Technical Product Owner

Summary

The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to administering blanket mechanical licenses for digital music services in the United States. As a Technical Product Owner, you will translate product vision and operational needs into executable work, collaborating with stakeholders to ensure solutions are practical and aligned with the MLC's goals.

Responsibilities

• Own and maintain a high-quality backlog for the Matching Tech Team, ensuring work is clearly defined, properly prioritized, and ready for development
• Translate product discussions, operational needs, and technical concepts into user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, diagrams, and development tasks
• Break down complex initiatives into executable units of work, identifying dependencies, sequencing, and implementation considerations
• Participate in sprint planning, backlog refinement, production issue triage, and other Agile delivery activities
• Develop initial proposals for dashboards, workflows, operational tooling, and user-facing experiences for collaborative refinement with stakeholders and engineers
• Work closely with operations users and stakeholders to gather feedback, validate workflows, and improve operational processes within the Matching Platform
• Participate in production issue triage and support investigation efforts using SQL, system knowledge, and operational context
• Help communicate delivery progress, technical concepts, and operational impacts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Work collaboratively within an Agile environment, participating actively in team ceremonies, planning activities, and cross-functional discussions
• Foster clear communication and shared understanding between technical teams, operational users, and stakeholders
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of product, operational, and delivery processes across the Technology organization
• Promote structured, well-defined, and scalable approaches to workflow design, backlog management, and technical execution
• Support a collaborative, data-driven, and continuous improvement culture within the Technology team
• Embrace The MLC’s leadership values and apply The MLC’s Guiding Principles to your team’s work
• Be process-oriented, data-driven, and tech-savvy; being collaborative, curious, and open to new ideas
• Build a dynamic team; mentor team members; develop future leaders
• Inspire others with your enthusiasm and humility

Skills

• Minimum three (3) years' experience in a Technical Product Owner, Product Analyst, Systems Analyst, Product Operations, or similar role within a software engineering environment
• Strong experience translating complex operational or technical requirements into well-defined user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, and development tasks
• Proven experience with Jira, including backlog management and story decomposition
• Experience working closely with engineering teams on technical systems, APIs, workflows, and data-driven platforms
• Proficient in SQL and comfortable working with technical systems, data models, and structured datasets
• Experience creating workflows, diagrams, wireframes, dashboards, or other user-facing operational artifacts
• Strong organizational, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to facilitate discussions between technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience working in Agile environments and participating in sprint planning, refinement, and delivery coordination activities
• Experience in music publishing, music rights, metadata systems, or the music industry in general is a plus

Qualifications

Must Haves

• Minimum three (3) years' experience in a Technical Product Owner, Product Analyst, Systems Analyst, Product Operations, or similar role within a software engineering environment
• Strong experience translating complex operational or technical requirements into well-defined user stories, acceptance criteria, process flows, and development tasks
• Proven experience with Jira, including backlog management and story decomposition
• Experience working closely with engineering teams on technical systems, APIs, workflows, and data-driven platforms
• Proficient in SQL and comfortable working with technical systems, data models, and structured datasets
• Experience creating workflows, diagrams, wireframes, dashboards, or other user-facing operational artifacts
• Strong organizational, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to facilitate discussions between technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience working in Agile environments and participating in sprint planning, refinement, and delivery coordination activities

Nice to Haves

• Experience in music publishing, music rights, metadata systems, or the music industry in general is a plus

Benefits

• The MLC is committed to excellence, service and transparency.
• Our culture is collaborative, and our team works in a hybrid environment.
• On our team, you are respected, valued for your unique strengths and experiences, and empowered to identify and resolve your own challenges.
• Membership with the MLC is free for songwriters and music publishers, allowing creators to register their works and receive royalties they have earned.
• This is a fully remote role.
• This role requires candidates to be located within the Central or Eastern Time Zones, as the position works closely with cross-functional teams and stakeholders during standard East Coast business hours.
• THE MLC IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER THE MLC DOES NOT MAKE EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS BASED ON RACE, COLOR, RELIGION OR RELIGIOUS BELIEF, ETHNIC OR NATIONAL ORIGIN, SEX, GENDER, GENDER-IDENTITY, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, MARITAL STATUS, CITIZENSHIP STATUS, DISABILITY, AGE, MILITARY OR VETERAN STATUS, OR ANY OTHER CATEGORY PROTECTED BY LOCAL, STATE, OR FEDERAL LAW. THIS POLICY APPLIES TO ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT, INCLUDING RECRUITING, HIRING, PLACEMENT, PROMOTION, TERMINATION, LAYOFF, TRANSFER, LEAVES OF ABSENCE, AND COMPENSATION.