Agile Product Owner

Job Description

The Integrated Data Store (IDS) brings data from across International Health together and presents it in a unified, standardised and digestible format. The Data Engineering Full Stack teams make data available in IDS based on the value it will return and as such, the team’s backlog is strongly influenced by the needs of the wider portfolio teams.

The Agile Product Owner of the Data Engineering Full Stack teams will be responsible for owning the product backlog for the IDS Product and extracts and ingestions from it. This includes analysing and communicating the end user requirements, defining user acceptance criteria for requirements, and prioritizing and managing the backlog. The ideal candidate is someone comfortable with data, particularly someone with a Business Analyst background with SQL skills to enable them to analyse and develop requirements and validate acceptance criteria has been met. The role represents the “voice of the customer”, ensuring that the team is working on stories that maximize business value and deliver necessary functionality to our customers.

Strong stakeholder management skills are essential as the Product Owner will be responsible for collaborating with the portfolio teams to understand their needs and translate that into data requirements. They must synthesize information from multiple sources to ensure backlog readiness and quality.  The individual must exercise considerable creativity, foresight, and judgment in conceiving, planning, and delivering initiatives.  An ideal candidate must possess a broad base of skills and knowledge spanning technology, business, and agile development practices.  They will work with multiple stakeholders to determine the business and technology objectives for their team and ensure solutions deliver tangible business value. 

The Product Owner will report into the Product Management Manager for their experience area and collaborate to set business objectives and establish roadmaps based on business priorities and optimizing value.  They will work closely with the Scrum Master and Data Engineering Leads to guide the teams towards successful delivery as they decompose features into user stories and prioritize work to optimize pace and value within the Program Increment.  The individual will also work closely with their Subject Matter Experts, and Key Stakeholders to ensure business areas are ready for the changes as capabilities are developed and released to end users.

Key Responsibilities:

• Collaborates with stakeholders to ensure customer needs are understood and align the Data Engineering backlog to achieve those customer needs
• Collaborates with Product Manager and Portfolio Managers to ensure backlogs align to business and product roadmaps
• Has final decision-making authority on acceptance criteria for product functions
• Maintains and refines the inflow of work to the team (product backlog)
• ​Responsible for decomposing features into user stories and acceptance criteria
• Ensures stories clearly communicate customer/stakeholder needs to the Agile team; work with team to clarify stories as necessary
• Assesses business value and prioritizes all stories to ensure work focuses on those with maximum value and aligns with strategy
• Partners with the Product Managers by contributing to story mapping and brainstorming activities to prepare and decompose work for teams
• Ensures the outcome and value is clearly defined and communicated to support technical assessments of solutions with the development team
• Works closely with cross-functional teams to validate product hypotheses and make data-informed decisions
• Must be aware of other work being completed within the Release Train so that they can help teams proactively manage risks and dependencies and propose optimal solutions
• Understands and supports inter-team dependencies and escalates prioritization issues when necessary
• Clearly communicates release timing and delivery dates to Product Management, Portfolio Leads and Key Stakeholders
• Works closely with their Scrum Master to understand progress to plan, identify blockers and paths to resolution
• Reports outward on progress against PI objectives and is accountable for JIRA reporting quality  
• Supports UAT and business readiness activities to ensure new capabilities deliver expected value for internal and external stakeholders

Required skills and experience:

• Agile Product Owner experience required
• Experience in healthcare industry required
• Bachelor’s Degree required
• Strong English language skills required
• Strong communication and data skills including SQL with ability to translate customer needs into clear data requirements
• Knowledge of agile methodology required
• Strong stakeholder management skills required with a focus on ensuring the team are building the right things and building them right
• Experience working in JIRA tool or an equivalent preferred
• Both technically deep and business savvy enough to interface with cross-functional partners
• Proven ability to develop strong working relationships and establish a high level of credibility across functional and lines of business
• High attention to detail and proven ability to manage multiple, competing priorities simultaneously
• Demonstrates strong decision-making skills and problem-solving techniques
• Demonstrates ability to work independently and as part of a collaborative team in a fast paced and changing environment
• Strong adaptive capability; ability to approach problems pragmatically and creatively in the phase of changing circumstances, resources and direction
• Strong analytical skills and proficiency in using data to inform product decisions and measure success
• Some degree of flexibility to work with International Health stakeholders across multiple regions and time zones

About Cigna Healthcare

Cigna Healthcare, a division of The Cigna Group, is an advocate for better health through every stage of life. We guide our customers through the health care system, empowering them with the information and insight they need to make the best choices for improving their health and vitality. Join us in driving growth and improving lives.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, disability, sex, childbirth (including pregnancy) or related medical conditions including but not limited to lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital or familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, citizenship status or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing the online application process, please email: SeeYourselfEMEA@cigna.com for support. Do not email SeeYourselfEMEA@cigna.com for an update on your application or to provide your resume as you will not receive a response.