automation, AI, and continuous improvement
• Ensure customer-driven design, considering user pain points by using market & industry knowledge and insights from Designers, Business Leaders and Subject-Matter Experts.
• Dependency coordination across and within the journeys and with non-Journey functions (marketing, compliance, operations) where needed, specifically to support large, complex cross-journey efforts
• Analysis and discovery of new work that falls on multiple teams, helping teams defining needs and requirements from the business
• Communicate product strategy, impact and risks to leadership and stakeholders
• Ensure alignment of product features and stories to the product roadmap, prioritizing user stories based on stakeholder and constituent feedback.
• Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of chat solutions and drive data-driven improvements. Prepare reports and presentations on chat strategy performance for senior management review.

Professional Skills:

• 10+ years of industry experience with strong expertise in life insurance & annuity product development and servicing
• Proven experience in product ownership or management within AI or chatbot-focused projects
• Strong understanding of enterprise chatbot capabilities (e.g., multilingual support, integration with business tools)
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make data-driven decisions.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven leadership abilities, with a track record of successfully leading cross-functional teams to deliver high-q