Product Owner

The mission of Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) is to radically improve how Washington residents secure health insurance through innovative and practical solutions, an easy-to-use customer experience, our values of integrity, respect, equity and transparency, and by providing undeniable value to the health care community.

The Exchange is a public-private partnership that operates Washington Healthplanfinder, the eligibility and enrollment portal used by one in four Washington residents to obtain health and dental coverage. Through this platform, and with support from a Customer Support Center and statewide network of in-person navigators and brokers, individuals and families can shop, compare and enroll in private, qualified health plans (as defined in the Affordable Care Act) or enroll in Washington Apple Health, the state Medicaid program.

The Exchange embraces the following equity statement adopted by our Board of Directors:

Equity is fundamental to the mission of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. The process of advancing toward equity and becoming anti-racist is disruptive and demands vigilance to dismantle deeply entrenched systems of privilege and oppression. While systemic racism is a root cause of many societal inequities, we must also use an intersectional approach to address all forms of bias and oppression, which interact with and often exacerbate racial inequities. To be successful, we must recognize the socioeconomic drivers of health and focus on people and places where needs are greatest. As we listen to community, we must hold ourselves accountable to responding to recommendations to remedy inequitable policies, systems, or practices within the Exchange’s area of influence. Our goal is that all Washingtonians have full and equal access to opportunities, power and resources to achieve their full potential.

SUMMARY

The Product Owner position is responsible for leading product improvements for both internal and external stakeholders at Washington Health Benefit Exchange. Product Owners work closely with representatives across business to make informed decisions on solutions that will meet organizational objectives. Product Owners are expected to maximize current and new technology capabilities relevant to functional areas of Washington Healthplanfinder, WAPlanfinder, and other integrated products. Product Owners focus on improving the consumer experience, address regulatory and/or legislative requests, reduce technical debt, support process improvement, and so on.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Defines, documents, and communicates strategies of implementation for the assigned change request
• Coordinates cross team dependencies and communicates strategies of implementation to the Product Supervisor, Lead Product Owner, Agile Transformation Coach, Lead Scrum Master, and key stakeholders
• Aligns stakeholders under a common objective for the assigned change request
• Responsible for stakeholder engagement, expectation setting, and prioritization of requirements
• Supports business with go-to-market strategy, ensuring the objective the assigned change request is met
• Facilitates the discussion and documentation of business, stakeholder, and functional/non-functional requirements supporting organizational objectives
• Manages team backlog by creating user stories, documenting acceptance criteria, business rules, tester watchpoints, and prioritizing backlog
• Mentors scrum team on the defined Agile processes for software development at WAHBE
• Mentors Business Systems Analyst on system design and business processes
• Schedules and facilitates sprint ceremonies pertaining to the assigned scrum team
• Participates in design thinking practices and works with designers, developers, and business stakeholders to bring alignment between consumer needs, business capabilities, and long-term strategies
• Responsible for ensuring design documentation is maintained, accurate, and updated throughout sprints
• Work closely with the Product Supervisor, shared services, business, technical, and other internal/external teams to define product strategy and support communicating enterprise roadmap
• Must be a cross-functional scrum team player who will step in, as needed, for testing or other functions such as operational maintenance
• Contribute to development of user guides, reference manuals, training materials and code release artifacts
• Other duties as assigned

Issue Analysis

• Perform issue analysis and quality assurance on incidents submitted through system issue management processes
• Support data correction efforts associated with system issues
• Maintain a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of product delivery and operations
• Notify the appropriate support structure that there is a problem and a need for assistance
• Collection, analysis, and correlation of data to determine and isolate the cause of the problem
• Perform or support the activities to recover, workaround, or circumvent the problem
• Support business teams in identifying and documenting workarounds, as needed
• Analyze incident information and documentation to assess the performance of systems and processes
• Provide support to business/technical teams and external vendors to prepare for annual auto-renewals, Open Enrollment, or other efforts
• Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, business or another related field
• Five years of IT systems analysis experience
• Basic understanding of project management methodologies
• Strong understand of Agile methodologies and scrum processes
• Strong analytical skills with experience that includes root cause analysis, business case development, gap analysis, process mapping, requirements management, design documentation, relational database design
• Experience delivering technology-centered solutions and ability to learn new systems and business processes
• Proven ability to refine business and system needs into clear and concise requirements that can easily be understood by technical and non-technical groups
• Ability to take initiative and make sound decisions while working with ambiguity and rapid change in a fast-paced environment
• Stakeholder analysis and management skills (business, technical, leadership, and cross-agency teams)
• Ability to work with remote development teams
• Experience with systems testing, to include developing and executing test cases
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills
• Ability to maintain a high level of professionalism, as well as discretion and confidentiality when working with sensitive information
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs
• High degree of communication, presentation, and organizational skills teams, stakeholders, and upper management
• Self-motivated, highly adaptable and positive team player with a can-do attitude

Desired:

• Soft skills such as emotional intelligence, communication, and empathy
• Experience in user-centered design, web interaction design and usability studies
• Certification related to business analysis, agile, product management, or design thinking
• Functional knowledge of the Washington Healthplanfinder system
• Experience working with Agile development methodologies
• Ability to write and perform complex SQL queries
• Experience working with highly integrated systems
• Knowledge of tools such as JIRA and Confluence
• Understanding of healthcare insurance is a plus

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

This position will be open until we find a suitable number of candidates to review. If interested, please submit an application with a cover letter as soon as possible. The Exchange reserves the right to close the recruitment at any time.

SALARY INFORMATION

Full Salary Range: $79,311.00 to $118,966.00 annually, with midpoint at $99,138.00.

Hiring Range: $91,207.00 and $99,138.00 annually. This is an estimate of where a qualified candidate can expect to receive an offer.

The actual salary offer will consider candidate experience, skills, qualifications, internal equity, and the market. Our compensation policy reserves the salary range above the midpoint for employees who are meeting and exceeding expectations and for growth and development, up to the maximum.

BENEFITS

Take a peek at our benefits package.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Core business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. There are times where irregular hours will be required. The preferred duty station is our Olympia, Washington headquarters. The nature of this role relies heavily on remote and in-person collaboration. While a hybrid remote and on-site schedule may be considered, the position will require flexibility to allow for in-office availability as business needs dictate. Travel requirements will be limited, however there may be occasions where an employee is required to travel and work irregular hours to attend meetings or trainings. Duties of this position require the use of standard office furniture and equipment, including setup for remote work. The employee is responsible for providing and maintaining a safe, ergonomic, and secure workspace at their remote location.

The working conditions and physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

A criminal background screen will be conducted for candidates under final consideration, and if hired, every five years of employment where highly sensitive data is processed or maintained by the position. The result of this background screen must meet the Exchange’s eligibility standards.

OTHER INFORMATION

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and levels of work being performed. They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties and skills of personnel so classified.

This is not an employment agreement or contract. Management has the exclusive right to alter this job description at any time without notice.

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

We participate in E-Verify. You can view the Department of Justice's Right to Work poster here.