Technical Product Owner

Position Summary

The Technical Product Owner (TPO) serves as the critical link between business strategy and software development execution. Operating within an Agile framework, the TPO translates Program Increment (PI) business objectives into clear, actionable work items that development teams can efficiently execute. The TPO owns the full lifecycle of delivery - from backlog refinement through sprint execution to shipping - and is accountable for ensuring every initiative delivers maximum business value on scope and on time.


Key Responsibilities

Backlog & Delivery Management

• Monitor Jira Product Discovery (JPD) for any initiative turned over from architecture team for initiatives assigned in "Ready for Delivery" status and begin working with technical architecture team to create and linking epics and stories accordingly.

• Maintain a healthy, prioritized backlog with stories always groomed and ready for development.

• Ensure JPD is maintained on a regular basis in order to track progress.

• Manage scope, minimize scope creep, and balance technical debt against new feature development.

• When authoring stories and epics, explicitly document non-functional requirements (performance, scalability, security, availability), edge cases, and integration points - ensuring these are traceable acceptance criteria, not tribal knowledge.

• Own the quality and consistency of all technical artifacts produced by the team - including story templates, acceptance criteria, AC standards, and Definition of Ready/Done criteria.

• Design and maintain Jira automations that support team development workflows (auto-transitions, notifications, dependency flags). Conduct regular audits of generated stories to ensure they meet the team's quality bar before entering the sprint.

Sprint Ceremonies

• Facilitate and actively participate in all Agile ceremonies: Daily Stand-Up (DSU), Backlog Grooming, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, and Retrospectives.

• Pre-groom backlog items prior to grooming sessions and ensure all sprint tickets meet the team's Definition of Ready before Sprint Planning.

• Own release readiness decisions - serving as the final go/no-go authority before sprint closes and before releases are promoted to production. Verify all stories meet Definition of Done, acceptance criteria are validated, and regression risk is understood. Partner with QA and DevOps on release checklists.

• Continuously seek ways to improve work flows to and from developers and stakeholders.

Dependency & Stakeholder Management

• Working cross-functionally, proactively identify and track all dependency types - primarily across internal teams & third-party vendors - mapping them in Jira with owners, risk levels, and resolution timelines. Escalate unresolved dependencies before they become sprint blockers. Work closely with stakeholders and end users to ensure delivered features match expectations.

• Create tickets and communicate requirements for both your team and dependent teams.

• Schedule and lead monthly internal and external customer demos.

PI Planning & Execution

• Lead scope negotiation during PI Planning to align team capacity against committed PI objectives; ensure every accepted story traces back to a PI objective. Identify and register risks during PI Planning events and maintain a living risk log throughout the increment.

• Ensure PI objectives are broken down into milestones and sprint objectives that keep the team aligned to plan.

• Maintain Jira data hygiene throughout the PI - ensuring epics, stories, defects, and issues are tracked so nothing falls through the cracks.

• Ensure proper upload and closure of Jira items at the beginning and end of each PI in coordination with the Scrum Master.

• Transition JPD initiative statuses accurately and document reasoning for any changes in the initiative's Comment section.

Success Metrics

• Track and maintain key delivery health metrics including sprint velocity, say/do ratio, sprint interrupt rate, and backlog readiness - using these signals to continuously improve team predictability and reduce mid-sprint disruption.

• Own initiative-level success tracking in JPD - keeping delivery tab data current (epics/stories, status, target completion, on-schedule indicators), monitoring requirement clarity through story return rates, ensuring monthly release schedule adherence, and driving customer demo completion on a monthly cadence.

Requirements

Required

• 5+ years of experience as a Product Owner, Technical Product Owner, or Business Analyst in an Agile software development environment, with at least 2 years in a technically complex domain (systems integration, automation, enterprise software, or similar).

• Demonstrated experience managing a product backlog using Jira or similar tools

• Strong understanding of scaled Agile frameworks, including PI Planning

• Ability to write clear, detailed user stories and acceptance criteria

• Proven ability to manage cross-team dependencies and stakeholder relationships

• Ability to evaluate technical trade-offs and communicate impact on scope, timeline, and quality

• Experience writing technically detailed user stories including non-functional requirements, edge cases, and integration points

Preferred

• Experience with Jira Product Discovery (JPD) or similar product management tools

• Familiarity with architectural concepts sufficient to collaborate with solution and enterprise architects

• Experience in the warehouse automation / distribution industry

• Experience participating in customer-facing demos and VOC (Voice of Customer) sessions

• Understanding of software development lifecycle, CI/CD pipelines, and release processes

Working Style & Competencies

• Accountability: Acts with a sense of ownership - prioritizes efficiently as if directly funding the development team

• Clarity: Communicates requirements unambiguously; reduces confusion and rework

• Collaboration: Partners effectively with Scrum Masters, Architects, Product Managers, QA, and Tech Writers

• Adaptability: Responds quickly to changing priorities while protecting team focus and sprint commitments

• Detail-Oriented: Maintains rigorous Jira hygiene and JPD accuracy throughout the PI lifecycle

• Technical Credibility: Earns trust of engineering team by understanding system architecture, asking informed questions about implementation risk, and authoring stories that developers don't have to rewrite.

Benefits

What we Offer:

• Medical Insurance

• Dental Insurance

• Vision Insurance

• Health Care Concierge Service

• 401(k) Retirement Plan (Pre-tax & Roth)

• Company paid Basic Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability & Long-Term Disability

• Voluntary Life & AD&D Insurance

• Voluntary Accident, Critical Illness & Hospital Indemnity Insurance

• Pet Insurance

• Milk Stork Program

• Wellness Program with gift card redemption and wellness challenges

• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & 10 Holidays)

• Training & Development

Why KPI Solutions?

• At KPI Solutions, you'll be part of a team that values innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement. This is more than a reporting role-it's an opportunity to make a measurable impact on project success and business performance.
  KPI Solutions provides equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by states, federal, or local law.