Agile Product Owner, Field Smart Technology

Job Description

We're Hiring for an Agile Product Owner!

If you are excited and passionate about helping #LetsSolveWater, consider joining our team today! Xylem, Inc. is a leading global water technology company servicing more than 150 countries and is dedicated to solving the world’s most challenging water issues. We are looking for individuals to join our mission by exceeding customer expectations through smart sustainable solutions. At Xylem, you will have the opportunity to solve water by participating in our paid Volunteer Program, Xylem Watermark!

The Role: Our way of developing our products are by following the agile mindset from Scrum and Kanban. We work in cross functional teams and in close cooperation with our stakeholders. We have empowered teams and expect them to take the full delivery responsibility. We currently have team members of all experience levels and many nationalities, as we believe diversity in teams boosts creativity. The main purpose and mission of the Agile Product Owner is to, together with the agile product management team, identify needs from stakeholders/projects/solution areas, prioritize features in the program backlog, guide the work flow and develop product roadmaps. In this position, you will collaborate closely with other Product Owners, System Architects, Release Manager, Release Train Engineers, different stakeholder and of course the scrum teams. You will be responsible for covering a set of solutions/functions which will be developed by 1-2 scrum teams.

In this role, you will create an efficient and trustful day-to-day operation. You have proven experience from similar roles. It is important that you have an innovative and creative mind-set in order to inspire and challenge your organization. You also have a true can do attitude, a strong quality focus and a personal drive to reach the objectives and targets set for your teams & products, understanding how these contribute to our vision, strategy & roadmap.

We believe this is a position for a person that has the ability to work under demanding conditions and to create a successful working climate in these situations. As a person, you have a broad technical know-how combined with very good people skills, communication skills, organizational skills and a strong belief in agile methods. You have a strong ability to inspire, develop and motivate individuals and teams.

Essential Duties/Principal Responsibilities:

• Agile leadership and a deep understanding of what it means to conduct oneself as a servant leader
• Actively builds and works with cross-functional teams, and coordinate across departments to motivate development team members to deliver according to both internal and external deadlines
• Responsible for overall risk management as it relates to the project and the decisions made regarding system selection and implementation
• Actively seeks methods to enhance overall efficiency and performance. This can mean taking a more active role in day-to-day work within the project lifecycle such as Jira task prioritization or identifying cost-saving opportunities or business process changes at the organizational level
• Communicates between team members and departments during the project lifecycle to present findings to stakeholders
• Keeps open lines of communication with all clients to ensure that expectations are set development and delivery schedules are in line with both team’s needs
• Facilitates discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution while also getting the work done without coercion, assigning, or dictating the work
• Facilitates and implements appropriate metrics and tracking of all work
• Assists with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and radiating information
• Ability to work as a part of a self-organizing scrum team in which you determine your tasks on a daily basis – that includes handling multiple tasks at the same time and working in a lively environment
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work with different departments like IT and Product Management
• Exploring and analyzing business needs and turn them into development work
• Prioritize incoming work for the development team to balance short and long-time gains
• Long-term work on systems vision
• Advise and engage business organization and process owners in system usage
• Executing Iteration plans within a long-term Release plan
• Ensuring the team achieves the release goals and velocity within the scaled agile framework
• Responsible for identifying issues and unblocking the developers
• Responsible for leading sprint planning sessions, User Story decomposition to tasks that fully achieve the Definition of Done
• Working closely with stakeholders to drive requirements collection and the creation of release and sprint plans

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science or Engineering from an accredited institution, or combination of education and equivalent work experience.
• A minimum of 5 years previous experience in software development, Scrum master or agile coach certification a must.
• Demonstrated experience working in an international environment in a matrix organization
• Demonstrate excellent computer, communication, presentation, management and analytical skills. Be able to resolve difficult technical and business issues. Be a self-starter with high motivation to achieve goals.
• Strong interpersonal, teamwork and problem-solving skills in order to effectively work with customers, business partners, staff and management from a variety of skill levels as well as different authority levels.
• Ability to understand technical issues and understand impact on projects, and effectively communicate these issues and impact to direct reports as well as other project stakeholders.
• Flexibility in terms of dealing with changing priorities and dealing with multiple projects simultaneously.

Preferred Qualifications

• Scrum master or Agile Coach ceritication
• Green Belt Certification
• Fluent in English; multi-lingual capabilities desirable
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong project management skills with proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority
• Be a self-starter with high motivation skills

Additional Information

• This position must be located in the continental United States. Office location varies.
• As required to fulfill the duties listed above. Other travel as needed or required by the company
• Travel: International and Domestic travel required, up to 50%
• Misc: Exposure to undesirable field elements at mines, treatment plants, industrial facilities or contractors site when travelling

SALARY: The estimated salary range for this position is $80,000 to $100,000 plus bonus. Starting pay is dependent on multiple factors, such as skills, experience and work location, and is not typically at the top of the range. At Xylem we offer a competitive compensation package with a generous benefit package, including Medical, Dental, Vision plans, 401(k) with company contribution, paid time off, paid parental leave and tuition reimbursement. At Xylem, we embrace diversity and strive to create avenues where employees feel valued and appreciated through our DE&I initiatives and Employee Resources Groups (ERG). Xylem is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action workplace. Xylem prohibits discrimination, harassment of any kind and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or sexual orientation (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, marital status, medical conditions or disability, genetic information, age, or other non-merit factors. Join the global Xylem team today! Xylem is a team creating advanced technology solutions to the world’s water challenges through developing new technologies and services that will improve the way water is used, conserved, and re-used in the future is central to our work. Our products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor, and return water to the environment, in public utility, industrial, residential, and commercial building services settings. Xylem also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network technologies and advanced analytics solutions for water, electric and gas utilities. Disclaimer: The information listed within this job description is designed to indicate the general nature of work expected for this position and shall not be viewed as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required in this position. Employees must be able to perform the essential functions of the position satisfactorily and if requested, reasonable accommodations will be made to enable employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their job absent undue hardship. Xylem reserves the right to modify this job description or assign other duties to this position as needed.