Lead Product Development Owner

AgFirst Farm Credit Bank provides financing, as well as a range of technology and other services, to a network of agricultural lenders in the United States and Puerto Rico. Located on Main Street in Columbia, S.C., AgFirst is committed to providing a comfortable, inclusive work environment. We believe in investing in our employees so they can help lead our $35 billion company into the future. If you are looking to fuel your professional development and gain exposure in the field of Digital Banking & Product Management, apply today!

AgFirst is seeking a Lead Product Development Owner whose responsibilities include working closely with Product Managers and agile teams to execute product vision, leading one or more product teams to execute delivery of assigned products. Partners closely with Product Managers in feature strategy, creation and grooming with a focus on MVP (minimum viable product). The Lead Product Development Owner collaborates with agile teams and Enterprise Architecture on solution design to deliver product vision while ensuring alignment with enterprise core principles and enterprise business and technical architecture. The Lead Product Development Owner mentors other Product Owners and scrum teams to increase understanding of Agile practices.
Duties and Responsibilities:
Maintain and Execute Product Roadmap
• Execute product vision for one or more assigned products.
• Collaborate with Product Management and UX on user experience flow and support the development of wire frames and user interaction sequences
• Own breakdown of product vision into business increments: feature strategy, creation, and grooming with focus on MVP (minimum viable product)
• Own use case strategy, creation, backlog, and drive technology build and test activities, with focus on ‘definition of done’
• Analyze current/target state processes and flows and provide support for architectural runway
• Drive the sprint planning development working with Technology partners in an agile environment.
• Confirm alignment of technical design to business objectives
• Execution of user acceptance test plans and scripts
• Assess and prioritize defects ensuring business and support approval of remediation approach
• Perform production validation

Product Leadership & Delivery
• Serve as a mentor to scrum teams to increase understanding of Agile practices
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) on assigned products and systems
• Serve as trusted advisor to peers and partners as well as Bank and Association leaders in matters related to them
• Communicate clearly and frequently to project teams and product management leadership on status of assigned initiatives and projects.
• Deliver value at each customer touchpoint.
• Monitor product KPIs and ensure success metrics are being met.
• Support the implementation of world-class user experiences as part of assigned initiatives and projects
• Partner with the Marketing and Communications and Training teams in the execution of project rollout, adoption and sun-setting tactics

Requirements:
• Bachelor’s Degree in business, marketing, management or comparable field
• 7+ years of experience in developing software in banking/finance/lending with agile methodology
• SAFe Certified Product Owner preferred
• Excellent relationship building, negotiation, and influencing skills
• Strong communication skills, including clear written, verbal and presentation skills
• Ability to adapt to change and work under pressure, working in an agile environment
• Strong analytical skills
• Proven experience in product management supporting all phases of the product lifecycle using project methodology
• Strong analytical skills
• Agile coaching and leadership skills