Product Manager/Product Owner

Role: Product Manager

Location: DMV Rocky Mount, NC

Inperson Interview

Key Responsibilities  

• Partners closely with vendor teams to drive iterative delivery of working software and services.  
• Help hold vendors accountable for timelines, product quality, usability, testing readiness, issue resolution, and delivery expectations  
• Exercises sound judgment in making day-to-day product and operational decisions while understanding when risks, policy concerns, stakeholder conflicts, or delivery challenges should be escalated to the Product Owner 
• Leads backlog refinement, sprint planning, release coordination, and product prioritization activities while supporting roadmap development and milestone planning. 
• Monitors product performance and operational outcomes through analytics, customer feedback, operational metrics, and frontline observations to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for continuous improvement 
• Champions user-centered, iterative, and outcome-driven delivery practices that focus on delivering measurable value to customers, staff, and the agency through incremental improvements and continuous learning 

Required Skills & Experience  

• Experience leading the development, launch, modernization, or continuous improvement of digital products, software platforms, or customer-facing technology services. 
• Demonstrated experience working across the full product lifecycle, including discovery, prioritization, delivery, launch, measurement, and continuous improvement. 
• Experience working closely with software development teams, designers, vendors, and engineers in Agile or iterative delivery environments. 
• Strong ability to balance user needs, operational constraints, business objectives, policy requirements, and technical considerations when making product decisions. 
• Experience conducting user research, usability testing, customer interviews, service design activities, or other customer-centered product discovery practices. 
• Familiarity with accessibility, customer experience, service design, or digital transformation initiatives. 

Preferred experience working in government, transportation, financial services, healthcare, or other policy- or regulation-constrained environments. 

Desired Attributes 

• Demonstrated curiosity about customer behavior, operational challenges, and opportunities to improve public services.  
• Comfortable working in ambiguity and using research, data, and experimentation to inform decisions.  
• Ability to balance customer needs, operational realities, technical constraints, and business priorities when making recommendations.  
• Strong ownership mindset with a bias toward action, continuous improvement, and delivering measurable outcomes.  
• Experience working in highly regulated environments where policy, compliance, and technology considerations must be balanced.  
• Passion for improving government services through modern digital products and user-centered design. 

Soft Skills  

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.  
• Ability to influence decisions and build alignment across stakeholders without direct authority.  
• Strong facilitation and active listening skills, particularly when working with customers, frontline staff, and leadership.  
• Comfortable navigating competing priorities, making tradeoffs, and driving decisions forward.  
• Collaborative, adaptable, and resilient in fast-paced environments with evolving priorities. 

Education   

• Bachelor''s degree in a related field or equivalent professional experience.  
• Relevant fields may include business, public administration, information systems, computer science, engineering, design, human-computer interaction, communications, or related disciplines.  
• Product management, Agile, Scrum, service design, UX research, or customer experience certifications are a plus but not required.