Product Owner (PO)
We are Diesel Laptops, one of South Carolina’s fastest-growing companies! Founded in 2015, Diesel Laptops has grown from 1 employee to almost 200 employees and nearly $50,000,000 in annualized sales in just 6 short years. After outgrowing several buildings, we’ve now put down roots in Irmo, SC, where this position will be based. We’re currently an industry leader in providing diagnostic solutions to fleets and repair shops. Whether it’s on-highway (like tractor-trailers), off-highway (like cranes and similar heavy equipment), or marine (like powerboats), if it has a diesel engine, we help fix it by providing the highest quality diagnostic kits, repair information, parts information, and related training and support services as a one-stop shop efficiency solution!
We’ve already disrupted an industry by providing fleet shop total solutions that no one else offers. Now it’s time to revolutionize the industry by strengthening our brand through our revolutionary products and services you will help build.
We currently have an immediate opening for an experienced Product Owner to lead the charge on bringing user-driven software enhancements to market with efficiency and aplomb. The ideal candidate will have a deeply-ingrained respect for user experiences and clear strategies for fostering an environment of collaboration. This role is ideal for someone with an entrepreneurial mindset and real-world experience distilling business value and goals into near-term roadmaps and refined product backlogs. The PO in this instance will play a pivotal part in helping us continue to mature our Agile software systems, increasing clarity around roadmap and requirements, and adding stability and predictability to our delivery process. Most importantly, you will be integral to helping us build better products that our customers love to use.
This role is specifically and distinctly a Product Owner position, rather than a Product Manager position. The PO will have the primary responsibility of managing and grooming development backlogs such that they ensure successful delivery of our highest-priority software projects. In that vein, the PO will be tasked with ensuring the backlogs meet definition of ready, writing and refining solid requirements, answering developer and QA questions, helping to resolve blockers, and the like. The PO will manage a quarterly roadmap for the teams they work with, and have input on our annual roadmaps as a result. While they will not be responsible for strategic planning, business case development, product-market fit, or validation efforts, they will work closely with teammates who do manage those domains to help produce the necessary artifacts for their backlogs.
The PO will participate in outbound product marketing and communication efforts by articulating value, target personas, user experience details, and nuances that our Marketing and UX Writing teams can use to create compelling messages. The same communication skills will be put to use ensuring proactive internal alignment and awareness regarding the changes the PO will usher through to delivery.
At Diesel Laptops, we believe user experience is king. To that end, we expect the PO to bring to this role a respect and understanding of common UX best-practices, curiosity, and laser-focus on what’s best for end users. This becomes especially important as we think about leveling up Diesel Laptops to take a dominant market position, as the best UX will almost always win battles for market share.
Diesel Laptops is a relative newcomer to both software and Agile methodologies. So the PO in this role will be a pioneer and evangelist as we evolve our practices, and will pave the way for a growing team and platform over the next few years. This is an exciting opportunity to help mold a practice from the start and infuse it with the principles and practices you espouse.
The successful PO will demonstrate a deep understanding of Agile software delivery practices, user experience-driven roadmap development, and requirements definition practices. They will understand the various and often conflicting pressures software development teams face and how to manage those effectively. This requires a strong will, clarity of purpose and direction, and yet also flexibility and curiosity. The PO must be collaborative and focused on team success rather than individual success, and excel at succinct, clear, and audience-driven communication patterns.
Responsibilities
● Successfully apply your deep knowledge of Agile software development principles, methodologies, and practices within functioning software engineering teams to ensure delivery goals are regularly achieved.
● Succinctly and effectively define user stories, requirements, issue resolution criteria, acceptance criteria, and associated artifacts for steady, predictable, and value-driven Agile software delivery.
● Gather data, expert insights, various perspectives, and more to develop a well-defined backlog and near-term roadmap that will increase revenue and user stickiness; measure success with reported KPIs on a quarterly basis.
● Show flexibility and curiosity as you adapt to change when new opportunities or data becomes available, while balancing disruption to planned work and delivery team stability.
● Advocate for the best user experiences in roadmap and backlog grooming exercises, requirements definition, and release planning.
● Thoughtfully plan and manage feature releases to optimize user value and decrease negative impact.
● Continuously manage and groom each development backlog for 2-3 teams of software engineers such that we remove bottlenecks and blockers to delivery and we have several weeks of work that meets definition of ready at any given point in time.
● Deploy your strong sense of clarity, purpose, and direction to resolve issues and solve problems with regards to conflicting priorities, urgent needs vs planned work, unclear requirements, cross-team dependencies, etc.
● Collaborate and build trust with internal stakeholders, subject matter experts, UX experts, and engineers.
● Ensure strategic goals are reflected in your work and communicated effectively and often to the teams you collaborate with.
● Lead through influence to achieve delivery and roadmap goals while focusing on team success rather than individual success.
● Apply succinct, clear, and audience-driven communication skills to messages regarding roadmap, scope, and value when discussing these with customers and internal stakeholders.
● Pioneer and evangelize Agile software delivery practices, user experience-driven roadmap development, and requirements definition practices. Help the rest of the Diesel Laptops company understand these topics and how they affect their domains.
Required Skills & Experience
● Intrapreneurial, self-starter mentality, and the experience to put them to good use in a team environment
● Emphasis on team-building and collaboration
● Leadership and team-management interpersonal skills, even if only with influence and not direct control
● Outstanding communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal, for internal and external audiences
● Proficiency in communication for end users and prospective users
● Experience communicating value and usage details to internal and external audiences
● Ability to build trust with new teams as they mature their own practices and experience change
● daptability and a willingness to pivot or manage change as new opportunities or issues arise
● In-depth knowledge of Agile processes and principles within a software context
● An understanding of computer science principles as applied to modern software products
● Understanding of business value around features/functions
● Sharp analytical and problem-solving skills applied to tough decision-making needs
● Ability to effectively manage conflicting stakeholder needs
● Strong alignment with and a deep understanding of strategic goals and how they should influence near-term roadmaps
● Proactive rather than reactive mindset
● High-level appreciation, respect, and experience managing projects with a user experience focus and a deep bench of complementing UX-focused roles, including research and design
● Curiosity and empathy with end-users so that you can identify needs not wants
Preferred Skills & Experience:
● Proficiency with applicable work management technology and tools such as Jira
● Familiarity with continuous delivery and deployment strategies such as truck-based development models
● Experience with design system tools, such as Figma
● Experience creating mockups or wireframes with tools like Figma or Whimsical
● Experience with user behavior tools, such as Pendo, Amplitude, or FullStory
Preferred Education
● Roughly 5 years of product management experience or at least 3 years of experience in product design, agile delivery, business analysis, data science, software engineering, or related field;
○ Or a Bachelor’s degree in a related field and a minimum of 3 years of related experience;
○ Or an advanced degree with a minimum of 3 years related work experience;
○ Equivalent certification programs also accepted
Portfolio: If there’s a project you’ve worked on, a presentation you’ve given, or a doc that you think really showcases your talents, we want to see it!
Travel: No regular travel required, though we may occasionally have you travel to the Irmo, SC office if you are not local
Attire: Casual attire permitted; professional attire may occasionally be required for specific events or meetings
Benefits
Health insurance (company subsidized)
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Health savings account
Life insurance
Disability insurance (short- and long-term)
Paid time off
401(k) with company matching funds
Employee assistance program
Company subsidized (up to 100%) training and professional development courses/certifications
Job Type: Full-time/40 hours per week; remote with the option of working from our Irmo, SC offices as COVID restrictions allow
● Must be eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship
● May be subject to criminal background checks
Pay: Salary/exempt; $75,000-110,000/year commensurate with experience
Structure: This position reports directly to the SVP of Product
How to apply: Apply on the Diesel Laptops webpage at https://www.diesellaptops.com/blogs/diesel-laptops-employment-opportunities
Point of contact:
John Mott
Recruiter
Diesel Laptops, LLC
7440 Broad River Rd
Irmo, SC 29063
Toll Free: (888) 983-1975 Ext. 860
JMott@DieselLaptops.com