Product Owner

Position Title: Product Owner - CAX Dig Prop-Self Serv Txn - S&R
Reports To: Director, Digital Experience, Savings & Retirement
Department: Savings & Retirement
Term: Permanent Full-Time


Work Arrangements: This is a hybrid role. You will work in our office in Waterloo, ON a minimum of two (2) assigned, consecutive days every other week, plus a fifth (5th) assigned day per month. You are welcome to work from the office more than the minimum requirement and there may be some roles that are required to work in our office more than the minimum requirement.

The Opportunity:  Equitable is growing! We are looking for a Product Owner to join our Savings & Retirement team.

This role is responsible for maximizing the value of Equinet and all the Savings & Retirement eApps within. Specifically, this role focuses on digitizing transaction requests for advisors within EquiNet. You’ll continuously make choices about what to build and what not to build. In order to do so, the Product Owner is also responsible for the product vision and for managing the product backlog and stakeholders.

Now is an exciting time to join one of the Waterloo Area’s and Southwestern Ontario’s Top Employers for 2024! 

What you will be doing:

• Contribute to the North Star vision
• Articulate a future experience that is compelling
• Execute on the S&R Self-Serve Transaction roadmap to digitize transaction requests for advisors
• Increase client satisfaction
• Understand how to evaluate backlog items using value creation criteria
• Promote strategic alignment and operational efficiency by connecting their product group back to the product line or portfolio vision
• Use the product vision and road map to accept or reject new work requests
• Set expectations with business stakeholders for delivery of new capabilities
• Focus on continuous value creation each increment and stakeholder collaboration
• Define client-centric measures
• Establish client research panels, question development and identify pain points
• Gather client research to build current journeys and empathy maps
• Assess pain points and 'wow' moments for each persona
• Identify and describe client/partner value of the product item to the team in order to build a shared understanding with the squad
• Seek out frequent and ongoing conversations with clients/partners, especially during road map and key validation points
• Be an expert in defining capabilities that support the user journey
• Work with a development team to ideate and build the right solutions for the customers
• Draw the relationship from a backlog item and its value to an overarching product feature and business outcome
• Collaborate with the team on their objectives for each iteration

 What you will bring:

• Ability to negotiate with squads/teams, peers and stakeholders to continually deliver value.
• Able to analyze at a problem from 360-degree perspective than a tunnel vision effect. Able to be creative to deliver strategy in effective increments
• Comfortable working with a set of complex and unique problems and challenges and be able to articulate and provide solutions.
• Able to work with limited information to help articulate proof of concepts or high-level concepts for new ideas
• Works with all levels of the organization, manages various opinions and differing analysis.
• Able to manage conflict in a professional way that provides additional clarity of options and enables decisive decision-making is highly important to the role.
• Actively seeks and takes counsel on input of the backlog and priorities
• Understands key voices in developing the backlog and setting priorities and brokers the conversations so developers can speak directly with the experts
• Maintains the voice of the vision in discussions and has managerial courage to raise a different perspective based on experience results and outcomes
• Evaluates a product's business performance
• Takes accountability for outcomes
• Flexible, adaptable and open to organizational guidance
• Respectfully listens and engages in open thinking and applies learning
• Takes initiative and ensures decisive and swift decision-making
• Presents persuasively
• Writes clearly and concisely
• Develops and maintains advisor and client relationships

What’s in it for you:

• A healthy work-life balance with employee wellness top of mind
• Annual bonus program, annual vacation allowance, and company-paid benefits program
• An additional paid volunteer day each year so you can spend time giving back to the community
• Immediate enrollment in the company’s pension program with employer matching
• Employee resource groups that support an inclusive work environment
• Tuition support and specialized program assistance
• An onsite, full-service cafeteria with a variety of daily options
• Discounts on company products and services, and access to exclusive employee perks
• Regular EQ Together events focused on company togetherness and collaboration
  
  

As part of the recruitment/offer process you will be required to:

• Provide two professional references (minimum one supervisor and above)