Sr Product Owner

Consumers Energy is Michigan's largest energy provider, providing natural gas and/or electricity to 6.8 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties. Consumers Energy knows job number one is to keep the lights on for customers. We are committed to delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy to our customers 24/7.

This position is not eligible for immigration sponsorship, e.g., H-1B, TN, etc. Please do not apply if you will need immigration sponsorship for a work visa now or in the future, including sponsorship for H-1B, TN, etc., now or in the future. We are unable to hire individuals with CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT for this position as the position is not eligible for participation in the H-1B lottery program and is not eligible for current or future immigration sponsorship for a work visa.

Location

This is a hybrid (virtual/onsite) position with required onsite days on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday assigned to Parnall Office located in Jackson, MI. The selected candidate must be within a commutable distance or willing to relocate (relocation package is available for those that qualify).

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General Summary of Job Responsibilities

The Senior Product Owner gathers and evaluates input from research, stakeholders, past experience, and Agile team members to assess potential work based on value. This role is responsible for defining new initiatives and visions by creating a product backlog-a list of new or changing features for a product-for Agile delivery teams, ensuring that each product backlog item clearly articulates business value. The Senior Product Owner develops business cases and justifications for product backlogs, including requests for annual or ongoing product funding required for financial planning and regulatory approvals. Taking ownership of the most complex and impactful products, the Senior Product Owner continuously analyzes the product's current state, identifies potential new work, and reviews completed work to determine the next steps for product improvement and achievement of business objectives.

This Senior Product Owner specifically focuses on the digital tools and automation used in the life cycle of Electric Supply delivery - from energy/capacity planning & modeling to prospecting, solicitation, & project execution, to operating power generation units. They will ensure we are maximizing the value we get out of our current tools and build the most impactful roadmap for future enhancements and tools.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Approve work for release and identify release timing needs with stakeholder input to ensure customer needs are met. Align with stakeholders to ensure they are expecting the release and are ready for new functionality as needed.
• Communicate the overall product vision, with a large focus on what and why product work is being done. This includes developing and/or contributing to presentations, business case justifications for product backlogs, and justification for annual or ongoing product funding.
• Focus on reducing technical debt while understanding the impact of approaches that expedite work to achieve value more quickly, even if those approaches may create complexity or issues for future work. Work toward improving the flow of work and reducing overall technical debt in the product.
• Lead Agile team events. Attend and represent customers and stakeholders, making decisions about product priorities and conflicts that arise during Agile team activities. Be prepared to clarify and communicate the vision and known details regarding the value and objectives of product backlog items.
• Make decisions on when something is "done" and ready to begin realizing value or objectives. Validate that the completed work meets the team's "definition of done," stakeholder feedback, addresses risks and issues, and meets unique, defined acceptance criteria.
• Manage customer and stakeholder expectations, including resolving ambiguous business priority conflicts. Continuously evaluate expectations against all work in the product backlog, then set expectations with all known work in mind.
• Manage, prioritize, and clarify backlog items according to evolving business and project conditions. Constantly analyze, change, and reprioritize the current product backlog, adjusting based on feedback, new input, questions, new learnings, or other changing circumstances that provide new insight into achieving business outcomes and value for the product.
• Elicit and express customer and stakeholder needs into the product backlog, including gathering and analyzing input from research, stakeholders, past experience, and Agile team members so that needs and value can be clearly documented. The goal is to define the backlog in a way that delivers sequential and incremental value frequently.
• Perform other duties as assigned or as necessary.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Business area and product knowledge.
• Analytical skills.
• Verbal, written, and facilitation skills.
• Conflict resolution and negotiation skills.
• Ability to define a vision based on input from multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to quantify, evaluate, and communicate product progress.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity.
• Ability to manage and prioritize the product backlog.
• Ability to understand, analyze, and anticipate stakeholder needs.
• Ability to act as the primary liaison with decision-making authority.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in product management, engineering, or information technology, and at least four (4) years of experience as a subject matter expert in a product, industry, or business area as well as direct experience working with products and stakeholders, and prior roles as a business analyst or product owner.
• (OR) Associate's degree in product management, engineering, or information technology, and at least six (6) years of experience as a subject matter expert in a product, industry, or business area as well as direct experience working with products and stakeholders, and prior roles as a business analyst or product owner.
• (OR) High school diploma and at least eight (8) years of experience as a subject matter expert in a product, industry, or business area as well as direct experience working with products and stakeholders, and prior roles as a business analyst or product owner.
• Proven ability to analyze, assess value, and prioritize potential improvements to products or areas.
• Strong experience in communicating, negotiating, and managing stakeholder expectations.

Why should you join our team?

At Consumers Energy, we offer more than just a place to work. We foster a culture that supports career development, growth, and stability, and we take pride in offering our co-workers excellent benefits and compensation packages. We are deliberately creating an inclusive culture that makes our diverse team of co-workers feel valued, supported, and empowered every day. We're a company made up of thousands of people, all with different stories to share and work to do, but we stand united in our company purpose: world class performance delivering hometown service.

What we offer:

• Competitive compensation packages
• Medical, Dental and Vision
• 401k with company match
• Paid parental leave
• Up to 13 paid Holidays
• Paid time off
• Educational Assistance Program

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

We, at CMS Energy, value Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. It is part of our DNA. We treat our employees with respect, we treat each other fairly and we value the opinions of others. We are passionate about building and nurturing an environment where everyone feels included. We don't discriminate. We seek to learn about each other and better understand our unique differences. Our uniqueness makes us authentic. We create safe spaces where everyone can be who they truly are. We invite difficult conversations and uncomfortable topics. We value diverse perspectives; this is what makes us great together. We harbor an inclusive environment where employees feel empowered to share their backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. Our Employee Resource Groups, Women in Energy (WE), Minority Advisory Panel (MAP), Pride Alliance of Consumers Energy (PACE), GENERGY, capABLE, Interfaith and Veterans Advisory Panel (VAP) are key enablers to living the values of our company culture: Caring, Empowered, Deliberate, Agility, and Ownership.

All qualified applicants will not be discriminated against and will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected veteran status, disability, race, color, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.