Agile Product Owner

Primary Responsibilities - Serve as the product authority responsible for defining product vision, delivery strategy, release objectives, and backlog priorities in alignment with FAA business objectives, contractual requirements, and organizational goals. - Exercise independent decision-making authority over product direction, backlog prioritization, release scope, acceptance criteria, and delivery sequencing based on customer value, operational risk, technical dependencies, contractual commitments, and available resources. - Lead and influence cross-functional teams consisting of associate managers, business analysts, software engineers, quality assurance professionals, DevOps engineers, architects, and FAA customer stakeholders to successfully deliver complex enterprise software capabilities. - Influence the development and implementation of software solutions that directly impact strategic program objectives, operational effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and business results. - Evaluate complex technical, operational, and business challenges spanning multiple functional disciplines and develop recommendations that balance customer priorities, contractual obligations, technical feasibility, delivery timelines, and organizational objectives. - Translate strategic business objectives into product roadmaps, release strategies, epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, and measurable business outcomes. - Establish and maintain product management processes that improve backlog health, release predictability, delivery quality, governance, requirements traceability, and stakeholder engagement. - Make strategic product tradeoff decisions involving scope, schedule, customer priorities, technical debt, operational risk, security considerations, and available resources to maximize business value. - Lead backlog refinement, release planning, sprint planning, product demonstrations, customer reviews, acceptance activities, and other Agile product management ceremonies. - Evaluate delivered functionality against customer expectations and business objectives while exercising authority to accept completed work or require additional refinement to ensure product quality and operational readiness. - Develop, recommend, and implement improvements to Agile delivery processes, product management practices, release governance, prioritization methodologies, and program standards to improve organizational effectiveness and project outcomes. - Identify organizational, technical, and process-related risks affecting delivery and develop mitigation strategies in collaboration with program leadership and customer stakeholders. - Regularly communicate with executive leadership, FAA management, and program stakeholders regarding delivery strategy, release readiness, product priorities, program risks, customer concerns, and recommended courses of action affecting successful program execution. - Influence stakeholders with competing priorities to achieve consensus on product direction, release scope, implementation strategy, and organizational objectives. - Represent the program during executive briefings, governance meetings, release readiness reviews, strategic planning sessions, and customer decision forums. - Serve as the program's subject matter expert for Agile product ownership, backlog management, release planning, and customer value delivery by providing guidance to associate managers, delivery teams, and program leadership. - Research, evaluate, and implement industry best practices, emerging Agile methodologies, and product management techniques that improve organizational capability and delivery performance. - Mentor Business Analysts, Scrum Masters, and other team members in Agile product management, prioritization techniques, stakeholder engagement, requirements development, and product delivery best practices. - Ensure product activities remain aligned with contractual requirements, FAA objectives, organizational policies, technical standards, and delivery commitments. Required Qualifications - Bachelor's degree and 12+ years of relevant experience, or Master's degree with 10+ years of relevant experience. Additional years of directly related experience may be considered in lieu of degree requirements where applicable. - Extensive experience serving as a Product Owner, Product Manager, Business Analyst, Scrum Master or similar product leadership role supporting complex enterprise software development efforts. - Demonstrated ability to independently lead product strategy and make complex decisions affecting cost, schedule, scope, quality, operational readiness, customer satisfaction, and business outcomes. - Experience leading and influencing cross-functional teams without direct supervisory authority. - Demonstrated ability to solve complex problems affecting multiple functional disciplines while balancing competing customer, technical, contractual, and organizational priorities. - Experience communicating and presenting recommendations to executive leadership, senior customer stakeholders, and program management regarding matters of significant organizational importance. - Demonstrated success influencing stakeholders, building consensus, resolving conflicts, and driving organizational decision-making. - Advanced knowledge of Agile software development methodologies including Scrum, Kanban, backlog management, release planning, iterative development, and continuous process improvement. - Experience establishing or improving product management processes, delivery standards, governance practices, and organizational procedures. - Strong analytical, facilitation, communication, negotiation, leadership, and executive presentation skills. - Experience using Jira, Confluence, or similar Agile lifecycle management tools. - Ability to obtain and maintain a government public trust. Preferred Qualifications - Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM), or equivalent Agile product management certification. - Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), SAFe Agilist, or similar professional certification. - Experience supporting the Federal Aviation Administration or other Federal Government agencies. - Experience supporting enterprise modernization initiatives, cloud migration efforts, legacy system replacement, or mission-critical operational systems. - Experience working within a government contracting environment. - Knowledge of enterprise software architecture, DevOps practices, software quality assurance, systems integration, configuration management, and release management.