Product Owner

This is a long term contract role that is hybrid in Union Square, NY.

Make your application after reading the following skill and qualification requirements for this position.

We are seeking an experienced Technical Product Owner / Project Manager to join a high-impact team responsible for driving customer-facing communications and transformational messaging initiatives. In this dual PM/PO role, you will sit at the intersection of business strategy and technical execution—owning project deliverables, gathering business requirements, managing enhancement backlogs, and ensuring the seamless delivery of time-sensitive customer notifications across multiple channels (SMS, email, voice, web, and mobile app).

Key Responsibilities

• Product Ownership & Backlog Management: Lead the gathering, drafting, and refinement of functional business requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria. Maintain and prioritize the product enhancement backlog in an Agile environment.
• Multi-Channel Communication Delivery: Oversee the end-to-end execution of customer communication initiatives, ensuring reliable, automated, and time-sensitive outbound messaging across SMS, email, voice/IVR, web, and mobile platforms.
• Business-IT Liaison: Act as the primary operational bridge between internal business units, technical engineering teams, and executive leadership—translating complex business needs into clear technical specifications.
• Vendor & Cross-Functional Coordination: Direct third-party software, telecom, and integration vendors (onshore and offshore) to communicate requirements, track deliverables, and run User Acceptance Testing (UAT) to validate release readiness.
• Project Execution & Governance: Manage full SDLC project lifecycles, track RAID risks and dependencies, and deliver regular executive status reports and performance dashboards.
• Operational Adaptability: Assist with cross-functional operational needs, including compliance considerations (e.g., TCPA messaging regulations), process optimizations, and participating in scheduled off-hours support for critical customer outage or emergency messaging escalations.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Professional Experience: 5–12 years of hands-on experience as a Product Owner (PO), Product Manager (PM), Business Analyst (BA), or Technical Project Manager (TPM) in an enterprise environment.
• Customer Communications & CX Focus: Proven track record supporting multi-channel customer communications programs, notification platforms, or customer engagement tools with a deep commitment to customer experience (CX).
• Agile Proficiency & Backlog Ownership: Certified or deeply experienced in Agile/Scrum methodologies (e.g., CSPO, CSM), with direct hands-on experience facilitating sprint ceremonies, writing user stories, managing backlogs, and leading UAT in tools like Jira or Azure DevOps.
• Technical Literacy: Strong ability to understand data flows, system integrations, and APIs across complex platforms without needing to write code personally.
• Self-Starter & Collaborative: High degree of organizational skills, comfort operating in ambiguous or fast-shifting environments, and strong executive presence under pressure.
• Location: Based in or near the New York Metropolitan Area (hybrid requirement: ~2 days/week on-site in Union Square, NYC).

Highly Preferred Backgrounds

• Utility or Regulated Enterprise Experience: Prior experience in electric/gas utilities, telecommunications, or complex, regulated infrastructure environments.
• Emergency & Incident Messaging: Direct exposure to customer-facing communications during emergency, time-sensitive, or service-interruption/outage situations (e.g., Estimated Time to Restore / ETR notifications). xhyhwjd
• Notification Systems: Hands-on experience with customer notification platforms, IVR routing, or outbound messaging automation engines.