Product Owner (Hybrid in AZ or MI)

Product Owner

At Agate Software, we are building a better world by revolutionizing how government agencies and nonprofits manage their grant processes. Our solutions empower our customers to maximize their resources, drive compliance, and focus on their core missions of distributing millions of dollars in funding for critical social services.

Our success is built on three pillars: Innovation, Integrity, and Impact. For over 20 years, Agate Software has been at the forefront of transformative innovation in the grant management industry. Our journey is marked by groundbreaking achievements and a commitment to pushing boundaries. By simplifying complex workflows, enhancing transparency, and turbo-charging efficiency, we enable our customers to maximize the impact of their funding.

Always challenging the status quo, we strive to set new industry standards and we are seeking the brightest minds to join us in this mission. If you're ready to apply your expertise in a dynamic, growth-oriented, mission-driven environment, read on to see how this position aligns with your skills and interests!

Please note that this is an onsite position that is eligible for a hybrid schedule (3 days required onsite/2 days remote) after the first 90 days.

What We're Looking For

Agate is looking for a high-ownership Product Owner who can bring discipline, clarity, and execution control to complex customer delivery work.

This is not a passive requirements role, a maintenance role, or a "take notes and hand them to engineering" role. The Product Owner owns the bridge between customer needs, internal delivery priorities, and development-ready work. You will make sure engineering teams know exactly what they are building, why it matters, what success looks like, and what tradeoffs must be made before work enters a sprint.

Agate delivers highly configurable enterprise software for government and public-sector customers. The work is complex, the stakes are real, and ambiguity is constant. Our ideal candidates will be energized by that. They see disorder and instinctively create structure. They ask hard questions, force clarity, protect engineering focus, and keep delivery moving.

This role sits inside Professional Services delivery, not abstract product strategy. You will be knee-deep in the work: customer implementations, platform configuration, backlog readiness, sprint planning, acceptance criteria, QA alignment, and delivery execution.

The right person can operate in a fast-moving, imperfect environment where priorities shift, information is incomplete, and results still matter. You will not wait for perfect inputs. You will create clarity, drive decisions, and own outcomes.

What You'll Do

• Own and manage a prioritized delivery backlog for customer implementation and platform configuration work.
• Translate customer and internal stakeholder needs into clear epics, user stories, acceptance criteria, and testable requirements.
• Ensure backlog items meet the Definition of Ready before they enter sprint planning.
• Drive clarity before development starts so engineering and QA are not forced to interpret intent mid-sprint.
• Partner with customers, delivery leaders, developers, QA analysts, configuration specialists, and internal stakeholders to resolve gaps and align priorities.
• Make prioritization calls when capacity is limited, requirements conflict, or tradeoffs are required.
• Support sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and Agile ceremonies with strong preparation and clear decision-making.
• Review completed work against acceptance criteria and confirm whether it meets the intended business need.
• Improve delivery predictability by reducing ambiguity, rework, stalled work, sprint churn, and preventable quality issues.

What You'll Bring

• 3+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Product Manager, or similar software delivery role.
• Proven experience owning, managing, and prioritizing product or delivery backlogs.
• Hands-on experience writing clear user stories, acceptance criteria, business requirements, and functional requirements.
• Experience supporting sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and Agile or iterative delivery processes.
• Strong ability to translate complex customer, business, and technical needs into development-ready work.
• Sound judgment when priorities conflict, capacity is limited, or decisions must be made with incomplete information.
• Strong collaboration skills with engineering, QA, configuration, delivery, customer-facing teams, and external stakeholders.
• A disciplined execution mindset: you follow through, close loops, escalate gaps early, and do not let unclear work drift downstream.
• Preferred experience in Professional Services, customer-specific software implementations, enterprise platform delivery, public sector/SLED, high-compliance environments, Agile Scrum, and Azure DevOps.

What Makes This Role Exciting

• Stepping into a role that matters immediately and solves a known execution gap.
• Real ownership over backlog clarity, priority, readiness, and delivery alignment.
• Your decisions will directly affect sprint quality, engineering focus, QA effectiveness, customer outcomes, and project health.
• You will help Agate move from fragmented requirements ownership to a more disciplined, scalable delivery model.
• This is a strong fit for someone who likes building order inside chaos; it is not a fit for someone who needs mature systems, clean handoffs, slow decision cycles, or someone else to make the hard calls.

What Success Looks Like

• Within 30 days, you own the backlog, understand current priorities, identify unclear or not-ready work, and begin tightening the intake-to-sprint process.
• Within 60 days, sprint planning is more predictable, backlog refinement is more disciplined, and requirements-related rework is starting to decrease.
• Within 90 days, teams report that they know what they are building before they start, with fewer quality issues tied to misunderstood requirements.
• Project health improves because scope, priority, and readiness are actively owned before work moves downstream.
• Long term, Agate has stronger product and requirements maturity, better customer outcomes, and a Product Owner who protects engineering focus while improving delivery consistency.

At Agate Software you'll be part of a team that is dedicated to making a difference through cutting-edge technology and unwavering dedication to our impactful work. If you're ready to make a significant contribution to communities in need and grow your career in an inspiring and challenging environment, apply today!

Diversity Commitment:

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where an expansive range of ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives are the foundation for innovation. We strive to attract, develop, and retain the brightest minds from all walks of life, and we encourage applications from candidates from underrepresented communities, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, persons of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity, and all those who can provide different perspectives that contribute to the diversification of our team. Individuals who embrace innovation and intellectual curiosity are invited to bring their unique personal and professional experiences to the table to enrich our creativity, thought leadership, and discovery.

Work Authorization: Please note that some customer assignments may require additional eligibility, vetting, or access approvals based on contract, security, or regulatory requirements.

To all recruitment agencies: We do not accept unsolicited agency resumes and are not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.