Software Product Specialist

Company
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

The Federal Reserve Financial Services organization (FRFS) is responsible for software development, quality assurance testing, and day-to-day production operations of the FedLine product suite. In this role the FRFS, in consultation with other System stakeholders, helps to set the strategic direction for US central bank payment services, coordinates product enhancements impacting the services and their customers, and ensures that operating sites meet service level agreements for resiliency and performance.
The Product Owner is aligned with the Lead Product Owner & Business Product Management and understands the product vision, goals, and roadmap. They translate business wants and needs into a prioritized set of requirements by conducting business process analysis, needs assessments, and preliminary cost/benefits analyses to align with a robust information technology roadmap. They manage and prioritize the team's backlog accordingly and lead their respective Agile team in delivering most important customer/stakeholder outcomes. Product Owners may also prepare functional, system and program specifications and assist in implementation of systems, as well as participate in System initiatives and/or workgroups.

A successful candidate will be a leader with experience operating in complex organizations and delivering well supported solutions. The Product Owner must:

• Continuously learn about the customer, their business needs, and contribution of the product to their desired outcomes
• Work with the Lead Product Owner and Product Management to communicate, re-enforce the vision, goals, and product roadmap, in the form of features/stories with the Agile team.
• Possess enough business and technical knowledge about the product to engage in team discussions.
• Work closely with architecture, engineering, and quality assurance to ensure the right customer problem is solved.
• Communicate with both technical and business stakeholders to understand and gather requirements and translate into technical specification when necessary.
• Decompose and prioritize epics/features into user stories and define detailed test acceptance criteria.
• Ensure technology-driven and risk-remediation requirements are prioritized to prevent the accumulation of technical debt and other vulnerabilities.
• Support the team as a subject matter expert representing the business and clarify any arising questions from the agile team.
• Support application development with enabler stories.
• Determine if the work done to complete a story met success criteria and accepts when satisfied.
• Assist in the analysis of defects and enhancements to determine severity and priority as well as overall validity.
• Contribute to discussions on risks, dependencies, issues, and schedule updates as needed.
• Ensures agreement on actions to address dependencies between broader FRFS teams
• Present working software to stakeholders at team and system demos.
• Prepare innovative product proposals and messaging for product forums; present to Group-level governance forums
• Utilize data and feedback to make informed decisions and continuously improve the product.
• Actively monitor product-specific OKRs and manage to targets with stakeholders.
• Contribute to the elaboration and advancement of the roles and responsibilities for this position, identifying process improvements and sharing with peers.
• Actively promote Agile behaviors within business, technology and across FRFS.

What we are looking for:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology or any technical related field, or equivalent work experience.
• Typically requires a minimum of 7-10 years of related experience.
• Ability to bridge the business/IT divide in a way that establishes rapport and gains understanding.
• Possess a strong understanding of business requirement development and analysis including use cases, functional specifications, user interface specifications, etc.
• Effective problem solver with ability to identify challenges, brainstorm ideas and collaborate with cross functional teams to implement effective solutions.
• Ability to work independently with minimal oversight and manage multiple deliverables simultaneously; take ownership of issue resolution and completion of high-quality deliverables.
• Strong teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, multitasking, and time management skills in a highly matrixed organization.
• Ability to develop deep subject matter expertise for specific products and its broader ecosystem to effectively drive enhancements, support internal stakeholders and influence broader decision making.
• Ability to understand and resolve blockers and delivery risk quickly and without the need for escalation outside their product scope.
• Ability to understand competing priorities across technology and business areas, clearly articulate options, and use personal influence to define the resolution across their product set and areas with payment interdependencies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, ability to articulate ideas clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Certified Product Owner in Scrum or SAFe, preferably Advanced level, and recent JIRA experience are highly desirable
• Background in financial services industry with web applications in a cloud environment.

What we offer

• Comprehensive benefits package includes medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, 401k savings plan, retirement plan, paid time off, transit benefit, onsite gym and subsidized cafeteria
• A continuous learning environment with opportunities to gain new skills and grow your career
• The Chicago Fed offers benefits to support overall health and financial security. Learn more about our benefits here:

Other Requirements

• Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.
• This position has additional screening requirements due to the information accessed while performing the job. These additional screenings would be initiated at the time of offer acceptance and can take approximately two months to be completed. The screening covers areas such as education/employment verification, criminal history, credit history, and reaches out to your references and people that know you well.
• As a condition of employment, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago employees must comply with the Bank's ethics rules, which generally prohibit employees, their spouses/domestic partners, and minor children from owning securities, such as stock, of banks or savings associations or their affiliates, such as bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies. If you or your spouse/domestic partner or minor child own such securities and would not be willing or able to divest them if you accepted an offer of Bank employment, you should raise this issue with the recruiter for this posting, who can provide you contact information for our ethics official if necessary.

The expected starting salary range for this position is between $145,400 and $171,900 annually in addition to annual performance-based discretionary bonuses. Final salary and offer will be determined based on the applicant's relevant experience, skills, internal equity, and alignment with geographic and other market data.

Always verify and apply to jobs on Federal Reserve System Careers or through verified Federal Reserve Bank social media channels.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression, or veteran status.

Full Time / Part Time
Full time

Regular / Temporary
Regular

Job Exempt (Yes / No)
Yes

Job Category
Project Product Management Family Group

Work Shift
First (United States of America)

The Federal Reserve Banks are committed to equal employment opportunity for employees and job applicants in compliance with applicable law and to an environment where employees are valued for their differences.

Always verify and apply to jobs on Federal Reserve System Careers ( ) or through verified Federal Reserve Bank social media channels.

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