Summary

This position is located in the Bureau of Information Services; Policy & Compliance; Project Management Office. The incumbent will be responsible for managing the IT product backlogs, communicating product vision, prioritizing needs, acting as the liaison between teams and stakeholders, and evaluating iterative feedback.

This job announcement may be used to fill one or more vacancies.

This is a bargaining unit position. This position is represented by the Council of AFGE Locals in the Board.

Duties

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As a Product Owner, you will:

• Represent RRB customers and internal users and maximize the value of the solutions created within the scope of modernization efforts to improve customer service and streamline business processes across the agency.
• Collaborate with the stakeholders and Business Analysts to prioritize the product backlog, ensuring that the most valuable and critical features are developed first.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to create a vision and roadmap of the solutions aligned with the agency's strategic goals and priorities and repeatedly communicates the products vision with a variety of stakeholders, including customers, business users, and the development team.
• Provide additional context around the product vision by creating and sharing a product roadmap that provides a high-level, strategic visual summary outlining the vision, priorities, and direction for the solution over time.
• Prioritize needs to balance scope, budget, and time, weighing priorities and making trade-offs according to the needs and objectives of stakeholders.
• Participate in Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, sprint reviews, sprint retrospectives, and product backlog refinement.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen
• Males born after 12/31/59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitable for Federal employment, determined by a background investigation
• May be required to successfully complete a probationary period
• Complete the initial online assessment and USAHire Assessment.
• Within 1 year of appointment must acquire and maintain certification as a Contracting Officer's Representative (FAC-COR), Level 1 or higher. (Contracting Officer's Representative (FAC-COR) | FAI.GOV)
• Incumbent may be required to work outside of normal duty hours, such as nights, weekends, and holidays, due to operational needs.

Qualifications

Selective Placement Factor:

This position includes a job-related knowledge, skill, and/or ability that is required for satisfactory performance for the position. Selective placement factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represents minimum requirements for a position. Application materials must demonstrate the selective placement factor. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration.

The Selective Placement Factor for this position is:

A current Product Owner certification issued by a reputable Agile or Scrum professional certification body, such as Scrum Alliance (Certified Scrum Product Owner) or Scrum.org (Professional Scrum Product Owner).

In addition to meeting the selective placement factor above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below.

For Grade GS-14:

Applicants must have IT-related experience demonstrating each of the four competencies listed below. Applicants must demonstrate possession of these competencies within the body of the resume; no separate statements addressing them are required.

1. Attention to Detail - Is thorough when performing work and conscientious about attending to detail.
2. Customer Service - Works with clients and customers (that is, any individuals who use or receive the services or products that your work unit produces, including the general public, individuals who work in the agency, other agencies, or organizations outside the Government) to assess their needs, provide information or assistance, resolve their problems, or satisfy their expectations; knows about available products and services; is committed to providing quality products and services.
3. Oral Communication - Expresses information (for example, ideas or facts) to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
4. Problem Solving - Identifies problems; determines accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make recommendations.

-AND-

One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service.

Specialized Experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities/competencies to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled.

Specialized experience is defined as demonstrated experience:

• Collaborating with stakeholders and business analysts to prioritize and refine the product backlog so that the most valuable and critical features are developed first.
• Developing and communicating a clear product vision and translating that vision into well-defined requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
• Drafting and refining user stories and product backlog items into clear, executable tasks for the technical team.
• Participating in Agile ceremonies and applying Agile methodologies to drive modernization initiatives, iterative development, and continuous process improvement.
• Defining and executing go-to-production plans and conducting post-launch product performance evaluations to identify improvement opportunities, inform future investment decisions, and ensure solutions continued to meet evolving business needs.
• Providing expert technical advice, guidance, and recommendations to support agency IT decisions by analyzing business requirements, priorities, and constraints, understanding and anticipating client needs, and assessing system impacts.

Only experience obtained by the closing date of this announcement will be considered.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional, philanthropic, religious, spiritual, community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Documenting experience: IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

Do not copy and paste the duties or specialized experience from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

Education

*There is no education substitution for this position.*

Additional information

Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments here.

INTERAGENCY CAREER TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PLAN (ICTAP):

• ICTAP provides eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority for competitive service vacancies. You must be determined to be well-qualified for the vacancy to be eligible for special selection priority. After submission of an acceptable application which meets ICTAP eligibility, you will be determined to be well-qualified for a vacancy if your rating places you in the 85th percentile or higher in total possible points.
• ICTAP eligibles must submit proof of eligibility for special selection priority. Please see the Required Documents section below for more information. Click here for more information on ICTAP.

If you are a male applicant who was born after 12/31/59 you are required to register under the Military Selective Service Act; the Defense Authorization Act of 1986 requires that you be registered, or you are not eligible for appointment in this agency.

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Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.