FRFS Retail Product Owner

Federal Reserve Bank - Kansas City, MO

Part-time,Full-time - Mid Level

Kansas City, MO

1,001-5,000 employees

Monetary Authorities-Central Bank

About the position

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City is seeking a Retail Product Owner for its Federal Reserve Financial Services (FRFS) division. This role is pivotal in delivering a suite of payments services to financial institutions, including FedLine® Solutions, Fedwire®, National Settlement Service (NSS), FedCash®, FedACH® (Automated Clearing House), Check Services, and the FedNow® Service. The FRFS has undergone a strategic transformation to become a national, enterprise-focused organization, integrating various product and support offices to enhance the customer experience and meet the evolving needs of the marketplace. As a Product Owner, you will be responsible for setting the vision and strategy for a portion of the FedACH and Check systems, working closely with the Lead Product Owner and Business Product Management to ensure alignment with the product roadmap. In this role, you will translate business needs into prioritized requirements through business process analysis and needs assessments. You will manage the team's backlog, lead an Agile team, and ensure that the product meets customer and stakeholder outcomes. Your responsibilities will include preparing functional specifications, participating in system initiatives, and supporting application development. You will also be expected to continuously learn about customer needs, communicate effectively with both technical and business stakeholders, and ensure that technology-driven requirements are prioritized to prevent technical debt. The ideal candidate will possess a strong understanding of business requirement development, effective problem-solving skills, and the ability to work independently while managing multiple deliverables. You will need to develop deep subject matter expertise in specific products and their ecosystems, and you should be able to articulate ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. A background in the financial services industry, particularly in check and ACH payments, is highly desirable. Additionally, being a Certified Product Owner in Scrum or SAFe, along with recent JIRA experience, will be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Continuously learn about the customer, their business needs, and contribution of the product to their desired outcomes
• Work with the Lead Product Owner and Product Management to communicate and reinforce the vision, goals, and product roadmap
• Possess enough business and technical knowledge about the product to engage in team discussions
• Work closely with architecture, engineering, and quality assurance to ensure the right customer problem is solved
• Communicate with both technical and business stakeholders to understand and gather requirements and translate into technical specifications when necessary
• Decompose and prioritize epics/features into user stories and define detailed test acceptance criteria
• Ensure technology-driven and risk-remediation requirements are prioritized to prevent the accumulation of technical debt
• Support the team as a subject matter expert representing the business and clarify any arising questions from the agile team
• Support application development with enabler stories
• Determine if the work done to complete a story met success criteria and accepts when satisfied
• Assist in the analysis of defects and enhancements to determine severity and priority as well as overall validity
• Contribute to discussions on risks, dependencies, issues, and schedule updates as needed
• Ensure agreement on actions to address dependencies between broader FRFS teams
• Present working software to stakeholders at team and system demos
• Prepare innovative product proposals and messaging for product forums; present to Group-level governance forums
• Utilize data and feedback to make informed decisions and continuously improve the product
• Actively monitor product-specific OKRs and manage to targets with stakeholders
• Contribute to the elaboration and advancement of the roles and responsibilities for this position, identifying process improvements and sharing with peers
• Actively promote Agile behaviors within business, technology and across FRFS

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology or any technical related field, or equivalent work experience
• Typically requires a minimum of 6 years of related experience
• Ability to bridge the business/IT divide in a way that establishes rapport and gains understanding
• Possess a strong understanding of business requirement development and analysis including use cases, functional specifications, user interface specifications, etc.
• Effective problem solver with ability to identify challenges, brainstorm ideas and collaborate with cross functional teams to implement effective solutions
• Ability to work independently with minimal oversight and manage multiple deliverables simultaneously; take ownership of issue resolution and completion of high quality deliverables
• Strong teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, multitasking, and time management skills in a highly matrixed organization
• Ability to develop deep subject matter expertise for specific products and its broader ecosystem to effectively drive enhancements, support internal stakeholders and influence broader decision making
• Ability to understand and resolve blockers and delivery risk quickly and without the need for escalation outside their product scope
• Ability to understand competing priorities across technology and business areas, clearly articulate options, and use personal influence to define the resolution across their product set and areas with payment interdependencies
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, ability to articulate ideas clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
• Background in financial services industry, understanding of check and Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) payments, and managing third party/vendor delivery
• Certified Product Owner in Scrum or SAFe, preferably Advanced level, and recent JIRA experience are highly desirable

Benefits

• Paid maternity and paternity leave
• Fully funded pension plan
• High match rate on 401K plan
• Health insurance options including PPO and HSA
• Outstanding retirement and pension benefits
• Flexible work arrangements including hybrid options
• Diversity and inclusion initiatives
• Career growth opportunities