Senior Technical Product Owner

Senior Technical Product Owner

At EZCORP we are a growing team focused on creating and changing the pawn industry as we know it today. We believe that our platform enabled lending and e-commerce solutions will revolutionize our ability to attract, engage and service our customers across the United States, Mexico and Latin America. Join us now for an opportunity to be a part of a team that wants to provide access to short-term cash for every person – everywhere!

Founded in Austin in 1989, EZCORP has grown into a leading provider of pawn loans in the United States, Mexico and Latin America. We are dedicated to satisfying the short-term cash needs of consumers who are both cash and credit constrained and providing an industry-leading customer experience.

The Senior Technical Product Owner is a senior team member responsible for translating business product strategy into executable technical deliverables and ensuring development teams deliver maximum business value. Working with the business Product Manager who owns overall product strategy, the Senior TPO manages complex product backlogs, drives tactical execution, and mentors junior TPOs. Holds acceptance authority for completed work and creates precise, AI-ready requirements using Given-When-Then (Gherkin) format. Models AI-augmented engineering excellence — integrating AI capabilities where appropriate, evaluating outputs rigorously, and shaping team practices for prompt design, evaluation, and safety.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Model AI-augmented engineering excellence — design solutions that integrate AI capabilities (LLMs, RAG, agents) where appropriate.
• Demonstrate active AI fluency — use AI assistants (GitHub Copilot, Claude, or equivalent) as a daily co-engineer for code generation, test creation, documentation, and learning.
• Write AI-ready requirements (Given-When-Then/Gherkin) that enable AI-assisted development tools to generate accurate, testable code.
• Evaluate AI outputs rigorously and shape team practices for prompt design, evaluation, and safety.
• Stay current with AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude, and equivalents) and evangelize best practices across the team.

• Author comprehensive user stories using Given-When-Then format with complete behavioral context (Given = initial state/preconditions, When = actions/triggers, Then = expected outcomes).
• Define explicit acceptance criteria covering happy paths, edge cases, error conditions, and complex integration scenarios.
• Include technical constraints, validation rules, business logic, performance requirements, security considerations, and compliance standards.
• Provide concrete examples with sample data, API specifications, and reference implementations.
• Document dependencies, integration points, and system interactions clearly for both human developers and AI-assisted tools.
• Collaborate with technical product managers, architects, and technical leads on architectural context and design patterns.
• Handle complex, enterprise-level requirements involving multiple systems and cross-functional dependencies.

• Review and accept completed stories, validating functionality meets all acceptance criteria and enterprise quality standards.
• Test delivered functionality against each Given-When-Then scenario across multiple integration points.
• Verify solutions handle all documented scenarios including edge cases, security requirements, and performance benchmarks.
• Exercise final acceptance authority, ensuring deliverables are production-ready before release.
• Coordinate with QA teams on acceptance criteria alignment and automated testing strategies.
• Provide structured feedback for stories requiring remediation.

• Own and maintain complex user story backlogs, strategically prioritizing based on business value, technical dependencies, and risk.
• Translate business product strategy and roadmap into detailed, development-ready user stories.
• Break down complex features into appropriately sized stories while maintaining technical coherence.
• Make tactical trade-off decisions to maximize value delivery within constraints.
• Sequence backlog items accounting for dependencies, risk mitigation, technical debt reduction, and incremental delivery through creation of release plans.
• Manage backlog across multiple teams or complex product areas when required.
• Identify and escalate strategic risks or impediments impacting delivery.

• Lead sprint ceremonies including planning, refinement, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Partner with Scrum Masters, developers, architects, QA engineers, and designers to drive team efficiency.
• Provide real-time expert guidance on business logic and acceptance criteria during development.
• Present completed work during sprint reviews, demonstrating acceptance and articulating business value.
• Foster collaborative environment encouraging questions and continuous improvement.
• Champion Agile and BDD practices across the organization.

• Serve as senior point of contact between development teams and business stakeholders.
• Facilitate complex requirements discovery sessions with diverse stakeholder groups.
• Lead User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and ensure business readiness.
• Communicate sprint progress, release readiness, and risks to business Product Manager, stakeholders, and leadership.
• Negotiate scope, priorities, and trade-offs balancing business needs with technical realities.
• Influence technical execution through data-driven insights from delivery and user feedback.

• Mentor and coach junior TPOs (Associate TPO, TPO) on GWT story writing, requirements craft, acceptance practices, and quality standards.
• Review stories created by junior team members ensuring quality and consistency.
• Contribute to hiring, onboarding, and training of new product ownership team members.
• Participate in or lead communities of practice for product owners.
• Drive adoption of new tools, methodologies, or practices improving delivery effectiveness.

Education & Experience:

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field (Master's preferred).
• 7–10 years as a TPO, Business Analyst, or Technical Product Owner in Agile teams.
• Minimum 3–5 years at senior/lead level handling complex, enterprise-scale products.
• Expert in writing detailed user stories with comprehensive acceptance criteria using Given-When-Then format.
• Strong Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) experience.
• Advanced technical acumen with system architecture, data models, APIs, and integration patterns.
• Proven leadership within Agile/Scrum teams.
• Expert proficiency with Agile tools (Jira, Azure DevOps, Confluence).
• Outstanding communication skills and ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Experience mentoring junior team members.

Preferred

• CSPO, A-CSPO, CPO, or PMI-ACP certification.
• Experience with BDD tools (Cucumber, SpecFlow, Behave).
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude, etc.).
• Understanding of test automation, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps practices.
• Background in software development, architecture, or QA.
• Experience leading product ownership for multiple teams.

EZCORP is an Equal Opportunity Employer