Brief Description
The Product Owner plays a critical role in driving the development and delivery of highly configurable insurance rating and underwriting systems within Agile teams. This position is responsible for translating complex business strategy, carrier requirements, and regulatory needs into precise, actionable product requirements. Working with algorithmic rating engines and integration-heavy products, the Product Owner must demonstrate exceptional attention to detail in requirement gathering, documentation, and technical specification. This role serves as the primary liaison between insurance carriers, business units, and development teams, ensuring that sophisticated rating, forms and policy issuance solutions are built to exact specifications and deliver maximum value to our carrier clients.
Responsibilities And Essential Functions
Backlog Management & Requirements
- Own and manage product backlogs across two Agile teams supporting rating, forms and policy issuance systems
- Write detailed user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical specifications for algorithmic and configuration-heavy products
- Document complex rating logic, business rules, underwriting algorithms, and maintain supporting artifacts such as data models, workflow diagrams, and API specifications
- Define validation rules, edge cases, and error handling requirements
Technical Collaboration
- Collaborate closely with engineering teams and product analysts on JSON schema definitions, XML structures, and XSLT transformations
- Partner with architects and developers to define API contracts, payload structures, and integration requirements
- Review technical implementations for alignment with specifications and participate in design discussions to ensure feasibility
- Understand and document data mapping requirements between systems
Stakeholder Engagement
- Translate complex carrier business rules and rating algorithms into clear technical requirements
- Lead requirement gathering sessions and capture nuanced business logic
- Present product updates, gather feedback, and manage stakeholder expectations on timelines, scope, and technical constraints
Agile Leadership
- Lead Agile ceremonies including sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, and retrospectives
- Prioritize features based on carrier impact, business value, technical dependencies, and regulatory requirements
- Make data-driven decisions that balance immediate carrier needs with long-term strategic product goals
- Monitor product performance, defects, and customer feedback to inform continuous improvement
- Analysis and delivery of various monthly product usage reports, charts and documentation (including using CSV data importing to Excel; Pivot tables, charts)
Cross-Functional Partnership
- Partner with Product Managers, Product Analysts, Engineering, QA, Design, Implementation, and Customer Success & Support teams
- Work with technical writers to create comprehensive product documentation
Requirements
Experience
- Minimum 3-5 years in product ownership or business analyst roles, preferably in insurance technology or highly technical B2B software products
- Insurance domain experience strongly preferred, particularly with: policy administration systems, insurance product types (commercial lines, personal lines) and rating factors, and actuarial concepts and rating methodologies
- Proven ability to manage complex, configuration-driven products with algorithmic components
- Experience working with geographically distributed or offshore development teams is a plus
Technical Skills & Competencies
- Strong technical aptitude with ability to understand and document complex system architectures
- Hands-on experience or working knowledge of: JSON data structures and schema design, XML formats and transformations, XSLT for data transformation and templating, RESTful API design and integration patterns, and API documentation tools (Swagger/OpenAPI/Postman)
- Ability to read and understand code samples to validate implementation
Requirements Documentation
- Exceptional attention to detail and technical writing skills
- Ability to translate complex logic into clear, testable requirements
- Experience documenting algorithmic logic, calculation rules, and decision trees
- Ability to create process flows, data flow diagrams, and system integration diagrams
Agile & Tools
- Deep understanding of Agile/Scrum methodologies and backlog management best practices
- Proficiency with Jira, Confluence, and other Agile project management tools
- Familiarity with version control concepts (Git) and development workflows
Core Competencies
- Analytical Thinking - Strong problem-solving skills with systematic approach to analyzing complex business problems, breaking down complexity, and translating requirements into technical solutions
- Detail Orientation - Meticulous attention to detail with commitment to accuracy and completeness, including ability to catch inconsistencies, gaps, and edge cases in requirements, and thoroughness in documentation and follow-through
- Communication - Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English with ability to communicate technical concepts to business audiences and business concepts to technical teams, facilitate discussions and achieve consensus among diverse stakeholders, and present effectively to executive leadership and external clients
- Customer Focus - Demonstrated ability to understand and advocate for carrier needs through direct engagement and data analysis, with commitment to delivering high-quality, reliable products that meet exact specifications
- Leadership & Collaboration - Proven leadership in cross-functional team environments with ability to influence without direct authority, build relationships across cultures and time zones, and self-direct while managing multiple priorities independently
- Adaptability - Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities while maintaining focus on quality and detail, demonstrating flexibility in approach and receptiveness to feedback with commitment to continuous learning
