Product Owner

Description: Introduction

To reinforce it's transversal FIBER Program our client is looking for an Agile Product Owner for the IT teams working on the fiber inventory systems. The teams solutionize, design, develop, test and bring into production the IT solutions for the FIBER Design and documentation system. This GIS system is known internally as “IFH”, and is built upon Hexagon’s “Intergraph G/Technology Fiber Optic Works” module.
The function is situated within the Network Engineering and Operations department. This department is responsible for the planning, design, construction and maintenance of the physical fibre network. Large part of the stake-holders and end-users of the IFH application are thus situated in this department.


Description

Our client is seeking a highly motivated, experienced and enthusiastic Product Owner to guide the development of the 5 concerned IT agile development teams. Those 5 teams form the Agile Release Train which together deliver new functionalities on the IFH application. They are situated in the department Network IT (NIT) As Product Owner you will act as a coordinator between the 2 Agile teams you’re assigned to and the end-user/stakeholder community represented by the Subject Matter Experts (SME) and the overall IFH product owner. This way you represent the IFH customer voice within the Agile teams.

You help the Product Manager (PdM) and the SME’s to develop and maintains a vision for the product and are responsible for communicating that vision to the Agile teams. As PO you will work with NIT lead analysts, SME’s and development teams to ensure that business, quality and functional goals are met with each product release. As Product owner you will follow-up the Agile Scrum based Software development.

Role & Responsibilities

• Through the PO sync meetings you will interact with the other PO’s of the ART, the Product Manager in charge of the features roadmap and the high-level prioritization, the SME (which are your direct colleagues within NEO) and the IT lead Analysts.
• Before a Product Increment (PI) Event together with your team, you make sure that the right features are refined in order to be ready for the PI event. There are 3 PI’s/year.
• After the PI Event, you are the voice of the customer within the Agile teams you’r assigned to: you interact with the different stakeholders (SME, Key Users, PdM) to answer the teams questions and deliver features fulfilling the customers expectations
• Maintains and constantly prioritizes the sprint-planning of the teams within the boundaries of the overall Product Increment planning and commitments. Determine the sprint goal and guide the team towards it during each sprint.
• Participates in the ceremonies of the team (e.g. daily Scrums, Sprint Planning Meetings and Sprint Reviews and Retrospectives)
• You evaluate the product progress and makes sure it meets the acceptance criteria assuring the level of quality. Based on feedback from the SME, you have the authority to accept or reject work done by the team.
• Communicates status externally to stakeholders. The product owner is the voice of the Team to the outside world and should ensure that all channels of communications are open with the necessary stakeholders (SME, Product Manager, NIT & NEO management)
 

Vereisten

Experience & expertise
• University degree, or equivalent by experience
• At least 3 years of experience in business or technical function in a large organisation.
• We are looking for someone with an IT Business Analyst and/or project manager profile,
• Having experience with GIS tools or in a utility company industry is an asset

Soft Skills:
• Strong communication skills: able to communicate effectively with people from different backgrounds (business and technical)
• Able to listen and gather feedback from team members and stakeholders.
• Not afraid to dive into the technical details. Technical both in terms of NEO’s core business (which is about cables, ducts, splices, handholes, trenches, optical measurements etc etc) as in terms of the IT-system concepts of IFH/GTech.
• Organizational and analytical skills: able to see the big picture of the product’s vision and keep an eye for the detail.
• Fluent in English, and preferably both French and Dutch.
• Customer, solution and improvement minded
• Pro-active and can-do attitude
• Team player