Product Owner-Insurance Technology

Preferred Risk Insurance Services Overview: At Preferred Risk Insurance Services, we are committed to delivering innovative technology solutions that support our insurance business and drive operational excellence.

We are seeking an experienced Product Owner – Insurance Technology to join our team and help drive successful delivery of business and technology initiatives.

Position Summary

Preferred Risk Insurance Services is seeking an experienced Product Owner with a strong background in the Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance industry to support our technology delivery teams.

The ideal candidate will have experience working with insurance technology platforms such as Guidewire, AS400/iSeries, Data Warehouse, APIs/Integrations, UI/UX, or similar enterprise systems. Experience with any one or more of these technologies is valuable; expertise across all platforms is not required.

This role combines Product Ownership, Agile/Scrum facilitation, backlog management, delivery coordination, and stakeholder engagement. The Product Owner will work closely with business stakeholders, developers, QA, technical leads, architects, and leadership to ensure requirements are clearly defined, backlogs are prioritized, team performance metrics are maintained, and initiatives progress toward agreed delivery timelines.

Key Responsibilities

1. Product Ownership & Backlog Management

• Own, maintain, refine, and prioritize product and technical backlogs for assigned technology teams.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders and technical teams to gather, clarify, and document business and technical requirements.
• Create and maintain epics, user stories, technical stories, and acceptance criteria in Jira.
• Ensure backlog items are properly refined, prioritized, and ready for sprint planning.
• Balance business initiatives, production support, defects, enhancements, technical debt, and platform improvements.
• Work with technical leads and architects to understand technical dependencies, risks, and priorities.
• Ensure requirements, acceptance criteria, and business expectations are clearly communicated before development begins.
• Maintain backlog health by regularly reviewing aging items, blocked work, priorities, and dependencies.

1. Agile/Scrum Facilitation

• Facilitate and coordinate Agile/Scrum ceremonies, including:
• Daily Stand-ups
• Sprint Planning
• Backlog Refinement and Replenishment
• Sprint Reviews and Demonstrations
• Sprint Retrospectives
• Sprint Prioritization and Release Planning
• Support sprint planning based on team capacity, historical velocity, and business priorities.
• Identify and coordinate resolution of blockers, risks, and cross-team dependencies.
• Promote Agile best practices, team collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure Jira boards and sprint activities reflect current priorities and progress.

1. Team Capacity, Velocity & Delivery Metrics

• Track and maintain key Agile delivery metrics, including:
• Team capacity and availability
• Capacity allocation/focus factor
• Average sprint velocity
• Planned versus completed story points
• Sprint carryover and spillover
• Backlog health and readiness
• Work in Progress (WIP)
• Blocked items and dependencies
• Production support and unplanned work
• PO review turnaround time and pending reviews
• Coordinate capacity planning, accounting for PTO, holidays, production support, and other team commitments.
• Maintain Jira dashboards and reports to provide visibility into team progress, workload, and delivery performance.
• Analyze delivery trends and identify opportunities to improve sprint predictability and team effectiveness.
• Provide regular updates to management on delivery progress, capacity constraints, and risks.

1. Product Owner Reviews, Quality & UAT Coordination

• Conduct timely Product Owner (PO) reviews of completed user stories, enhancements, and defect fixes to validate alignment with business requirements and acceptance criteria.
• Review completed functionality and available QA evidence to ensure expected business outcomes are met.
• Collaborate with QA, developers, and business stakeholders to clarify gaps, address defects, and resolve issues identified during PO reviews.
• Ensure PO reviews are completed within agreed timelines to prevent delivery bottlenecks and unnecessary sprint carryover.
• Coordinate User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with business stakeholders when required, including test scenarios, business validation, and sign-offs.
• Identify recurring defects, requirement gaps, and opportunities to improve quality and reduce rework.
• Work with QA and development teams to establish clear review and acceptance processes while avoiding duplication of testing efforts.
• Maintain accurate Jira statuses and ensure stories are accepted and closed after applicable review and acceptance requirements are met.

1. Delivery & Timeline Management

• Partner with technical leads and delivery teams to establish realistic sprint goals, milestones, and delivery timelines.
• Monitor progress against agreed commitments and proactively identify potential delays.
• Coordinate with teams to address blockers, competing priorities, and dependencies impacting delivery.
• Communicate delivery risks, timeline changes, and mitigation plans to stakeholders and leadership.
• Support release planning, business readiness, testing, and implementation coordination.
• Promote accountability, transparency, and predictable delivery while ensuring commitments remain aligned with team capacity.

1. Stakeholder & Cross-Team Coordination

• Serve as a primary coordination point between business stakeholders and assigned technology teams.
• Collaborate with business leaders, IT leadership, architects, developers, QA, Scrum Masters, and other Product Owners.
• Facilitate discussions to clarify requirements, priorities, scope, and delivery expectations.
• Identify impacted teams and coordinate cross-functional dependencies early in the delivery lifecycle.
• Ensure stakeholders are engaged throughout requirements gathering, development, testing, and implementation.
• Communicate initiative status, risks, blockers, and decisions in a timely manner.
• Support Big Room Planning, roadmap discussions, and cross-team planning activities.

Required Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years of experience as a Product Owner, Technical Product Owner, Business Analyst/Product Owner, or in a similar Agile delivery role.
• Strong knowledge of the Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance industry is mandatory, including familiarity with policy administration, billing, claims, underwriting, or related insurance business processes.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience working with insurance technology or enterprise application delivery teams.
• Hands-on experience facilitating Agile/Scrum ceremonies, planning team capacity, and maintaining delivery dashboards.
• Strong working knowledge of Jira, including epics, stories, boards, workflows, dashboards, and backlog management.
• Experience managing and prioritizing product and technical backlogs.
• Experience tracking team capacity, velocity, sprint commitments, and delivery metrics.
• Ability to coordinate stakeholders, manage dependencies, and support delivery timelines.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and facilitation skills.
• Ability to work effectively with technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with one or more of the following technology areas:
• Guidewire PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, or ClaimCenter, or InsuranceNow
• AS400/iSeries or other legacy insurance platforms
• Data Warehouse, data integration, or reporting systems
• APIs, integrations, or enterprise services
• UI/UX or digital application development
• Experience supporting multiple Agile teams or cross-functional technology initiatives.
• Experience with SAFe, Big Room Planning, or Program Increment planning.
• Experience balancing strategic initiatives with production support, defects, and technical debt.
• Agile/Product Owner certifications such as CSPO, PSPO, CSM, PSM, or SAFe POPM.

Key Success Measures

• Backlog Readiness: Well-maintained, prioritized, and refined product and technical backlogs.
• Sprint Predictability: Realistic sprint commitments aligned with team capacity and historical velocity.
• Delivery Timeliness: Progress against agreed milestones with proactive identification and communication of delays.
• PO Review Efficiency: Timely review and acceptance of completed work without unnecessary bottlenecks.
• Stakeholder Alignment: Clear communication, timely decisions, and effective cross-team coordination.
• Agile Effectiveness: Productive Scrum ceremonies and continuous improvement in team practices.
• Delivery Transparency: Accurate Jira reporting and visibility into capacity, velocity, risks, and dependencies.
• Business Value: Delivery of prioritized initiatives aligned with organizational objectives.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a hands-on, technically aware Product Owner with strong P&C insurance business knowledge, excellent facilitation and stakeholder-management skills, and experience supporting Agile technology delivery.

This individual should be comfortable working across business and technical discussions, managing product and technical backlogs, facilitating Scrum ceremonies, maintaining team delivery metrics, conducting PO reviews, and coordinating teams to achieve agreed delivery commitments.

Insurance domain expertise is essential; specific technology platform experience is flexible.

Preferred Risk Insurance Services provides a competitive benefits package to all full- time employees. Following are some of the perks Preferred Risk employees receive:

• Competitive Salaries
• Commitment to your Training & Development
• Medical and Dental and Vision Reimbursement
• Short Term Disability/Long Term Disability
• Life Insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Telemedicine Benefit
• 401k with a generous company match
• Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Wellness Program
• Fun company sponsored events
• And so much more!