What are the responsibilities and job description for the Product Owner position at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation?
SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.
In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network. The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., SMBC MANUBANK, JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.
The anticipated salary range for this role is between $166,000.00 and $205,000.00. The specific salary offered to an applicant will be based on their individual qualifications, experiences, and an analysis of the current compensation paid in their geography and the market for similar roles at the time of hire. The role may also be eligible for an annual discretionary incentive award. In addition to cash compensation, SMBC offers a competitive portfolio of benefits to its employees.
Role Description
The Product Solution Owner will play a pivotal role in transforming SMBC’s Cash Management product suite. This role is responsible for successful delivery of enterprise solutions, defining the vision for SMBC Cash Management, aligning the Agile Release Train (ART) and its stakeholders to this vision, and coordinating product development progress across multiple ARTs. The Solution Owner will lead interactions with stakeholders, business owners, and ART leadership. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience working in agile environments and managing product development roadmaps.
Role Objectives: Delivery
Define and articulate a clear, compelling product vision for SMBC’s Cash Management solutions in conjunction with business leadership
Communicate the product vision effectively to stakeholders, scrum teams, and ART leadership to ensure alignment and understanding
Oversee a group of direct reports, including all Product Owners and business analysts within the Cash Management division, to ensure the development of high quality outputs
Make informed, day-to-day decisions on product builds within the Cash Management scrum teams to drive the development of a new product suite
Champion a customer-centric approach to product development, ensuring user journeys and business value are at the forefront
Translate business value and user feedback into actionable product developments
Partner with architects and technology subject matter experts to define solution epics and capabilities, ensuring feasibility and timely delivery
Track product-specific KPIs post-launch, regularly updating stakeholders and initiating corrective actions as necessary
Manage a high-level product roadmap across multiple ARTs, creating MVPs and adjusting based on leading indicators and market feedback
Continually prioritize the Solution Train capacity and backlog based on KPIs, market needs, and business and strategic goals
Actively participate in Pre-Program Increment (PI) and PI Planning sessions to ensure that scrum team activities align with both short-term and long-term business objectives
Role Objectives: Interpersonal
Form strong partnerships with business stakeholders to agree and refine program scope, timelines and target deliverables. Promote coordination between program work-streams to ensure alignment and awareness of over-arching program objectives. Partner with impacted process owners to inform program delivery and objectives. Share expected outcomes and impact assessments to encourage buy-in on target end state. Cultivate and maintain internal network of subject matter experts to advise on questions and contribute to program delivery as required. Align with program management teams in other regions or business verticals to share best practice and collaborate on cross-divisional or cross-regional initiatives as appropriate.
Role Objectives: Expertise
Demonstrate a strong awareness of business stakeholder requirements and organizational context through delivery of complete, timely and sustainable program outcomes. Leverage excellent organizational skills to establish and manage well-structured program teams with clear roles and responsibilities. Employ communication skills to articulate a clear vision of program deliverables and encourage buy-in across all stakeholder groups, including business leadership, process owners and infrastructure partners. Continuously solicit feedback and insights from stakeholders and subject matter experts to inform improvements to program plans. Engage Six Sigma, lean and/or agile techniques as appropriate.
Qualifications and Skills
Extensive experience in product management, with a strong understanding of cash management concepts, including payments, receivables, liquidity, and fraud management
Proven ability to define and communicate a clear product vision
Collaborative, startup mindset and willingness to push for innovative solutions
Strong leadership and decision-making skills, with the ability to navigate complex solution environments
Experience in managing product roadmaps and backlogs, with a focus on customer-centric development
Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
Familiarity with Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is highly desirable
Experience working with digital collaboration tools like Miro and JIRA
Strong analytical skills with the ability to track and report on KPIs and make data-driven decisions
Ability to work collaboratively with architects, technology experts, and business owners
Additional Requirements
D&I Commitment
Responsible for fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion, holding leaders accountable for creating an inclusive environment through awareness and practice of equity in recruiting, developing, and promoting diverse talent.
SMBC’s employees participate in a Hybrid workforce model that provides employees with an opportunity to work from home, as well as, from an SMBC office. SMBC requires that employees live within a reasonable commuting distance of their office location. Prospective candidates will learn more about their specific hybrid work schedule during their interview process. Hybrid work may not be permitted for certain roles, including, for example, certain FINRA-registered roles for which in-office attendance for the entire workweek is required.
We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. SMBC provides reasonable accommodations for employees and applicants with disabilities consistent with applicable law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please let us know at accommodations@smbcgroup.com.
Salary : $166,000 - $205,000
