Product Owner - Aegon AM

Job Description Summary

Company Overview:

Aegon Asset Management (Aegon AM) is a leading global investor. Our 385 investment professionals manage and advise on assets of US $337 billion for a global client base of pension plans, public funds, insurance companies, banks, wealth managers, family offices and foundations.

We organize our firm around four investment platforms: fixed income, real assets, equities and multi-asset & solutions, which includes a fiduciary and multi-manager business. Each investment platform has dedicated teams with deep asset-class expertise, organized globally and committed to maximizing client benefit from their specialist areas.

We are an international business: Our 1,170 employees work from 13 locations across Europe, the Americas and Asia. We share a common belief in fundamental, research-driven active management, underpinned by effective risk management and a commitment to responsible investment.

Position Overview:

The Product Owner (PO) develops and communicates their product's vision to be fulfilled by the agile team(s). The PO is the team's key stakeholder who serves as proxy for the customer, both internal and external, and effectively engages other stakeholders, including other POs, to define and prioritize deliverables for the agile teams. The PO is a member of the Agile Team who is responsible for maximizing the value delivered by the team and ensuring that the Team Backlog is aligned with customer and stakeholder needs. The PO has a significant role in quality control and is empowered to accept work as done. The PO is dedicated to fulfilling these responsibilities and participates in one or two agile teams. The PO works closely with the team to align around objectives and engages critical stakeholders.

Job Description

Responsibilities:

• Provide vision and serve as a champion of customer perspectives to the Agile delivery team.

• Ensure product aligns with company strategy and broader product strategies through regular communication with customers, stakeholders and product management.

• Establish and prioritize the product roadmap in alignment with critical stakeholders and its product backlog in collaboration with the team.

• Develop user stories and define acceptance criteria working within the scrum teams daily to set clear direction and expectations, articulate business requirements, remove roadblocks, and provide subject matter expertise through constant communication and collaboration with the delivery team, designers, and business stakeholders.

• Partner with the Scrum Master to align velocity, capacity, and trends to improve team workflow.

• Demonstrates servant leadership, team empowerment and self-organization by empowering teammates to solve problems on their own and cultivate relationships across the organization.

• Help the team make business trade-offs between near term and longer-term product goals. Provide leadership to make the hard calls on scope and competing priorities while realistically manage stakeholder demands.

• Ensure application support and maintenance priorities are managed within prioritized backlog understanding impacts and criticality against stakeholder priorities.

• Communicate effectively with cross-functional team members and Product Owners to identify dependencies and achieve project goals.

• Conduct user acceptance testing and approve features prior to release. Demo progress of features to other product managers and stakeholders.

• Participate in system demos at the end of the iteration and provide story/feature acceptance per the pre-agreed "Definition of Done" criteria.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, computer science, or experience work in a related field.

• Solid understanding of the product lifecycle.

• In-depth experience with agile methodologies, technical understanding of products, and up-to-date on industry standards and best practices.

• Comfortable working with multiple teams, in-house and remote.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

• Ability to write detailed product requirements and specifications related to acceptance criteria.

• Interpersonal skills and developing relationships with team members and customers.

• Excellent organizational and prioritizing skills.

• Able to build strong interpersonal relationships with business analysts, UI/UX team, leadership, senior management, and internal and external stakeholders.

• Experience with JIRA, or a similar agile product management toolset.

• Proficient computer skills, JIRA, Confluence, Microsoft Office Suite; working knowledge of software development.

Preferred Qualifications

• Two years of related work experience.

• Product Owner certification (e.g. CSPO, SAFe POPM).

• Track record of continued and recent education in agile, including training, conferences, user groups and self-study.

• Experience as a collaborative leader.

• Experience with Software Development Life Cycle producing software with the highest quality and lowest cost in the shortest time possible.

• Experience with capabilities related to investment platforms for the following asset-classes: Fixed Income, Real Assets, Equities, and Multi-Asset & Solutions.

• Experience with vendor systems such as:

• SS&C Precision LM - Loan Management

• FIS Private Capital Suite

• Private Equity Fund Accounting and Investor Management

• Yardi

• Property Management

• Altus Argus Enterprise

• Commercial Property Cashflow and Valuation

• RealPage

• Real Estate and Property Management

Job and compensation levels depend upon an applicant's qualifications including the extent of candidate's relevant experience and other job-related factors and will be determined by hiring supervisors/managers and HR.

At Aegon Asset Management, we are committed to fostering a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. We are more than a global Asset Management firm - we are a people business, and we recognize that delivering excellent client outcomes comes from embracing diverse perspectives. We value diversity in the full range of human uniqueness without limitation including race, gender, ability, language, culture, beliefs, age, origin, background, perspectives and experiences.

We are open to considering flexible working practices. Please talk to us about what this means for you.

#LI-Hybrid

Why Work for Us

At Aegon Asset Management, we invest in You.

Our people are our greatest asset; with a competitive rewards program including incentive compensation, health and wellness benefits, retirement programs, and learning and development opportunities, our employees are engaged and empowered. Come be a part of driving our success!

Equal Opportunity Employer:

AEGON USA Realty Advisors, LLC, is an Equal Employment Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate against any applicant or employee because of age, religion, sex, gender identity, genetic information, race, color, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, marital status, participation in the uniformed services (e.g. U.S. Armed Forces, National Guard), physical or mental disability, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local equal employment opportunities laws.

Applicants with physical or mental disabilities may be entitled to a form of reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and certain state and local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done which will insure equal employment opportunity without imposing undue hardship on the Aegon Companies. Please contact: applicantsupport@aegonusa.com if you are a job seeker with a disability, or are assisting someone with a disability, and require assistance to apply for one of our jobs.

Technical Assistance:

If you experience technical problems during the application process, please email applicantsupport@aegonusa.com.