Technical Product Owner - RPA & ER

About the team:

Operating as a unified Center of Excellence (CoE) serving the entire bank, our team reports directly to the VP of Data Engineering. Our mandate is twofold: drive enterprise efficiency through robust automation (RPA), and deliver high-stakes insights via Enterprise Reporting.

We are currently navigating a major technological evolution. We are modernizing our data infrastructure, transitioning from Talend and Redshift to dbt, Snowflake, and Dagster, while simultaneously maturing our RPA practice from a reactive model into a highly structured engineering discipline.

Working within a flexible Agile framework, we are actively focused on maturing our overall Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) across all platforms. By enforcing rigorous intake processes and architectural standards, we empower our engineers to focus strictly on technical design and tech debt reduction. A critical next step in our maturity, and a key mandate for this role, is the ground-up implementation of team metrics to establish baselines and drive our engineering performance.

About you:

You are a seasoned Technical Product Owner who acts as a strategic gatekeeper between business demands and engineering reality. You thrive on guiding teams at varying stages of maturity, ensuring our data and automation practices scale securely and efficiently.

You do not just accept requirements; you rigorously evaluate them. You have the professional maturity to push back when necessary, insisting on clear BRDs, architecture diagrams, and SLAs before work ever reaches the developers. You believe that whether we are delivering complex data models or deploying low-code automation, strict SDLC rigor is absolutely non-negotiable.

Highly analytical and risk-aware, you balance new business value with overall system health. You champion technical debt reduction using a strict cost vs. risk vs. reward framework, understanding that meticulous risk and issue documentation is paramount to our long-term success.

About you / qualifications:

• More than 5 years of experience as a Technical Product Owner, Technical Project Manager, or Systems Architect.
• Experience improving Software Development Life Cycle and mentoring team members.
• Ability to read, evaluate, and challenge complex cloud-native architecture diagrams without needing to write the code.
• Ability to translate business processes into functional and non-functional requirements for automation and data workflows.
• Experience working in the banking industry or fintech an asset.
• Proven experience in risk-aware and regulated organizations.
• Deep conceptual understanding of modern data infrastructure (e.g., dbt, Snowflake, Dagster) and enterprise automation platforms (e.g., UiPath, Microsoft Power Platform).
• Experience working in Agile development teams:
• Proven ability to mature the SDLC, proactively elevate QA techniques, and challenge development tooling.
• Strict track record of establishing and refining BRDs, non-functional requirements (NFRs), Acceptance Criteria, and comprehensive Definitions of Done (DoD).
• Practical experience embedding observability into the development cycle and a strong capability to implement engineering metrics (DORA an asset).
• Expertise in managing technical debt and process improvements through a strict cost vs. risk vs. reward framework.
• Experience collaborating across cross-functional teams:
• Proven ability to work with Product Owners, Quality Assurance, DevOps, and other stakeholders.
• Meticulous approach to logging risks, issues, and architectural decisions, even for BAU tasks.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills
• Experience in the operation and support of business-critical production systems
• Incident management
• Root cause analysis
• Observability & Monitoring
• Additional qualifications:
• Experience with modern development tools and practices, such as CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and git-ops processes.

Technical experience with:

• Product Management and SDLC
• Jira, GitHub
• Strong understanding of RPA and Data Engineering lifecycle, backlog management, and value realization
• Data (conceptual level)
• Data warehousing : Snowflake, Redshift
• Data engineering : DBT, Dagster, Talend
• RPA
• Hands-on or functional expertise with UiPath and Microsoft Power Platform (Power Automate)
• Microsoft Fabric an asset
• Data Visualization (conceptual level)
• PowerBI
• Cloud Service Providers

• Azure, AWS

• Security
• Proper data security practices in regulated industries

About the day-to-day:

• Manage Intake & Act as Gatekeeper
• Serve as the primary intake point for all Enterprise Reporting and RPA requests.
• Rigorously evaluate asks. Insist on proper BRDs, architecture diagrams, and SLAs before work hits the backlog.
• Confidently push back on out-of-scope, undocumented, or poorly defined requests.
• Own the Backlog & Navigate the Processes:
• Balance the backlog across major initiatives (epics) and routine BAU (Business As Usual) work.
• Operate with lean, startup agility while strictly enforcing banking regulations, compliance, and SDLC standards.
• Prioritize tech debt reduction using a strict cost vs. risk vs. reward framework.
• Ensure all risks, decisions, and issues, even on smaller BAU tasks, are meticulously documented.
• Drive Engineering Excellence & Challenge the Status Quo:
• Collaborate closely with software engineers and architects to understand constraints, map tasks, and challenge technical decisions.
• Actively challenge the teams to elevate their maturity by suggesting concrete improvements to processes, dev tooling, and QA techniques.
• Lead the ground-up implementation of DORA metrics to track and drive engineering performance.
• Lead Agile ceremonies, refine user stories, and establish an uncompromising Definition of Done (DoD).

About us:

Peoples Group is a trusted financial services company for the innovators at the forefront of Canada’s economic future. With offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, we are driving change by working alongside challenger banks, fintechs, brokers, and merchants to foster a dynamic and competitive financial ecosystem.

Our culture is built on four core behaviors: Grit to Grow, Connect to Collaborate, Putting Clients First, and Owning the Outcome. We believe people do not simply choose a company to work for—they choose a company that makes a positive impact in the lives of Canadians. Above all, we value people, build meaningful relationships, focus on individual strengths, and approach our work with passion.

About the work environment:

Peoples Group offers a flexible and hybrid work environment. In this role you will work a combination of in-office and remotely from home. Typically, you'll be working regular business hours, Monday to Friday between 8:00am and 4:30pm with flexibility around start/end times.

We offer:

• A hybrid work environment, enabling you to balance your personal and professional life seamlessly.

• Competitive salaries, profit sharing, RRSP matching and benefits from day one.

• Generous paid time off to help achieve a healthy work-life balance.

• A commitment to your well-being in five key areas: Financial, Physical, Social, Career, and Community.

Hiring process:

If your application is selected, you will be invited for a first interview with one of our Talent Acquisition Business Partners. Depending on the role, interviews may be conducted virtually or in-person. The hiring team will communicate any in-person requirements throughout the process.

Compensation:

The expected salary for this role is approximately $95,500.00 - $120,000.00 annually. Actual compensation may vary based on experience, skills, and qualifications.

NOTE: This job posting is for an existing vacancy. Peoples Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. Please accept our utmost appreciation for your interest; however, only those applicants under consideration will be contacted.

We value and celebrate individuality while fostering an inclusive workplace for everyone. If there's any way we can support or accommodate you during the selection process, please don't hesitate to let us know.