Product Owner

Powell's Books is looking for a dynamic Product Owner to take our powells.com experience to the next level! This Product Owner will work collaboratively with the delivery team(s) and key internal stakeholders to define and deliver exceptional customer-focused experiences and drive the growth of our powells.com business.
This position will work remotely, but Oregon residency is required.
Powell's Books is known worldwide as a premier independent bookstore and an icon in the Portland community. We're committed to fostering a culture and environment of inclusion, empowerment, and respect - a place where everyone can show up fully as themselves and do their best work every day.
Powell's offers an extensive benefits package including:

• Generous healthcare plan (medical, vision, and dental)
• 401(k) savings plan
• Education benefit
• Childcare subsidy
• Substantial employee discount that is also available to your significant other, children, parents, and siblings
• Book borrowing privileges

Pay: $40 to $60 per hour, depending on experience.
Schedule: Monday through Friday, flex time, for a 37.5 hour work-week.
Closing Date: Sunday, March 10th, 2024
Additional Information: Please include a cover letter with a brief description of relevant skills and experience and the reason why you're interested in the position.
This position requires you to have had an original Covid-19 vaccination series with one booster, or a bivalent Covid-19 vaccine, or to have an approved medical or religious accommodation prior to your start date.
Position Title: Product Owner
Location: Remote - Oregon Residency Required
Group: T5
Date: 2/2024
Position Summary:
The Product Owner is responsible for driving value at the team level through a clearly defined and prioritized backlog. They assist with overall product vision/roadmap and ensure the needs of both external and internal end-users are incorporated into the product from design to deployment (representing the "voice of the customer"). They may be responsible for one or more products within a portfolio.
In collaboration with product management and key stakeholders, the Product Owner translates product strategy into a prioritized backlog of user stories (functional and non-functional) that translate into technical solutions and business processes. They collaborate with one or more Agile delivery teams to execute, measure and learn from each deployment of enhancements and/or fixes. They ensure product KPIs align with organizational OKRs and provide transparency into metrics and measurements.
This position reports to the Product Manager.
Essential Functions:

• Lead high-performing Agile delivery team(s) in the execution of defined strategy/roadmap(s):
  
  • Responsible for developing and maintaining a prioritized backlog of functional and non-functional user stories.
  • Responsible for writing user stories and refining them within the appropriate format, including agreed upon acceptance criteria.
  • Responsible for facilitating Agile events, such as, sprint demos, story refinement, sprint retrospective, etc.
  • Collaborates with the team to establish and practice healthy team norms.
  • Ensures team's day-to-day work aligns with and enables the business strategy (prioritized backlog).
  • Adopts Agile product management practices and drives agile ways of working by incorporating continuous improvement practices into daily work.
  • Coaches Agile delivery teams on Agile practices.
• Support delivery of the business strategy through outstanding execution and reporting:
  • Reports on Agile delivery team operational metrics on a regular cadence to ensure predictability at a sustainable pace.
  • Reports on product KPIs on a regular cadence to ensure transparency of ROI and the ability to make data-driven decisions.
• Engage with stakeholders to deliver market-driven software solutions:
  • Partners with eCommerce, Marketing, and other stakeholders to produce, communicate, and drive consensus of secure, compliant, performant architectures that employ modern patterns and methods.
  • Proactively seeks regular feedback from stakeholders to drive continuous improvement activities.
• Performs other duties as required.

Requirements / Qualifications:

• Knowledge of and experience in Powell's systems and processes or several years' experience as a Product Owner (or product manager).
• Demonstrated experience using Agile product practices to deliver iterative value.
• Demonstrated experience measuring and communicating Agile delivery team metrics.
• Experience facilitating Agile events to gain stakeholder alignment and share team progress (i.e. Backlog refinement, sprint planning, sprint demos and sprint retrospectives).
• Experienced with disciplined agile software development and continuous delivery strongly preferred.
• Uses independent, creative thinking to see the big picture, the small details, and how they interrelate.
• Strong communication and facilitation skills promoting vision, features, value and clarity on delivery expectations.
• Absolute ability to maintain confidentiality of information.
• Satisfactory results from criminal background check required.
• Love of books and reading.
• Physical Requirements - Group D.