Job Summary
The Digital Product Owner owns the digital banking roadmap and backlog, makes prioritization decisions, and drives cross-functional business and technical teams to execute against that roadmap. This role analyzes current digital experiences, leveraging insights and research from Members and UFCU staff to determine what gets built, when, and why.
The Digital Product Owner owns the delivery, and ongoing performance of UFCU's web and mobile digital banking experiences to improve the Member Experience. This role defines and articulates Member needs and business goals, manages the vision for digital banking experiences, and serves as the decision maker between Information Technology (IT) and business teams.
The Digital Product Owner champions digital innovation, speed, and agility across the organization. This role applies innovation and ideation techniques to advance how UFCU solves problems and identifies opportunities, and influences vision and strategy through informed product decisions.
The Digital Product Owner II reports to the Director, Digital Banking.
About UFCU
Our Credit Union was founded in 1936 and has grown to serve members throughout Texas and beyond. At UFCU, we are more than just a financial institution, and our people are more than just employees. We are dedicated to our purpose of empowering our Members to achieve financial success and build brighter futures.
In pursuit of our aspiration that UFCU is loved by millions of Members and built to thrive for generations, we are guided by our values:
Purposefully Member-Obsessed
We are driven by a profound sense of empathy to deeply understand our Members’ needs and preferences, what brighter futures means to them, and the obstacles in their way. We act in our Members’ best interests, forever seeking to empower their financial success.
Possibilities Reimagined
We are inspired to courageously experiment, learn, and iterate in pursuit of positive impact for our Members, UFCU, and coworkers. We challenge assumptions, embrace diverse perspectives, and make use of data and insights.
Performance Excellence Rooted in Unwavering Integrity
We do the right thing, always. We champion teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, and celebrate successful outcomes of others, fostering an inclusive environment of excellence and collaboration.
Essential Functions
Product Ownership and Strategy
- Defines and prioritizes the digital product backlog for UFCU's web and mobile banking experiences, ensuring the team is always working on the highest-value Member outcomes.
- Manages the product vision and multi-quarter roadmap for digital banking, balancing Member needs, business goals, and technical realities.
- Writes and owns clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and requirements that translate Member and business needs into actionable work for development teams.
- Makes day-to-day product decisions and trade-offs, accepting or rejecting work, clarifying scope, and removing blockers to keep delivery on track.
Member Experience Advocacy
- Translates Member needs, pain points, and journey insights into intuitive web and mobile banking experiences.
- Analyzes Member research, staff feedback, usage data, and competitive insights to identify friction points and surface opportunities for personalization.
- Champions Member-obsessed thinking across business and technical teams, ensuring digital experiences are designed around the Member rather than internal processes.
Agile Delivery Partnership
- Collaborates with the agile product team through the full delivery lifecycle, partnering closely with engineering, scrum masters, Quality Assurance (QA), and User Experience (UX) to deliver scalable digital banking experiences.
- Actively participates in agile ceremonies (backlog refinement, sprint planning, retrospectives) to keep the team focused, unblocked, and aligned on priorities.
- Fosters a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and high-quality delivery within the team.
- Owns acceptance and launch readiness for digital banking releases, including participation in Operational Readiness discussions.
Stakeholder Engagement and Cross-Functional Leadership
- Leads cross-functional collaboration across business stakeholders to align teams around a shared product direction and shared outcomes.
- Serves as the central point of accountability for digital banking product decisions, driving discussions to resolution and ensuring stakeholders are informed and aligned.
- Influences and aligns teams without direct authority, building trust and partnership across business and technical functions.
- Communicates roadmap decisions, trade-offs, and progress to internal stakeholders at all organizational levels, including senior leadership.
- Acts as a subject matter expert in digital product management for the organization.
Governance, Quality, and Compliance
- Ensures digital banking experiences adhere to applicable industry regulations, accessibility standards, and UFCU policies.
- Partners with IT, Security, and Risk teams to maintain high standards of quality, security, fraud prevention, and Member data protection within digital banking products.
- Defines and tracks product metrics and outcomes, using data to measure success, validate decisions, and inform future investments.
Innovation and Continuous Improvement
- Stays current on digital banking technologies, emerging methodologies, and trends within and outside of the credit union industry to anticipate future Member needs.
- Manages the complete lifecycle of digital banking products, from discovery through launch, optimization, and sunset.
Other
- Adheres to all company policies, procedures, and business ethics codes.
- Completes required regulatory training as assigned.
- Maintains strict adherence to and compliance with all laws, rules, regulations, and internal controls specific to the role, including but not limited to Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering, USA Patriot Act, OFAC and Fair Lending regulations.
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities
Knowledge
- Strong knowledge of mobile and online digital banking applications and how they support Member needs.
- Strong knowledge of Scrum principles and practices, and agile or continuous delivery models.
- Working knowledge of the credit union or financial services industry and relevant digital trends.
Skills
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
- Strong presentation skills, with the ability to present to audiences at various organizational levels, including senior leadership.
- Proficient in product management and collaboration tools (e.g., Jira, Azure DevOps, or similar).
- Technically savvy and passionate about digital innovation.
Abilities
- Ability to exercise independent judgment and make sound product decisions with incomplete information.
- Ability to align digital initiatives with business goals and translate strategy into a prioritized roadmap.
- Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and manage competing priorities while owning outcomes.
Core Competencies
- Demonstrating Member Obsession
- Puts themselves in the Member’s shoes
- Looks for friction points
- Makes it personalized and easy
- Demonstrating Performance Excellence
- Sets standards for elevating excellence
- Ensures elevated quality
- Takes responsibility
- Conducts continuous improvement
- Demonstrating Innovation
- Challenges current thinking
- Approaches change with a positive mindset
Experience
Minimum Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, or related field or equivalent years of experience
- 3-5 years of experience in digital product management, or experience supporting digital banking or fintech applications.
- 3+ years of experience working with mobile or online digital solutions in an agile or continuous delivery model.
- 2+ years experience translating member needs, business goals, and technical requirements into detailed user stories, acceptance criteria, and delivery requirements.
- Must be bondable.
Preferred Requirements
- Master’s degree or MBA.
- Working understanding of User Experience (UX) principles.
- Familiarity with various ideation techniques.
- 2+ years of Financial Services or FinTech experience.
- Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or equivalent.
Physical Demands
The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee, with or without accommodation, to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear.
- Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and ability to adjust focus.
- Employee will make extensive use of the telephone and virtual communications requiring the ability to explain complex information effectively and accurately.
Work Environment
The work environment characteristics described are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.
- This position requires frequently working onsite at UFCU Plaza in Austin, Texas.
- This position may involve periodic stressful conditions.
- May occasionally require an adjusted work schedule, overtime, and evening/weekend hours.
- May occasionally move from one work location/branch to another.
- Public contact position, requiring appropriate professional
- Frequent computer use at a workstation of up to two hours at a time.
- The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet.