Within the corporate office of Express Employment International, the Manager - Product Ownership is responsible for leading, developing, and scaling a team of IT Product Owners to ensure consistent, high‑quality product ownership across Express Employment International’s technology portfolio. This role establishes standards, coaching, and operating rhythms for product ownership while partnering closely with IT leadership, architecture, delivery teams, and business stakeholders to maximize value delivery.
Unlike an individual Product Owner role, this position does not own a single product backlog. Instead, it focuses on people leadership, portfolio alignment, governance, and continuous improvement of product ownership practices across ITS. The Manager - Product Ownership ensures Product Owners are equipped to translate strategy into execution, manage stakeholder demand effectively, and deliver outcomes aligned with EEI’s enterprise priorities.
This position sits within our Oklahoma City based corporate office, currently with an expectation to be onsite 80% of the time.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Product Ownership Leadership & Coaching
- Lead, mentor, and develop a team of IT Product Owners, ensuring clarity of role, accountability, and career growth
- Establish consistent expectations for backlog quality, prioritization, refinement, and readiness across teams
- Provide ongoing coaching to improve Product Owners’ effectiveness in value definition, stakeholder management, and decision‑making
- Support onboarding and continuous learning for Product Owners, including Agile, Scrum, and product management practices
Portfolio Alignment & Governance
- Partner with IT and business leadership to translate enterprise strategy into clear product priorities
- Ensure alignment between product roadmaps, capacity planning, and delivery commitments
- Facilitate prioritization conversations across products to balance business value, risk, and technical sustainability
Establish and maintain product ownership governance, including intake, prioritization, and escalation standards
Stakeholder & Cross‑Functional Collaboration
- Serve as a senior point of contact for business leaders regarding product ownership practices and expectations
- Collaborate closely with Architecture, Engineering, Security, and Operations to ensure product decisions align with enterprise standards
- Enable effective collaboration between Product Owners, Business Analysts, Scrum Masters, and delivery teams
- Support transparent communication of priorities, trade‑offs, and outcomes to stakeholders
Delivery Enablement & Continuous Improvement
- Monitor product ownership effectiveness using qualitative and quantitative indicators (e.g., backlog health, delivery predictability, stakeholder satisfaction)
- Identify systemic issues impacting delivery and partner with IT leadership to address them
- Drive continuous improvement of product ownership processes, tools, and ways of working
- Champion a customer‑focused, outcome‑oriented mindset across the Product Owner community
EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Business, Computer Science, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
- 7+ years of experience in product ownership, product management, or related IT roles
- 3+ years of people leadership experience, including coaching and performance management
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, OR ABILITIES
- Strong understanding of Agile and Scrum frameworks, particularly the Product Owner accountability
- Proven ability to lead through influence and facilitate prioritization across competing stakeholders
- Excellent communication, facilitation, and leadership skills
- Experience leading Product Owners in a complex, enterprise IT environment
- CSPO, SAFe POPM, Pragmatic, or similar product management certifications
- Experience working in a matrixed organization with multiple business units
- Background in workforce solutions, franchise‑based models, or large‑scale internal platforms (preferred, not required)
Not sure you meet every requirement? Apply anyway!
At Express, we celebrate what makes you, you. We value diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and talents—because we know that’s what makes us stronger together. If you're excited about the role, we’re excited to hear from you.
Express Employment International supports Express Employment Professionals franchises and related brands. The Express franchise brand is an industry-leading, international staffing company with more than 870 franchise locations in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Headquartered in Oklahoma City, our corporate team is committed to empowering franchisees by providing world-class support, training, and strategic guidance through a unified global network.
Our mission is to professionally market and provide quality human resource solutions through an international franchising network—benefiting our associates, clients, franchisees, corporate staff, shareholders, and the communities we serve.
Our vision is simple yet powerful: To help as many people as possible find good jobs by helping as many clients as possible find good people.