Product Manager, Senior - Integrated Eligibility Systems

Introduction

Maryland Benefits (MD Benefits) is a dynamic, cloud-based platform. This enterprise-wide digital service allows organizations to build, test, host, operate, and integrate mission-driven applications, data, and emerging technologies. MD Benefits offers cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities, a shared data architecture, and product development services, all developed by the State of Maryland to help multiple agencies deliver and manage health, human, and social service benefits and programs. On July 1, 2025, the operation of the MD Benefits shared platform and statewide applications transitioned from the Department of Human Services (DHS) to the Department of Information Technology (DoIT).

***This is a contractual position, with limited benefits***

***All hires need to be eligible to work in the U.S., either as a U.S. Citizen or those who have a Permanent Resident or green card, as the state of Maryland does not have the ability to sponsor employees***

***Applicants are required to submit an up-to-date and accurate resume.

Main Purpose

The Product Manager, Senior will serve as a Senior Business Analyst supporting the planning, analysis, design, delivery, and continuous improvement of an Integrated Eligibility system for SNAP, Cash Assistance, and Medicaid/Medical Assistance programs.

This role works closely with business, policy, product, technical, UX/UI, QA, and project teams to define business needs, translate complex policy and operational requirements into clear system requirements, detailed technical documents, and support the delivery of high-quality digital services.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience as an organized Business Analyst, knowledge of health and human services programs, eligibility and enrollment processes, Agile delivery practices, and complex rule-based systems. They must be able to bridge business, policy, technical, and user experience needs to deliver user-centered, compliant, technically feasible, and operationally effective solutions for customers, caseworkers, and program stakeholders.

Position Duties

Product Strategy and Roadmap Support

• Contribute to the product vision, roadmap, and release planning for Integrated Eligibility system capabilities supporting SNAP, Cash Assistance, Medicaid/MA, and related benefit programs.
• Partner with program leadership, business owners, and technical teams to align product priorities with agency goals, federal and state requirements, customer needs, operational needs, and modernization objectives.
• Understand public-sector digital service trends, integrated eligibility best practices, customer experience expectations, and policy-driven system needs to inform product decisions.
• Evaluate business priorities, technical feasibility, policy impacts, operational impacts, and user value when supporting roadmap and backlog decisions.

Requirements Elicitation and Business Analysis

• Gather, analyze, validate, and document business, functional, non-functional, operational, reporting, and user experience requirements.
• Facilitate stakeholder interviews, working sessions, requirement walkthroughs, process reviews, and user research activities with business users, policy teams, technical teams, and external partners.
• Analyze complex eligibility rules, notices, verifications, case processing workflows, application intake, renewals, redeterminations, changes, appeals, interfaces, and downstream impacts.
• Translate program policy, business rules, operational procedures, and customer needs into clear, concise, and testable requirements.
• Identify gaps, conflicts, dependencies, assumptions, risks, and impacts across SNAP, Cash Assistance, Medicaid/MA, and other integrated programs.
• Develop and maintain business process flows, use cases, user stories, acceptance criteria, decision tables, traceability matrices, and supporting documentation.
• Design and document data flows, data mappings, and business rules. Create and maintain BRDs, user stories, and process documentation.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies and support sprint delivery. Assist in UAT, validation, and business sign-off for requirements.

Product Backlog Management

• Develop, refine, and maintain a prioritized product backlog containing features, user stories, defects, enhancements, technical debt, research items, and operational improvements.
• Write clear and testable user stories with well-defined acceptance criteria that reflect business rules, user needs, program requirements, and compliance expectations.
• Partner with product owners, scrum masters, development teams, QA teams, and stakeholders to refine backlog items and ensure they are ready for sprint planning.
• Prioritize backlog items based on user value, business value, policy urgency, operational impact, compliance needs, dependencies, and technical feasibility.
• Clearly communicate backlog intent, scope, acceptance criteria, and business value to development and testing teams.

Agile Delivery and Sprint Support

• Participate in Agile/Scrum ceremonies, including backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily stand-ups as needed, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and release planning sessions.
• Support the development team during sprint execution by answering requirement questions, clarifying acceptance criteria, reviewing design decisions, and resolving requirement ambiguities.
• Collaborate with QA teams to ensure test scenarios, test cases, and validation activities align with approved requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Review completed work to confirm that functionality meets user needs, business requirements, quality standards, and expected outcomes.
• Support defect triage, root cause analysis, prioritization, and resolution planning.

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication

• Serve as a primary liaison between business stakeholders and technical delivery teams.
• Communicate product updates, requirements decisions, delivery progress, risks, dependencies, issues, and roadblocks to stakeholders clearly and in a timely manner.
• Gather stakeholder feedback and incorporate approved changes into the product backlog and requirement documentation.
• Build strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including program staff, operations teams, technical teams, vendors, leadership, and end users.
• Facilitate consensus across multiple stakeholder groups with competing priorities or complex program needs.

User Experience and Customer-Centered Design

• Collaborate with UX/UI teams to support simple, accessible, and user-centered digital experiences for public-facing and worker-facing functionality.
• Participate in user research, usability testing, journey mapping, and design review activities.
• Ensure that system designs account for customer needs, caseworker workflows, accessibility standards, plain language, operational constraints, and policy requirements.
• Support the use and implementation of design systems to promote consistency, usability, and maintainability across digital products.

Launch, Implementation, and Continuous Improvement

• Support pilot activities, release readiness, stakeholder communications, training materials, operational guidance, and support documentation.
• Assist with change management activities for internal staff, business users, and public-facing system changes.
• Analyze data and key performance indicators to measure feature effectiveness, user adoption, operational outcomes, and product success.
• Continuously recommend improvements based on data, policy changes, business feedback, and customer experience.

Required Education

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business Administration, Public Administration, Human Services, English, Communications, Technical Writing, or another related scientific, technical, business, or liberal arts discipline.

Degrees in English, Communications, or Technical Writing must demonstrate coursework or professional experience emphasizing analytical research, technical documentation, policy analysis, business communication, or requirements development.

Candidates with English, Communications, or Technical Writing degrees should possess strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex business and policy requirements into clear, actionable documentation.

Experience preparing technical documents, business requirements, user stories, process documentation, reports, or training materials is highly desirable.

Five (5) years of equivalent professional experience in business analysis, systems analysis, technical writing, policy analysis, or a related field may be substituted for the Bachelor's degree.

Required General Experience

At least two years of experience in business analysis, technical writing, product management, project management, team collaboration, or systems implementation for large-scale technology systems. Experience with the Eligibility system(e.g., SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, Child welfare) in multiple states; experience in requirements gathering, Functional Design Documents (FDDs) and support revisions to Technical Design Documents (TDDs) and tracking the project management and making delivery on time.

Experience working with business stakeholders, technical teams, vendors, and end users to deliver system enhancements, modernization efforts, or digital service improvements.