Senior Technical Product Owner

job summary:

BACKGROUND

The Senior Product Owner (specifically Technical Product Owner) will define product vision and priorities for a research-collaboration tooling initiative, translating business and research-collaboration needs into clear technical requirements and an actionable roadmap. This position partners closely with DevSecOps engineering and platform leads to keep this initiative's roadmap aligned with broader platform priorities.

The ideal candidate is both product-ownership fluent and technically literate, with enough platform-level knowledge of source-control, technical authoring, and file-collaboration tools to evaluate feasibility, ask informed questions of technical SMEs, and make informed technology decisions grounded in what the underlying platforms can actually do.

REQUIREMENTS

The candidate shall also demonstrate the knowledge and experience below:

Product Vision & Requirements Definition

- Define product vision and priorities for research-collaboration tooling and technologies,

elicited and validated directly with business stakeholders, architects, and technical SMEs.

- Convert business and research-collaboration needs into clear, actionable technical specifications and user stories.

- Prioritize features and enhancements based on both business value and technical feasibility.

- Maintain requirements traceability from business need through to technical delivery.

Platform & Technical Awareness

- Maintain working knowledge of the platforms relevant to external research collaboration - source-control/developer platforms, technical authoring and research-collaboration platforms, and file-collaboration/research-sharing platforms, sufficient to assess integration options and flag technical constraints early.

- Partner with engineering and platform architects to evaluate feasibility and integration approaches (e.g., authoring-platform-to-source-control sync, repository/access models for external collaborators) before decisions are finalized.

- Stay current on the research-collaboration tooling landscape as it evolves and re-scope the roadmap accordingly.

Technical Leadership

- Evaluate architectural decisions and technical tradeoffs with engineering and platform architects.

- Assess scalability and performance implications of product and tooling choices.

- Make informed decisions on technology stack and integration approaches (e.g., authoring-platform-to-source-control sync, repository/access models for external collaborators).

Cross-Functional Communication

- Serve as the primary translator between business stakeholders and DevSecOps engineering and platform leads.

- Communicate technical constraints, tradeoffs, and timelines to non-technical stakeholders in plain language.

- Communicate business priorities and external-collaborator needs to the engineering teams in actionable terms.

Process & Delivery Support

- Apply fundamentals of project management, organization, and process mapping to keep product and requirements work on track.

- Maintain clear documentation of decisions, open questions, and requirement changes (e.g., meeting minutes, decision logs).

- Support planning and prioritization discussions with program leadership.

Knowledge/Skill Requirements

- Bachelor's degree in a related field, or equivalent experience.

- 10+ years of experience in product ownership, technical business analysis, or a related role, ideally in a platform, tooling, or developer-collaboration context.

- Proven track record defining product vision and translating business/stakeholder needs into technical specifications and user stories.

- Experience working directly with business analysts, senior leadership, and engineers or architects to validate feasibility and make technology decisions.

- Working knowledge of source-control/developer-collaboration platforms (e.g., GitHub), technical authoring and research-collaboration platforms (e.g., Overleaf), and file-collaboration/ research-sharing platforms.

- Strong written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to translate between technical and non-technical audiences.

- Hands-on experience with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor) preferred.

- Ability to manage competing priorities across multiple stakeholders.

Preferred

- Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO), SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM), or equivalent.

- Experience supporting a research-collaboration, academic-partnership, or external-stakeholder engagement effort.

- Familiarity with Agile delivery practices (Scrum/Kanban).

- Federal government experience.

- Experience in a DevSecOps or platform engineering environment.

Deliverables

The Contractor shall deliver, but not limited to, the following:

- A product vision, prioritized roadmap, and technical specifications for research-collaboration tooling, traceable from business need through technical delivery.

- Feasibility and integration-approach assessments for research-collaboration platform initiatives, guided by insight from business analysts and economists and developed jointly with engineering and platform architects.

- Decision logs, meeting minutes, and other process documentation supporting the product workstream.

location: Washington, Washington, D.C.
job type: Contract
salary: $75 - 88 per hour
work hours: 9am to 5pm
education: Bachelors
responsibilities:

BACKGROUND

The Senior Product Owner (specifically Technical Product Owner) will define product vision and priorities for a research-collaboration tooling initiative, translating business and research-collaboration needs into clear technical requirements and an actionable roadmap. This position partners closely with DevSecOps engineering and platform leads to keep this initiative's roadmap aligned with broader platform priorities.

The ideal candidate is both product-ownership fluent and technically literate, with enough platform-level knowledge of source-control, technical authoring, and file-collaboration tools to evaluate feasibility, ask informed questions of technical SMEs, and make informed technology decisions grounded in what the underlying platforms can actually do.

REQUIREMENTS

The candidate shall also demonstrate the knowledge and experience below:

Product Vision & Requirements Definition

- Define product vision and priorities for research-collaboration tooling and technologies,

elicited and validated directly with business stakeholders, architects, and technical SMEs.

- Convert business and research-collaboration needs into clear, actionable technical specifications and user stories.

- Prioritize features and enhancements based on both business value and technical feasibility.

- Maintain requirements traceability from business need through to technical delivery.

Platform & Technical Awareness

- Maintain working knowledge of the platforms relevant to external research collaboration - source-control/developer platforms, technical authoring and research-collaboration platforms, and file-collaboration/research-sharing platforms, sufficient to assess integration options and flag technical constraints early.

- Partner with engineering and platform architects to evaluate feasibility and integration approaches (e.g., authoring-platform-to-source-control sync, repository/access models for external collaborators) before decisions are finalized.

- Stay current on the research-collaboration tooling landscape as it evolves and re-scope the roadmap accordingly.

Technical Leadership

- Evaluate architectural decisions and technical tradeoffs with engineering and platform architects.

- Assess scalability and performance implications of product and tooling choices.

- Make informed decisions on technology stack and integration approaches (e.g., authoring-platform-to-source-control sync, repository/access models for external collaborators).

Cross-Functional Communication

- Serve as the primary translator between business stakeholders and DevSecOps engineering and platform leads.

- Communicate technical constraints, tradeoffs, and timelines to non-technical stakeholders in plain language.

- Communicate business priorities and external-collaborator needs to the engineering teams in actionable terms.

Process & Delivery Support

- Apply fundamentals of project management, organization, and process mapping to keep product and requirements work on track.

- Maintain clear documentation of decisions, open questions, and requirement changes (e.g., meeting minutes, decision logs).

- Support planning and prioritization discussions with program leadership.

Knowledge/Skill Requirements

- Bachelor's degree in a related field, or equivalent experience.

- 10+ years of experience in product ownership, technical business ana