Product Owner

Remote (United States) Austin, TX

data product owner agile

Job Posting Title:

Product Owner

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Hiring Department:

Data to Insights

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

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FLSA Status:

Exempt

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Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue Until Aug 31, 2026

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Location:

Texas

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Job Details:

General Notes

The Data to Insights (D2I) Initiative at UT Austin is an investment to build a trusted, integrated, and scalable information infrastructure that transforms complex UT data into valued insights for data-informed decisions.

As a team member in the Data to Insights (D2I) Initiative, you will work with a cross-campus team using the latest cloud technologies to build a next-generation data ecosystem that will improve decision-making and advance the university’s mission. We believe the best ideas arise from collaborative work among colleagues from varied backgrounds and experiences. If you’re the type of person who loves to learn and wants to know your work has meaning, you may find your career home at UT Austin. Please be advised that this position is expected to continue until August 31, 2026.

The University of Texas at Austin provides an outstanding benefits package to staff, including:

Competitive health benefits (Employee premiums covered at 100%; family premiums at 50%)
Vision, dental, life, and disability insurance options
Paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
Teachers Retirement System of Texas (a defined benefit retirement plan)
Additional voluntary retirement programs: tax sheltered annuity 403(b) and a deferred compensation program 457(b)
Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses
Training and conference opportunities
Tuition assistance
Athletic ticket discounts
Access to UT Austin's libraries and museums
Free rides on all UT Shuttle and Capital Metro buses with staff ID card

For more details, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards

This position requires you to maintain internet service and a mobile phone with voice and data plans to be used when required for work.

This position provides life/work balance with typically a 40-hour work week and travel generally limited to training (e.g., conferences/courses).

Purpose

We are looking for a dynamic and experienced Product Owner to join our team. As part of the Data to Insights (D2I) Initiative, the Product Owner will play a pivotal role in guiding and shaping the development of products that integrate and simplify university data for insightful decision-making. The successful candidate will collaborate with stakeholders from various university offices and work closely with cross-functional teams comprising functional, analytical, and technical experts. We are seeking an individual who can drive product development, uphold Agile principles, and contribute to the overall success of the initiative while embodying our core values of respect, focus, openness, commitment, and courage.

Responsibilities

Product Ownership and Strategy

Collaborate with stakeholders to define and prioritize the product backlog, ensuring alignment with the overall goals D2I.
Work closely with development teams to ensure a shared understanding of product goals, features, and priorities.
Lead product and release planning efforts and actively participate in Scrum ceremonies such as daily stand-ups, sprint planning, sprint demos, and retrospectives.
Drive product backlog refinement, ensuring concise acceptance criteria that are well understood by team members, clear minimum viable product agreements, and effective prioritization.

Team Collaboration and Support

Act as a bridge between business stakeholders and development teams, ensuring a common understanding of goals, scope, and product domain.
Collaborate with development teams to define user stories, prioritize work, and make informed decisions.
Support teams in making appropriate commitments through task definition, estimation, and prioritization.
Be available to the team for questions and clarifications throughout the sprint.

Communication and Stakeholder Engagement

Continually communicate information related to the product vision, goals, and progress to the team and stakeholders.
Actively contribute to communication channels to foster collaboration among team members, leadership, and stakeholders.
Meet with stakeholders and users to ensure that the needs that must be addressed are well understood and that proposed solutions will maximize value.
Collaborate with the Scrum Advocates, ensuring a seamless flow of information between the product owner, development team, and other stakeholders.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 4 years of professional experience as a Product Owner or in a similar role within information technology or related domains.
Previous successful engagement in IT project management within a large enterprise environment and a track record of driving or supporting DevOps best practices.
Proven expertise in operating under the framework of Agile methodologies, with a focus on supporting teams through successful product development cycles.
Sufficiently strong understanding of Agile product management to support both strategic and day-to-day definition of the role.
Solid understanding and practical application of incremental delivery methods, backlog tracking, and task definition, including the ability to manage ambiguous circumstances by defining actionable, productive tasks despite of uncertainty.
Demonstrated knowledge of iterative development fundamentals and experience in delivering valuable software solutions.
Strong organizational and prioritization skills, enabling teams to feel confident that they are working on the most valuable features of products.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to bring disclosure and transparency to the organization and enhance trust.
A solution-oriented mindset, encouraging alternative and divergent thinking and the flexibility to fulfill a role that will change over time.

Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications

Proven experience as a Product Owner or Agile project manager specifically in the context of data management or business intelligence.
Experience working in higher education. Experience utilizing Agile methodologies in highly regulated or matrixed organizations.
Sufficient familiarity with technical infrastructure to define detailed technical user stories and measurable acceptance criteria.
Possession of Agile certifications such as PSPO, CSPO, or POPM. Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Salary

$85,000 - $105,060

Working Conditions

Typical office environment
Repetitive use of a keyboard
Occasional extended work hours or on-call obligation
Location up to 100% remote at employee discretion with office work environment also an option. Majority of team is located in Austin, TX, and working remotely with infrequent in-office presence.

Required Materials

Resume/CV
3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.

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