Product Owner - Warehouse Management and Execution Systems

Summary

Clark Associates is a company that focuses on warehouse management and execution systems. The Product Owner will work closely with software development teams and business stakeholders to plan, prioritize, and execute software development projects, while maintaining product backlogs and ensuring alignment with business objectives.

Responsibilities

• Co-owning your team’s backlog in Azure DevOps (ADO) and maintaining a thorough understanding of all active work items
• Interpreting organizational and stakeholder needs and translating them into concise, yet comprehensive, work items for the development team (bugs, PBIs, features, and research spikes)
• Becoming an expert on assigned internal processes, hardware, and software tools, and proactively applying that knowledge towards system creation and improvements
• Explaining the ‘what’ and ‘why’ behind all work items to facilitate accurate refinement and sizing
• Prioritizing and organizing your team’s backlog on a continuous basis to ensure transparency and keep the most critical work items positioned for timely completion
• Utilizing the ‘minimum viable product’ concept to ensure delivery within deadlines
• Developing a quarterly roadmap to effectively communicate priorities and vision to the development team and stakeholders
• Testing completed work items to ensure quality and compliance with Acceptance Criteria, and coordinating with warehouses to ensure a smooth deployment
• Troubleshooting bugs and providing support for your team's software products via Teams channels and our shared team inbox
• Attending daily and weekly development meetings with your assigned Scrum development team, and adhering to all aspects of the team’s working agreement
• Publishing training materials, FAQ sheets, and other resources to support the usage of our systems
• Facilitating discussion as needed to gather feedback and identify opportunities
• Working effectively with other departments, development teams, and third-party vendors when software needs cross the boundaries of our team’s ownership
• Overnight travel (up to 25%) to our warehouses throughout the United States is required

Skills

• Prior experience as a product owner or project manager coordinating complex software integrations
• Prior experience with warehouse automation systems (hardware and/or software)
• Prior experience as a member of an agile development team
• Exceptional organization and time-management skills
• Professional interpersonal and communication abilities
• Advanced critical-thinking and problem-solving mindset
• Confidence in navigating grey areas and making independent decisions, while also seeking guidance for challenging or complex matters
• A proven track record of taking ownership of projects and managing them from start to finish
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams
• The ability to facilitate clear and effective communication and follow-up with internal and external stakeholders at all levels of the organization
• Adaptability to learn and grow in a fast-paced environment, with an eagerness to embrace feedback and new challenges
• Foundational understanding of backend systems (APIs, message queues, database structures, etc.) is a plus

Qualifications

Must Haves

• Prior experience as a product owner or project manager coordinating complex software integrations
• Prior experience with warehouse automation systems (hardware and/or software)
• Prior experience as a member of an agile development team
• Exceptional organization and time-management skills
• Professional interpersonal and communication abilities
• Advanced critical-thinking and problem-solving mindset
• Confidence in navigating grey areas and making independent decisions, while also seeking guidance for challenging or complex matters
• A proven track record of taking ownership of projects and managing them from start to finish
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams
• The ability to facilitate clear and effective communication and follow-up with internal and external stakeholders at all levels of the organization
• Adaptability to learn and grow in a fast-paced environment, with an eagerness to embrace feedback and new challenges

Nice to Haves

• Foundational understanding of backend systems (APIs, message queues, database structures, etc.) is a plus