The Lead Product Owner is a hands-on position responsible for liaising between key Business / Product stakeholders across the firm and technology to exchange information in a concise and understandable way to promote development and delivery, operational stability, and quality process improvements, adhering to and implementing Agile principles on the assigned teams.
The individual will be an agile practitioner, with product and business knowledge with an attitude of continuous improvement. With experience of leading and managing people.
Lead Product owners will be responsible for managing the team, developing and executing the vision of how the product should function, define specific product features, and break those features into product backlog items and prioritize for the Scrum team to work on.
Works with Business Stakeholders and Product Managers to build the product vision, product roadmap and release Plan.
Responsibilities:
- The Lead Product owner will be responsible for developing and executing the vision of how the product should function, define specific product features, and break those features into product backlog items and prioritize for the Scrum team to work on.
- Managing the product owner team to support delivery, business prioritisation and focus.
- Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal; Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog Items; Ordering Product Backlog Items; Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible, and understood.
- Facilitate Agile development process, create and sustain high performing Agile teams, and help them deliver high quality software
- Participate in all needed agile ceremonies including but not limited to sprint planning, refinements, sprint review, retros, and daily standups, scrum of scrums and monthly release deployment activities.
- Work closely with Scrum Master and tech lead to ensure execution efficiency by through efficient sprint planning, maintaining optimal velocity, code quality and promotion of code into production
- Work closely with the Business/Product Heads and Scrum Master/tech lead in the adoption of Agile software development practices (creating product roadmaps and backlogs tied to business value delivery, high quality user stories, release schedules and delivery planning, scrum meetings, velocity, and capacity planning)
- Work closely with Scrum Master and tech lead to generate and monitor periodic reporting on team’s performance using Agile metrics - burndowns, Cumulative Flow Diagrams, Control Charts, sprint reports, test reports etc. to provide statistical proof of momentum and sustainability.
- Familiarity with SAFe framework and Program Increment planning. Collaborate with RTE to conduct PI planning sessions with Agile team members and stakeholders to ensure alignment on objectives and priorities of upcoming PI.
- Encourage Agile way of thinking for delivering business value for all team members and lead by example
- Subject matter expert in confluence & JIRA including creation of swim lanes and dashboard, running JQL queries and customizing filters, JIRA report extraction and bulk uploads etc.
- Influence a wide range of stakeholders (business, compliance, Legal, IT, etc.) to remove impediments and maximize team output.
- Encourage an environment where an open communication and collaborative problem solving can pave the way for faster removal of any impediments, and where the impact of mistakes can be minimized through early detection, making them into learning opportunities.
- Work closely with Scrum Master and tech lead to Identify, manage, and help mitigate issues and risks, with particular emphasis on timely removal of impediments for the team and/or directing obstacles to appropriate owners for quick resolution.
- Work closely with Scrum Master and tech lead to facilitate discovering and enacting continuous improvement strategies to increase the productivity of the team and quality of deliverables including the Code Quality and app monitoring setup etc.
- Compliance with Citibank policies and procedures for project delivery.
- Partner with Agile coach and other agile teams to share findings, best practices, and resources to help mature the organizations agility.
Recommended Qualifications:
- 3-5 years of experience within Product Owner and/or Product Management role and experience of the software development life cycle
- Deep understanding of Agile methodology and frameworks (Kanban, Scrum, Lean, SAFe etc.)
- Experience leading large scale enterprise transformation projects with global and cross functional teams in Agile environment
- Excellent interpersonal communication and facilitation skills and proven ability to work with Global teams
- Proficiency in JIRA, MS Office Tools with strong data analysis skills using MS Excel
- Intellectual curiosity, analytical and conceptual thinker
- Proactively seeks and develops new opportunities
- Attention to detail and process/analytic mindset
- Ability to build networks and relationships internally and externally
- Ability to collaborate and clearly communicate with team members of an organization
- Project Management skills with experience leading large cross functional initiatives
Education:
- Bachelor’s/University degree or equivalent experience
Nice to have:
- Experience in Capital Markets, Securities Services / Issuer Services / investment management within financial industry is a plus
Certifications/Qualifications:
- Certified Product Owner / Scrum Master (CSM), PMI-ACP (Agile Certified Practitioner), SAFe Scrum Master or similar certification
- Bachelor's degree/University degree or equivalent experience
- Master's degree preferred
This job description provides a high-level review of the types of work performed. Other job-related duties may be assigned as required.
The Team lead will report to the Global Head of Product Execution and Governance with a matrix to the India Cluster Head.
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Job Family Group: Product Management and Development------------------------------------------------------
Job Family:Product Development------------------------------------------------------
Time Type:Full time------------------------------------------------------
Most Relevant Skills Please see the requirements listed above.------------------------------------------------------
Other Relevant Skills For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.------------------------------------------------------
Citi is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.
If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi.
View Citi’s EEO Policy Statement and the Know Your Rights poster.
Skills Required
- 3-5 years experience as Product Owner or Product Manager with software development lifecycle
- Experience leading and managing people and product owner team
- Deep understanding of Agile methodologies and frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, Lean, SAFe)
- Subject matter expert in JIRA and Confluence including JQL, dashboards, filters, and bulk uploads
- Proficiency in MS Office tools with strong data analysis skills using MS Excel
- Experience leading large-scale enterprise transformation projects with global, cross-functional teams
- Excellent interpersonal communication, facilitation skills and ability to influence stakeholders
- Project management skills with experience leading large cross-functional initiatives
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience (Master's preferred)
- Certified Product Owner / Scrum Master, PMI-ACP, or SAFe certification
- Experience in Capital Markets, Securities Services / Issuer Services / investment management
Citi Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Citi and has not been reviewed or approved by Citi.
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Healthcare Strength — Benefits coverage is positioned as comprehensive, including health, dental, and vision insurance plus on-site clinics, prescription drug support, and disability coverage. Family-building support such as fertility assistance is described as a notable differentiator within the overall package.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are framed as strong, highlighted by a 401(k) with matching and additional plan options like a Roth 401(k). Financial support is reinforced through discounts and broader financial guidance resources tied to the benefits ecosystem.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing support extends beyond insurance through programs like an Employee Assistance Program, counseling/legal resources, and gym or wellness reimbursement. These offerings increase the perceived total rewards value even when cash compensation sentiment varies by role.
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