Product Owner/Business Analyst

Our client is standing up a new product team in support of a key strategic partnership currently in development. The team's initial focus is building intermediary-facing dashboard and reporting capabilities that surface actionable insights for financial advisors, TPAs, and plan sponsors — giving them clear visibility into which actions they need to take and making it easy to act on them. Think next-action prompts, plan-level reporting, and decision support tooling built for the intermediary layer of the retirement services ecosystem. This team is being formed because the body of work associated with this initiative is too large for the existing team to absorb. A chunk of that work is being carved out and handed to this new team. The team will start with an architect and product manager (an internal slide) with development resources joining in a fast-follow. This role is the first hire and will lay the foundation before the rest of the team arrives. This role will be the only non-developer resource on the team. That means the person coming in needs to operate across the full spectrum of product and analysis work — from translating vision into a roadmap through writing detailed stories, managing the backlog, gathering requirements, and validating delivery. The work spans both front-end (dashboard and reporting UI) and back-end (data flows, integrations, system dependencies) efforts What Makes This Role Different • You will be the only non-developer on this team. There is no BA to hand off to, no separate PO to escalate to. You own both sides. • This team is new. The partnership is still being finalized and the full dev team has not yet arrived. Ambiguity is part of the job early on — the right person sees that as an opportunity to shape how things get built, not as a reason to wait. • The initiative has real timelines tied to a live strategic partnership. Proactive risk identification and clear communication to leadership are expected from day one, not once you are settled in. • The product is intermediary-facing — advisors, TPAs, and plan sponsors are the end users. Familiarity with how the retirement services intermediary layer works is a meaningful advantage. • Front-end and back-end work are both in scope. Comfort writing stories and requirements across dashboard/UI work and technical/integration work is required. Key Responsibilities Product Ownership • Partner with the Product Manager and Capability Leader to translate vision and priorities into an executable product roadmap • Own and maintain the product backlog — ensuring stories are well-defined, prioritized, and sprint-ready at all times • Write detailed user stories with clear, testable acceptance criteria for both front-end dashboard work and back-end/integration work • Actively participate in all Agile ceremonies including standups, sprint planning, refinement, reviews, and retrospectives • Monitor backlog health and delivery progress continuously — surface risks early and bring mitigation options, not just flags • Serve as the primary point of contact for delivery updates and status communication related to the team's work Business Analysis • Lead requirements gathering through stakeholder interviews, workshops, and process analysis • Translate complex business needs and partner requirements into clear, actionable functional specifications • Document current and future state processes, data flows, and system dependencies across front-end and back-end work • Identify gaps, dependencies, and risks in requirements early — and bring recommended paths before they slow delivery • Support UAT and business acceptance testing — validate that delivered solutions meet business intent, not just technical specs • Triage defects and testing feedback — determine what gets fixed, what gets escalated, and what gets accepted Collaboration and Communication • Keep the Product Manager and Capability Leader aligned on status, risks, dependencies, and decisions requiring their input • Partner directly with the development team as the primary business and product contact — answer questions, clarify requirements, and unblock work quickly • Communicate proactively and clearly across all levels — daily team interactions through escalations to senior leadership • Build relationships across internal teams and with the external partner to support smooth delivery and alignment What Client Is Looking For Skills and Capabilities • PO-primary with genuine BA depth — this is not a BA role that approximates PO work, it requires someone whose primary identity is product ownership with strong analysis capability underneath • Proactive by default — identifies risks and dependencies before they surface, and comes with options and recommendations rather than just raising flags • Strong written communication — user stories, acceptance criteria, requirements docs, and stakeholder updates are all part of the daily work • Comfortable with ambiguity — can operate effectively in a new team environment where not everything is defined yet and the full team has not yet arrived • Organized and delivery-focused — keeps backlog healthy, keeps the team moving, and manages competing priorities without losing track of what matters Experience • 5+ years in Agile product environments spanning Product Owner and Business Analyst responsibilities • Demonstrated PO-primary experience — owning backlogs, writing stories, running ceremonies, and driving delivery independently • Experience writing user stories and acceptance criteria for both front-end (dashboard/UI) and back-end/technical/integration work • Financial services, retirement services, or similarly regulated industry experience strongly preferred — familiarity with the intermediary/TPA/advisor layer is a plus • Experience on a small or newly formed team where you operated independently without a large support structure • UAT, business acceptance testing, or defect triage experience • Familiarity with Azure DevOps, Jira, or similar Agile tools Personal Qualities • Proactive and solution-oriented — brings recommendations, not just problems • Driver mentality — moves work forward without waiting to be directed • Strong communicator across technical and non-technical audiences • Comfortable being the only non-developer in the room, including early on before the full team is in place • Dependable, responsive, and professional — values reliability and consistent communication highly