Lead Product Owner, Service Operations

Simon Fraser University

$107K — $128K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Master's degree in Business Administration, Management Information Systems, Human Resources, or Computer Science alongside advanced Product Owner certification.
  • 8 years of experience in academic enterprise applications, preferably in post-secondary education or public domains.
  • In-depth understanding of policies governing academic administration and human relations, including collective agreements.
  • Strong knowledge of enterprise system development, IT project management, and system design.
  • Proven experience in Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban) and familiarity with relevant software tools.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the operational product management for the eTRACS faculty management system.
  • Prioritize production issues, service requests, documentation, and user support.
  • Collaborate with technical teams and stakeholders to ensure service enhancements align with operational requirements.
  • Implement structured processes for operational intake, triage, and backlog management.
  • Ensure that eTRACS remains reliable and well-supported through comprehensive training and clear documentation.

Benefits

  • An additional 7% pay in lieu of benefits & 8% vacation pay.
  • Employer paid extended health & dental plans.
  • Professional development funds (minimum contract period of 1 year).
  • Hybrid-work program for eligible positions.
Full Job Description
Union/Affiliation:

Administrative and Professional Staff (APSA)

Pay range:

$107,656 to $128,454 annually

SFU Department Descr:

IT Services - Academic Management Systems

Position Grade:

13

# of openings:

1

Biweekly Hours:

72

About the Role

The Lead Product Owner, Service Operations provides operational product leadership for eTRACS, SFU's in-house faculty management system. This role owns the Operations product backlog and leads the prioritization of production issues, service requests, training, documentation, user support, and operational improvements. Working closely with other Lead Product Owners, technical teams, and faculty/central stakeholders, the role ensures that enhancements and new development is transitioned into sustainable operations with clear support processes, documentation, training, permissions, and service standards.

The ideal candidate is a service-minded product leader with experience supporting complex enterprise systems and, ideally, knowledge of faculty management workflows such as course planning, teaching assignments, workload, contracts, appointments, tenure and promotion, or related academic administration. They can bring structure to operational intake, triage, bug prioritization, production support, documentation, training, permissions, and service desk coordination. They communicate clearly, build trust with technical teams and end users and help distinguish urgent operational issues from enhancement requests. They are organized, collaborative, calm under pressure, and focused on keeping eTRACS reliable, usable, and well-supported.

Full Job Description

Qualifications

Master's degree in Business Administration, Management Information Systems, Human Resources, Computer Science or a related discipline, including an advanced Product Owner certification (e.g., ACSPO) and eight years of related experience working with academic enterprise applications, preferably in post-secondary education or public domain, or an equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
  • In-depth understanding of policies governing academic and human relations, collective agreements, academic planning, reporting, budget management, research and teaching in order to lead academic systems development and data services.
  • Strong knowledge of enterprise system development and management, business analysis, IT project management, and system design.
  • Strong understanding of Agile principles and practices; experience working in Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban) and familiarity with software development processes, tools (e.g., JIRA, Trello, Confluence, MS Teams).
  • Strong business analysis skills.
  • Strong product ownership skills, with proven ability to successfully manage a backlog.

What We Offer

At SFU, our goal is to ensure our people are valued and supported by promoting a healthy work-life balance, professional growth and development, as well as a safe and respectful workplace. We offer temporary employees who belong in the Administrative & Professional Staff Association (APSA):
  • An additional 7% pay in lieu of benefits & 8% vacation pay
  • Employer paid extended health & dental plans
  • Professional development funds (minimum contract period of 1 year)
  • Hybrid-work program for eligible positions

Additional Information

The assignment end date is March 31, 2028.

Please include your cover letter and resume in one attachment.

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