Technical Product Owner - Lead

Job Description

• Define and communicate the long-term vision and strategic roadmap for the core platform, encompassing infrastructure, shared services, common frameworks, developer tools, and security standards.
• Act as the voice of the internal customer (other Product Teams, Engineering Teams, DevOps) to understand their dependency needs, pain points, and requirements for performance, scalability, and resilience.
• Analyze market trends in platform technology (e.g., Cloud, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Observability) to ensure the platform remains modern, cost-effective, and competitive.
• Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for the platform, focusing on technical metrics like developer velocity, system reliability, security compliance, and cost efficiency.
• Manage, groom, and prioritize the Platform Backlog, translating architectural epics, technical debt, and cross-cutting requirements into clear user stories with defined acceptance criteria.
• Lead Agile ceremonies (sprint planning, backlog refinement, stand-ups, reviews) for the Platform Engineering team.
• Balance conflicting priorities between immediate feature delivery support, critical security patches, and necessary long-term architectural investment (technical debt repayment).
• Collaborate with the Chief Architect and Engineering Leads to ensure all platform development aligns with the overall Enterprise Architecture.
• Accept or reject completed stories based on the Definition of Done, ensuring high standards for code quality, documentation, security, and operational readiness.
• Serve as the primary liaison between the Platform Engineering team and the consuming Product Teams.
• Manage communication and dependencies across multiple technical teams, clearly articulating platform capabilities, upcoming changes, and migration paths.
• Create and maintain high-quality documentation (APIs, integration guides, service catalog) to accelerate adoption and reduce cognitive load for dependent teams.
• Conduct internal demos and training to socialize new platform features and drive adoption across the organization.
• 5+ years of experience in software development, engineering management, or product ownership in a technical domain.
• 4+ years specifically serving as a Product Owner or Technical Lead for a platform, infrastructure, or shared services team.
• Proven experience working with complex, distributed systems (Microservices, APIs) and Cloud-Native technologies (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Candidate should have a technical background history in platform & product development
• Strong understanding of modern DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines, GitOps, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and service meshes.
• Knowledge of core platform components such as API Gateways, identity management (OAuth/OpenID), monitoring (Observability), and container orchestration (Kubernetes/Docker).
• Ability to read, understand, and discuss technical designs, architectural diagrams, and trade-offs with Principal Engineers.
• Exceptional ability to synthesize complex technical information into strategic business context for executive review.
• Proven track record of influencing without direct authority and building consensus among senior technical leaders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presentation skills for technical and business audiences.
• Highly organized, self-motivated, and capable of driving multi-quarter initiatives across organizational boundaries.

Mandatory Competencies