Product Owner

About Us: Imagine Your Future with Us Since 1971, Paychex has been at the forefront of simplifying HR, payroll, and benefits for American businesses. Our digital HR technology and advisory solutions cater to the changing needs of employers and their employees. With our award-winning training and endless opportunities for growth and development, you can build a lifelong career with us. We pride ourselves on fostering an inclusive and innovative culture. Our leaders are here to support your career journey; they and our dedicated employees embody the values that drive us to support each other, our clients, and our communities. Join us to pursue your passion and unleash your potential. Overview:
**Job Description**:
The product owner will meet with business and technology leaders, and sometimes end users, to understand objectives and create epics and user stories to meet those objectives. The product owner understands that the best way to build software is to partner with the software team and effectively balances negotiation, direction, and collaboration to achieve objectives and build a strong culture. The product owner works with the engineering team on a daily basis. At no time is the software team waiting for the product owner to answer questions, provide input, or provide clarification.

**Responsibilities**:

- **Job Responsibilities**:

- Own and manage the product backlog, ensuring it is well-groomed, prioritized, and aligned with business goals.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to gather and define business requirements, translating them into clear and actionable user stories.
- Facilitate backlog refinement sessions and reviews with the development team.
- Act as the primary liaison between business stakeholders and the development team, ensuring clear communication and shared understanding of priorities.
- Ensure high-quality story documentation with detailed acceptance criteria and business context.
- Proactively identify and address gaps in requirements, dependencies, and risks throughout the development lifecycle.
- Push back constructively when necessary to maintain product integrity and ensure team accountability.
- Continuously evaluate product outcomes and user feedback to inform future iterations and improvements.
- Champion Agile best practices and contribute to process improvements within the team.
- Support data-driven decision-making through analysis using tools like SQL or Splunk.
- Collaborate with QA and development teams to ensure thorough testing and validation of deliverables.
- Stay current with industry trends and technologies relevant to the product domain.

Qualifications:

- **Job Requirements**:

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or Management.
- 5+ years of relevant experience as a Product Owner or Business/Requirements Analyst in an Agile software development environment.
- Proven experience as a Product Owner:

- Creating user stories, grooming a backlog, discovering business requirements, and negotiating with the team.
- Detail-oriented, with strong story documentation practices.
- Demonstrated leadership and the confidence to push back when needed, especially in situations where the team may be reluctant to support the PO.- Track record of self-directed learning, effective communication, organization, attention to detail, decision-making, and leading without formal authority.
- Solid understanding of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
- Agile certifications (e.g., Practitioner, Product Owner, Scrum Master) are a plus.
- Experience with SQL or Splunk.
- Prior experience as a software developer or tester is a plus.

Live the Paychex Values:

- Act with uncompromising integrity.

- Provide outstanding service and build trusted relationships.

- Drive innovation in our products and services and continually improve our processes.

- Work in partnership and support each other.

- Be personally accountable and deliver on commitments.

- Treat each other with respect and dignity.

Not sure if you meet every requirement?: At Paychex, we know that great talent comes in many forms. If you're passionate about the role but don't check every box, we still encourage you to apply. You might be the right fit - either for this position or another opportunity with us.

Paychex is an equal opportunity employer that fosters a workplace culture of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. Our valued employees and commitment to DEI are the essence of our internal and external success.