Vice President - Technology Product Owner

About the Position

Vice President - Technology Product Owner

Join Controls Technology division as a Technology Product Owner. In this critical role, you will act as the bridge between complex business needs and our engineering teams. You will be empowered to translate intricate requirements for risk and control systems into a flawlessly managed backlog of epics and user stories. Your primary mission is to drive the delivery of high-quality, compliant software by ensuring our development teams have the clarity and context needed to execute effectively, sprint after sprint. This is a role for a product owner - someone who thrives on execution, champions quality, and is passionate about building world-class technology solutions in a dynamic, global financial environment.

Responsibilities

Backlog Ownership & Agile Execution

• Own and Master the Backlog: Meticulously create, refine, and prioritize the product backlog, ensuring it is transparent, well-understood, and always ready for at least two sprints ahead.
• Translate Vision into Action: Deconstruct complex business requirements into well-defined Epics, User Stories, and precise Acceptance Criteria, ensuring a high percentage of stories are accepted without rework.
• Drive Sprint Success: Serve as the dedicated point of contact for the engineering team, providing unwavering clarity during sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and throughout the development cycle to remove ambiguity.

Solution Definition & Quality Assurance

• Define the "What": Partner with business stakeholders to elicit, analyze, and document requirements, defining the precise solution to be built.
• Champion Quality: Drive a quality-first mindset with a relentless focus on clear, testable acceptance criteria to minimize ambiguity and reduce critical defects in UAT.
• Demonstrate Value: Conduct compelling demos of new functionalities to stakeholders, showcasing the value delivered and gathering immediate feedback for iterative improvement.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Domain Leadership

• Build Partnerships: Act as the key liaison between business users, engineering teams, UX and other technology partners, fostering a collaborative environment to ensure seamless delivery.
• Become the SME: Develop a deep expertise in your assigned Controls Technology modules, becoming the recognized go-to subject matter expert for the team and key stakeholders.
• Facilitate with Purpose: Lead and actively contribute to all agile ceremonies, ensuring refinement and planning sessions are efficient, productive, and outcome focused.

Innovation in Execution

• Leverage AI Tools: Utilize cutting-edge AI tools to accelerate requirements analysis, improve the quality of user story documentation, and enhance feature file generation.
• Mitigate Risk Proactively: Identify and flag potential risks and dependencies that could impact schedule or quality, and work with leadership to drive mitigation strategies.

Requirements

Core Qualifications

• Experience: 8+ years of experience in a technology-centric role within the financial services industry, including 5+ years as a dedicated, execution-focused Product Owner in an Agile/Scrum environment.
• Domain Expertise: Proven background in Risk and Controls, Operational Risk, or Regulatory functions.
• Agile Product Expertise: Deep, hands-on expertise in managing a product backlog, writing high-quality user stories, and leading agile ceremonies.
• Technical Fluency: A strong ability to understand technical concepts and engage in detailed discussions with engineering teams on feasibility and solutioning.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Computer Science, Engineering, Finance). A management degree such as an MBA is a plus.

Preferred Skills & Certifications

• Certifications: Industry-recognized certifications such as CSPO, A-CSPO, PSPO, SAFe POPM, or CBAP are highly desirable.
• Tooling: Expert-level proficiency with agile management software (e.g., Jira, Confluence).
• AI in Practice: Hands-on experience using AI tools within a software development lifecycle is a significant advantage.

We Offer

• Hybrid Work Environment: Flexible work arrangements to support your work-life balance.
• Professional Growth: Opportunities for continuous learning and career advancement.
• Inclusive Culture: A diverse and inclusive workplace where every voice is valued.

About the Company

Working at Citi is far more than just a job. A career with us means joining a team of approximately 219,000 dedicated people from around the globe. At Citi, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your career, give back to your community, and make a real impact.

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.