Product Owner

As a Product Owner, you will:

• Represent RRB customers and internal users and maximize the value of the solutions created within the scope of modernization efforts to improve customer service and streamline business processes across the agency.
• Collaborate with the stakeholders and Business Analysts to prioritize the product backlog, ensuring that the most valuable and critical features are developed first.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to create a vision and roadmap of the solutions aligned with the agency's strategic goals and priorities and repeatedly communicates the products vision with a variety of stakeholders, including customers, business users, and the development team.
• Provide additional context around the product vision by creating and sharing a product roadmap that provides a high-level, strategic visual summary outlining the vision, priorities, and direction for the solution over time.
• Prioritize needs to balance scope, budget, and time, weighing priorities and making trade-offs according to the needs and objectives of stakeholders.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives, and product backlog refinement.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period
• Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment.
• Within 1 year of appointment must acquire and maintain certification as a Contracting Officer's Representative (FAC-COR), Level 1 or higher. (Contracting Officer's Representative (FAC-COR) | FAI.GOV)
• Incumbent may be required to work outside of normal duty hours, such as nights, weekends, and holidays, due to operational needs.

Qualifications

Selective Placement Factor:

This position includes a job-related knowledge, skill, and/or ability that is required for satisfactory performance for the position. Selective placement factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represents minimum requirements for a position. Application materials must demonstrate the selective placement factor. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration.

The Selective Placement Factor for this position is:

A current Product Owner certification issued by a reputable Agile or Scrum professional certification body, such as Scrum Alliance (Certified Scrum Product Owner) or Scrum.org (Professional Scrum Product Owner).

In addition to meeting the selective placement factor above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below.

For Grade GS-14:

Applicants must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. Applicants must demonstrate possession of these competencies within the body of the resume; no separate statements addressing them are required.

1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

-AND-

One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities/competencies to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience:

• Collaborating with stakeholders and business analysts to prioritize and refine the product backlog so that the most valuable and critical features are developed first.
• Developing and communicating a clear product vision and translating that vision into well-defined requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Drafting and refining user stories and product backlog items into clear, executable tasks for the technical team.
• Participating in Agile ceremonies and applying Agile methodologies to drive modernization initiatives, iterative development, and continuous process improvement.
• Defining and executing go-to-production plans and conducting post-launch product performance evaluations to identify improvement opportunities, inform future investment decisions, and ensure solutions continued to meet evolving business needs.
• Providing expert technical advice, guidance, and recommendations to support agency IT decisions by analyzing business requirements, priorities, and constraints, understanding and anticipating client needs, and assessing system impacts.

Only experience obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Documenting experience: IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

Do not copy and paste the duties or specialized experience from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated based on how well you meet the qualifications listed in this vacancy announcement. Your qualifications will be evaluated based on your application materials (e.g., resume, supporting documents), and the result of the online assessment for this position.

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete the USA Hire Assessment.

You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics):

• Accountability
• Attention to Detail
• Customer Service
• Flexibility
• Influencing/Negotiating
• Integrity/Honesty
• Interpersonal Skills
• Learning
• Self-Management
• Stress Tolerance
• Teamwork
• Decision Making
• Reading Comprehension
• Reasoning

The USA Hire Assessments includes a cut score based on the minimum level of required proficiency in these critical general competencies. You must meet or exceed the cut score to be considered. You will not be considered for the position if you score below the cut score or fail to complete the assessment.

Overstating your qualifications and/or experience in your application materials or application questionnaire may result in your removal from consideration. Cheating on an assessment may also result in your removal from consideration.

Category rating procedures will be used to rank eligible candidates. Qualified candidates will be assigned to the following categories: Best Qualified, Qualified, and Minimally Qualified. Within each quality category, veterans' preference eligibles will receive selection priority over non-veterans.

The Category Rating Process does not add veterans' preference points or apply the "rule of three" but protects the rights of Veterans by placing them ahead of non-preference eligibles within each quality category. Veterans' preference eligibles who meet the minimum qualification requirements and who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10 percent will be listed in the highest quality category (except in the case of scientific or professional positions at the GS-09 level or higher).

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Resume showing work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment, and duties performed. Resume must not exceed 2 pages. Applicants will be removed from consideration if their resume is longer than 2 pages. Please see "How to Apply" for additional information regarding the limit.
• Product Owner Certification: Submit a copy of your current Product Owner certification issued by a reputable Agile or Scrum professional certification body, such as Scrum Alliance (Certified Scrum Product Owner) or Scrum.org (Professional Scrum Product Owner).
• Veterans' Documentation: If you are a veteran, you must provide a copy of your Record of Military Service (DD-214), and proof of your veterans' preference, if applicable. Veterans with a service connected disability must also submit a completed claim form SF-15 (click here for form) along with the required proofs. Go to FedsHireVets-Veterans Preference for more information.
• Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) documentation: If you are eligible under ICTAP, you must submit all required materials verifying your eligibility as listed in "Additional Information." These materials include:
  • Proof of eligibility: You must submit documentation such as a separation notice or other required material; and
  • SF-50: You must submit a copy of a recent Notification of Personnel Action, SF-50 that shows career or career-conditional competitive service status (Blocks #24 and #34 must be completed); and
  • Performance Appraisal: You must submit your most recent performance appraisal, which must be rated at least fully successful or equivalent. (This is not required if you are eligible for ICTAP due to compensable injury or disability retirement.) The performance appraisal may also be used as part of the ranking process and/or to verify your responses to the questionnaire.

Next steps

Additional locations