Product Owner – Data Platform & Analytics

Product Owner – Data Platform & Analytics Location: Remote (U.S.) – Central or Eastern Time Zone Preferred Duration: 6-Month Contract (Potential Extension) Pay Rate: $70-$85/hr W2 About the Opportunity Our client is launching a strategic initiative to build the data foundation that will power future AI-driven and personalized learning experiences. We are seeking an experienced Product Owner with a strong background in analytics, data platforms, business intelligence, or enterprise data initiatives. This individual will play a critical role in defining the product vision, requirements, and foundational capabilities needed to capture, structure, and leverage user behavior data at scale. This is not a Data Scientist role. Instead, you will help establish the infrastructure, processes, and product strategy that will enable future data science, AI, and predictive analytics capabilities. This is a highly visible initiative with direct impact on long-term product and technology strategy. Responsibilities • Lead product discovery efforts for a new enterprise data platform initiative • Partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Data teams to define product requirements and foundational capabilities • Translate business objectives into technical requirements and user stories • Drive backlog prioritization, requirements decomposition, and sprint planning activities • Collaborate with engineers to design scalable data pipelines and data capture strategies • Facilitate stakeholder discussions and communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences • Identify opportunities to improve analytics maturity and support future AI initiatives • Deliver product outcomes that drive business insights and strategic decision-making Required Qualifications • 5+ years of Product Owner or Product Manager experience • Experience delivering data-centric products, platforms, or enterprise analytics initiatives • Strong understanding of: • Data platforms • Business Intelligence (BI) • Data Warehousing • Analytics ecosystems • Data governance concepts • Experience partnering directly with software engineering teams • Proven ability to translate business needs into technical requirements • Experience conducting product discovery and defining new capabilities from concept through delivery • Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills • Strong sense of ownership and ability to operate independently in ambiguous environments Preferred Experience Candidates from the following backgrounds are especially attractive: • FinTech • Banking • Healthcare • Enterprise Analytics Platforms • Business Intelligence Solutions • Data Warehousing • Analytics-focused SaaS Companies • Sports Analytics • Data Consulting / Digital Transformation Consulting Tools & Environment • Jira • Confluence • Miro • GitHub • Claude AI • Agile / Scrum Methodologies What Success Looks Like In this role, you will: • Define the foundation for future AI and machine-learning initiatives • Establish scalable data structures and data collection frameworks • Partner with engineering to create new data pipelines and analytics capabilities • Generate insights that influence product investments and business strategy • Help transform data into a strategic asset across the organization Ideal Candidate You are someone who: ✅ Enjoys solving complex data and analytics challenges ✅ Can comfortably communicate with both engineers and business leaders ✅ Thinks beyond features and focuses on outcomes ✅ Operates with a high level of ownership and autonomy ✅ Has experience building platforms, not just managing roadmaps ✅ Understands how data can drive business decisions and future AI capabilities Not the Right Fit If • You prefer highly structured environments with detailed direction • Your experience is primarily project coordination rather than product ownership • You have limited exposure to analytics, BI, or data-driven products • Your background is heavily concentrated in traditional publishing organizations