Product Owner

Product Owner at Symetra

The Product Owner represents the business vision and customer problems to be solved for enhancements on a system or platform. The Product Owner conveys the vision to the agile team and provides direction on priorities and work to be delivered. The Product Owner is responsible for maintaining a prioritized, healthy backlog, writing user stories and acceptance criteria, and collaborating with the engineering delivery team to commit to work items for a sprint. This role acts as a liaison between business, customer, and technology, clarifying and understanding needs and how to translate those needs into user stories. The Product Owner leverages data and insights in dialog with leaders to ensure that solutions that will bring the most value are prioritized. The Product Owner maintains focus on the end user and/or customer and incorporates information from customer interviews, feedback sessions, and user testing or other customer research methods.

What You Will Do

• Owns and regularly maintains a healthy product backlog.
• Understands and documents business outcomes in user stories, writes and explains user stories to the agile team.
• Prioritizes work items in the backlog based on customer value and business outcomes.
• Articulates the user, needs, business outcome, and acceptance criteria for each user story.
• Owns the 90-day plan and updates it regularly.
• Collaborates on release plan goals. Ensures scope for each release is clear, well communicated, and aligned with strategic objectives.
• Approves work items as ready for release.
• Possesses and provides authoritative knowledge on the system being developed and communicates impact of the changes.
• May support up to two low-complexity pods.
• Works with the delivery team and Scrum Master to remove impediments.
• Participates in regular agile events.
• Acts as the voice of the customer within the agile team, and maintains clear, bi-directional communication between business stakeholders, Digital Product Managers, and the agile teams.
• Uses and supports agile delivery practices to consistently deliver, inspect, and adapt.
• Ensures quality of features through facilitation and/or completion of user acceptance testing throughout the development process.
• Approves readiness of feature through testing effort and clearly defined outcomes and acceptance criteria.
• Regularly collaborates with stakeholders and Digital Product Manager to demo progress as work is completed.
• Collaborates regularly with Digital Product Manager and stakeholders to interpret and execute the product roadmap and understand where customer value can be maximized.
• Understands the needs of the end user and/or customer and acts as a proxy for the development team.
• Communicates outcomes and business context to the agile team, providing guidance and clarification on user stories.
• Sets the goal of each sprint.
• Communicates status, including progress toward stated outcomes and release detail to business stakeholders.
• Collaborates with other agile teams to identify, track, mitigate, and communicate dependencies.
• Utilizes learning events and online learning opportunities to develop and enhance core competencies related to the role.
• Commits to continued self-learning of Agile, promotes standardized repeatable processes for agile team, observes, listens, evaluates, provides feedback to agile team.

Why Work at Symetra

Symetra fosters an inclusive environment where employees feel welcomed and encouraged to contribute their full selves. The company is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, making it a place for professional and personal growth.

What We Offer You

Symetra provides a range of benefits designed to support employees' lives both at work and at home, moving beyond a 'one-size-fits-all' approach.

• Flexible full-time or hybrid telecommuting arrangements.
• 401(k) plan with immediate vesting and company matching up to 6%.
• Paid time away including vacation, sick time, flex days, and ten paid holidays.
• Company matching for community giving to double your impact.

For more details, review the Symetra Benefits Overview.

Compensation

The salary range for this Product Owner role is $96,700 – $161,200, plus eligibility for annual bonus programs.

Who You Are

Candidates should possess a college degree or equivalent work experience, along with professional certifications relevant to the role. This position requires 5-8 years of cumulative, relevant experience, demonstrating considerable skills and knowledge. Strong analytic, technical, and problem-solving abilities are essential. The ideal candidate uses best practices and business insight to enhance products or services. A high school diploma is required.

We Empower Inclusion

Symetra strives to be the most inclusive insurance company, creating a workplace where every employee is valued, respected, and has opportunities to contribute. Inclusion involves recognizing assumptions, considering multiple perspectives, and removing barriers, embracing diverse experiences and identities to build a stronger, more innovative company.

Creating a World Where More People Have Access to Financial Freedom

Symetra is a national financial services company dedicated to helping individuals achieve financial goals with confidence. Guided by Value, Transparency, and Sustainability, Symetra provides competitive products, clear communication, and enduring services. They are committed to community engagement, employee support, and advocating for diversity, equity, and inclusion, helping create financial freedom for more people.

Work Authorization

Employer work visa sponsorship and support are not provided for this Product Owner role. Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States at hire and maintain authorization throughout their employment with Symetra.

Symetra's Remote Network Minimum Requirements

As a remote-first organization, Symetra sets specific internet connection standards for employees to ensure a positive experience. The minimum internet speed required is 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, aligning with the FCC's definition of 'broadband'. Acceptable internet types include Fiber, Cable (e.g., Comcast, Spectrum), or DSL. Satellite (e.g., Starlink), cellular broadband (hotspot or otherwise), any other wireless technology, or wired dial-up are not permissible. Applicants will be asked to test and confirm their internet speed during the application process.

Identity Verification

Symetra is committed to fair and secure hiring. For all roles, candidates will be required to be on video for all interviews after the initial phone screen. Symetra will take affirmative steps to verify a candidate's identity to prevent fraudulent employment applications. Failure to comply with these verification procedures may result in disqualification, withdrawal of job offer, or termination of employment, along with other potential remedies if fraud is discovered.

Key skills/competency

• Product Vision
• Backlog Management
• User Stories
• Acceptance Criteria
• Agile Methodologies
• Stakeholder Communication
• Customer Research
• Release Planning
• Problem-Solving
• Data-Driven Decisions