Associate Product Owner (open To Hiring At The Product Owner Level) - Membership And Enrollment

Associate Product Owner (Open to Hiring at the Product Owner Level) - Membership and Enrollment

This opportunity is focused on supporting the Membership and Enrollment product team. This includes complex systems and functionality of all membership and enrollment processes. This is crucial to the core of our business. Success in this role will require strong cross-functional collaboration and strategic partnerships. The Product Owner will work closely with various agile teams and will need to effectively collaborate, build consensus, and drive initiatives with key support teams across multiple departments. The Product Owner develops and conveys the product's vision to the agile team, outlining and prioritizing work based on business value realization metrics. The ideal candidate will prioritize high-value work and align with our program's performance objectives to maximize impact and efficiency.

Wellmark is in a period of change. We are rolling out formal product teams throughout the organization. This is a brand-new position, and you will help continue the foundational work of defining this Membership and Enrollment product. Our change journey toward adopting agile principles, a product-focused mindset, and a culture of iterative progress will empower our employees to improve the impact on the healthcare industry.

Job Leveling Note: This role can be filled at an Associate Product Owner or Product Owner level depending on work experience, skills, and demonstrated ability. We invite you to apply whether you have the minimum experience required described below or if you have much more experience!

Qualifications

Preferred Qualifications:

• Prior experience supporting cross-functional teams (either formal or informal). Ability to coach and mentor others through guidance or feedback. Experience with conflict management and resolution.
• Executive presence and comfortability influencing and gaining consensus among executive stakeholders.
• Product development, product management, or similar experience that reflects general knowledge of the product development lifecycle (including measurement and management), strategic planning, and ability to collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to create innovative, data-driven solutions. Understanding of customer (client and member) needs and ability to translate these into competitive products and services.
• Prior experience in a Product Owner role (either formal or informal) operating within a SAFe organization, including demonstrated experience with agile and/or lean product management competencies of value measurement, optimization, and eliminating waste. Experience using agile requirements management tools (e.g., Jira or Azure DevOps).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to articulate complex information or solutions to stakeholders. Exposure to negotiation skills and techniques.
• Ability to identify issues or inconsistencies; obtains relevant information, relates and compares data from different sources and identifies alternative solutions.
• Demonstrated critical thinking, problem solving/troubleshooting and continuous process improvement skills.
• Analytical problem-solving skills and attention to detail; ability to identify and approach complex problems from different angles and apply technical knowledge to policies/procedures.

Associate Product Owner Minimum Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or direct and applicable work experience.
• Minimum 3+ years' experience in a combination of:
• Proven project management experience including managing project scope and schedule, utilizing industry standard project management methodologies.
• Eliciting detailed business requirements.
• Experience in a change management capacity aligned to an industry standard methodology.
• Exposure to the development and execution of user acceptance test plans, scenarios, and cases utilizing industry standard testing methodologies.
• Wellmark business acumen for specific product or division of this role.
• Demonstrates ownership and commitment to projects; drives tasks and milestones toward successful completion and holds themselves accountable for project performance.
• SAFe agile certification (e.g., Product Owner) obtained within 3 months.
• Possess or is willing to pursue certified Product Owner Certification.
• Experience successfully leading others through change.
• Demonstrated facilitation and influencing skills to drive decision making among stakeholders with diverse perspectives and priorities.
• Ability to work well in a team environment and be capable of building and maintaining relationships with other team members, departments, and customers.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex information in a condensed manner to various stakeholders verbally and in writing to achieve shared vision and goals.
• Strong problem solving and analytical skills.
• Ability to identify risks and deploy appropriate mitigation strategies to meet stakeholder/functional requirements.
• Strong group facilitation skills and presentation skills demonstrated through successful experience.
• Consulting skills required with excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite.
• Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) knowledge.

Product Owner Level Minimum Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or direct and applicable work experience.
• Minimum of 4 years of experience working with or leading agile teams through the delivery of value to the product's customer, including experience using agile requirements management tools (e.g., Jira or Azure DevOps).
• Minimum of 1 year demonstrated experience in Product Owner-type role, typically gained through membership of a defined product team within Wellmark.
• SAFe agile certification (e.g., Product Owner).