Product Owner- IT

Product Owner, IT

Location: Pittsburgh, PA (Hybrid)

Classification: Exempt

Status: Full-Time

Reports to: Senior Manager, Product

Purpose

The Product Owner, IT manages requirements definition, acceptance criteria authoring, and backlog execution for assigned IT delivery workstreams within the Product track of the Informatics function. This role translates business needs into well-formed user stories with structured, testable acceptance criteria, ensuring work enters delivery with clear scope and measurable exit conditions. The Product Owner works in close partnership with Business Analysts and Clinical Informatics Analysts to capture complete requirements, with Quality Assurance to ensure acceptance criteria are directly executable as test cases, and with Informatics leadership for guidance on complex workstreams, standards adherence, and professional development.

Responsibilities

Requirements & Acceptance Criteria

• Writes well-formed user stories for assigned IT delivery workstreams, following Product track standards: clear business value, structured acceptance criteria, and defined conditions of satisfaction.

• Authors testable acceptance criteria in alignment with the joint Acceptance-Criteria-to-Test-Case handoff standard, ensuring QA can execute against them directly without interpretation.

• Ensures assigned work does not enter delivery without documented, testable exit conditions.

• Collaborates with Business Analysts and Clinical Informatics Analysts to translate elicited requirements into delivery-ready artifacts.

Backlog Management

• Owns and maintains the product backlog for assigned workstreams: prioritization, refinement, sizing, and sprint readiness in collaboration with delivery teams.

• Facilitates backlog refinement sessions for assigned workstreams, ensuring the delivery team has clear, well-understood scope before sprint commitments.

• Supports the IT demand intake process by documenting and triaging assigned work requests.

• Reports workstream status, capacity signals, and blockers to leadership to support portfolio visibility.

Stakeholder Partnership

• Serves as the day-to-day requirements contact for assigned business stakeholders, translating operational needs into technology delivery scope.

• Communicates scope trade-offs and surfaces prioritization conflicts to stakeholders and Product track leadership.

• Participates in delivery ceremonies across Software Development, Data Engineering, and IT Infrastructure workstreams as the requirements representative for assigned work.

• Coordinates with QA on acceptance criteria clarification and review throughout the delivery cycle for assigned workstreams.

Practice Participation & Development

• Applies Product track standards consistently: story templates, acceptance criteria benchmarks, and definition of done frameworks.

• Contributes feedback on standards and templates based on delivery experience, supporting the continuous improvement of the Product Owner practice.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in product ownership, business analysis, or a closely related business-IT bridge function within a technology delivery environment.

• Demonstrated experience writing user stories and acceptance criteria in an agile delivery context.

• Working familiarity with backlog management, sprint planning, and agile delivery ceremonies.

• Strong written communication skills; able to produce clear, structured requirements artifacts for both business and technical audiences.

• Effective stakeholder communication skills: able to gather needs, manage expectations, and surface conflicts constructively.

• Collaborative working style; receptive to direction, feedback, and mentorship in a practice-building environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• Healthcare, specialty pharmacy, or regulated industry experience, with exposure to clinical or operational data environments.

• Familiarity with ASTQB/ISTQB concepts sufficient to write acceptance criteria that are directly executable as QA test cases.

• Exposure to structured intake, demand management, or portfolio prioritization processes.

• Experience with product and project management tooling (Azure DevOps, Jira, Smartsheet, or equivalent).

• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or equivalent product certification, or active pursuit of certification.

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Work Environment

This position works in a home office and professional office environment. When in-office this role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines, and communications via MS Teams.

Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, see, talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands and fingers to handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. Visual acuity is necessary for tasks such as reading and working with various forms of data on a screen. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.