Product Owner

Ascend Learning is a national leader in data driven, online educational solutions for learners, educators and employers in high-growth, licensure-driven professions spanning healthcare, fitness and wellness, skilled trades, insurance and financial services. We are passionate about accelerating learning while impacting job readiness, employment success and employee retention with the belief that our work changes lives.

Our culture is intentionally results-driven and selfless, with a relentless focus on our customers. We believe in trust, transparency, freedom, and responsibility with a commitment to meritocracy, inclusion, and diversity of thought. Continual investment in our over 1400 employees is also a core principle realized through ongoing professional development and providing opportunities to grow, develop and lead. Ascend Learning is headquartered in Burlington, MA, with additional office locations and remote workers in cities across the U.S. and in the U.K

The position of NHA Product Owner works cross-functionally on all stages of the product lifecycle: participating in solution identification, collaborating with teams to identify requirements, and focused on the execution of design, build, testing, and launch. This Product Owner is specifically aligned with Analytics and Data Science development teams, and will work with various stakeholders to outline concepts, document requirements, and represent the users and business during build, testing, and implementation of solutions. These solutions will be a combination of new products and enhancements to existing products. This role will partner closely with the Product Managers to ensure alignment with NHA's strategy, as well as with the development teams on feasibility of the solution.

Job Responsibilities:

• Perform a solution-oriented role of a Business Analyst and Product Owner at a technology-based educational tool & assessment provider, with an emphasis on data & analytics solutions
• Work closely with Analytics and Data Science development teams and resources to drive the solution and implementation of multiple complex initiatives on time, budget, and within the defined scope
• Participate in ideation process; generate and document detailed requirements, functional specifications, and acceptance criteria for product and process enhancements
• Collaborate with User Experience (UX) team to apply UX and design-thinking concepts to data products and services that will be used by non-technical internal and external users
• Serve as direct representative of the business with delivery teams, representing/reinforcing the customers' perspective throughout the product realization cycle

• Actively support product design work, soliciting customer and other stakeholder feedback on concepts and prototypes
• Alongside Product Managers, manage, prioritize, and assess the impact of all work items such as new features, defects, etc.
• Assist with project-level plans related to schedule, scope and resources. Participate in SAFe (Scaled Agile) ceremonies including standups, retrospectives, and sprint demos, working in partnership with agile teams
• Assist with functional testing, including reviewing and accepting or declining output of development to ensure specified acceptance criteria have been completed
• Review and, when appropriate, accept and prioritize feedback and new requirements from stakeholders

• Work with the business process owners to develop metrics to manage and track benefits, adoption and risks to operations
• Drive ongoing improvements and efficiencies in product health, operational practices, tools and processes

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent industry experience

• Required 4+ years of relevant experience, including requirement and acceptance criteria creation
• Experience working in a software and/or hardware development environment leveraging agile principles
• Experience writing requirements and using product management and development tracking tools (e.g., Jira, Trello)

Skills and Abilities:

• Proven history of effectively gathering and managing requirements for technical projects
• Demonstrated leadership and effective communication in a matrixed organization
• Ability to bring the creative ideas of others to market
• Ability to maintain high productivity and effectiveness through ambiguous tasks
• Readily own tasks outside of immediate scope of responsibility

• Proven technical aptitude to effectively partner with development teams; desired familiarity with Kafka, LTI 1.1, Angular, Artificial Intelligence, PowerBI, and other data/analytics technologies
• Analytical thinker and problem-solver with a focus on quality & a high level of detail
• Prior experience using software tools to manage workload, issues, and risks.

Candidates should be aware that Ascend Learning currently maintains a policy requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated. Newly hired employees must be fully vaccinated by their start date. Ascend Learning is an equal opportunity employer and will provide a reasonable accommodation to those unable to be vaccinated where it is not an undue hardship to the Company to do so as provided under federal, state, and local law.Exceptions to the vaccine requirement may apply for employees living or working in Montana.

Ascend Learning, LLC is proud to be an equal opportunity employer (M/F/Vets/Disabled). No agency or search firm submissions will be accepted. Applications for U.S. based positions with Ascend Learning, LLC must be legally authorized to work in the United States and verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.

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