Agile Product Owner - Underwriting Modernization

Be Here. Be Great. Working for a leader in the insurance industry means opportunity for you. Great American Insurance Group's member companies are subsidiaries of American Financial Group. We combine a "small company" culture where your ideas will be heard with "big company" expertise to help you succeed. With over 30 specialty and property and casualty operations, there are always opportunities here to learn and grow.

At Great American, we value and recognize the benefits derived when people with different backgrounds and experiences work together to achieve business results. Our goal is to create a workplace where all employees feel included, empowered, and enabled to perform at their best.

Great American Risk Solutions is a dynamic and diverse operation within the Great American Insurance Group. We offer a wide range of commercial products designed to meet the unique needs of our clients, including property, casualty, and specialty insurance products. Our focus is on the wholesale brokerage market, where our partners specialize in placing complex and high-risk insurance policies, ensuring that our clients receive the best possible service and expertise. We foster a work environment that encourages the empowerment of product owners, respects diverse opinions and experiences, and promotes a culture of continuous growth, learning, and improvement.

This role is an excellent opportunity for a high-performing professional who is ready to take the next step in their leadership journey and build a career in Product Ownership. The successful candidate will gain hands-on experience shaping priorities, delivering business value, and developing product leadership skills as part of an Underwriting Modernization initiative.

You'll partner closely with experienced Product Owners, business leaders, and technology professionals while working on one of Risk Solutions' most strategic transformation efforts. This role offers the opportunity to learn from a deep bench of experienced practitioners across Product, Technology, Underwriting, and Operations while building the skills and experience necessary to grow into broader product leadership responsibilities over time.

Great American’s culture is built on connection, shared learning, and strong relationships. To support this, employees in this role and that are local to the Cincinnati area, are expected to be on-site four days a week, with the flexibility to work one day remotely. Core in office days are Tuesday–Thursday, with the fourth day determined by business needs.

Key Responsibilities:

• Product Ownership & Delivery:
  • Partner with business stakeholders and Agile team members to understand business objectives and translate needs into clearly defined Features and User Stories.
  • Maintain and prioritize a healthy product backlog, ensuring work is well-defined, appropriately sequenced, and ready for delivery.
  • Support product vision and roadmap execution by translating business priorities into incremental deliverables that provide measurable business value.
  • Promote a customer-focused and outcome-oriented approach to product delivery by leveraging stakeholder feedback, business insights, and delivery metrics.
• Agile Team Engagement:
  • Serve as the Product Owner for an Agile delivery team, partnering with business stakeholders and delivery team members to clarify requirements, prioritize work, and deliver valuable business outcomes.
  • Own and lead backlog refinement, sprint planning, and sprint review activities for the team, ensuring a shared understanding of priorities, requirements, and expected business value.
  • Engage actively in daily standups and retrospectives, partnering with team members to identify opportunities for improvement and continuously enhance team effectiveness and delivery outcomes.
  • Identify risks, dependencies, and impediments while driving timely decisions and resolution.
• Team Collaboration & Leadership:
  • Build strong relationships and establish trust across business and technology teams to foster collaboration and support successful outcomes.
  • Demonstrate initiative and informal leadership by driving alignment, facilitating productive discussions, and helping teams navigate ambiguity and competing priorities.
  • Communicate effectively with technical and non-technical audiences, ensuring stakeholders remain informed of priorities, risks, key decisions, and delivery outcomes.

What Success Looks Like

• Builds trusted relationships with business stakeholders, technology partners, and Agile team members while becoming a valued voice in product and delivery discussions.
• Maintains a healthy, prioritized backlog that enables the team to deliver meaningful business value predictably and consistently.
• Demonstrates ownership, initiative, and sound judgment when navigating ambiguity, balancing competing priorities, and solving problems.
• Contributes to the success of the Underwriting Modernization initiative by helping translate business needs into effective and valuable technology solutions.
• Continuously develops Product Ownership skills and business knowledge while leveraging opportunities to learn from experienced Product Owners, business leaders, and technology professionals.
• Grows into broader product leadership responsibilities by demonstrating curiosity, adaptability, and a commitment to continuous learning.

Desired Skills:

• Strong communication skills with the ability to effectively engage with both business and technical stakeholders.
• Passion for delivering business value through collaboration, opportunistic improvement, and iterative delivery.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships, establish trust, and work effectively across diverse teams and stakeholder groups.
• Ability to influence without direct authority.
• Ability to balance competing priorities while maintaining focus on business outcomes and customer value.
• Highly desired experience includes supporting underwriting operations, insurance product development and launches, or broker and agency-facing business functions within the property and casualty insurance industry.

Job Requirements:

Experience:

• Demonstrated experience leading initiatives, projects, process improvements, or business and technology efforts involving multiple stakeholders.
• Experience working in Agile environments or on cross-functional teams delivering business or technology solutions.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to gather information, evaluate options, and support informed decision-making.
• Experience in insurance, financial services, technology, operations, business analysis, project delivery, or related disciplines is preferred.

Learning & Growth Mindset:

• Demonstrated curiosity, initiative, and a commitment to continuous learning and professional development.
• Desire to grow into broader product leadership responsibilities over time.

Certifications:

• CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner) or SAFe certifications are a plus but not required.

Additional Information:

• Travel may be required up to 10%, typically consisting of periodic travel for team planning, collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and other business activities.

Business Unit:

Salary Range:

Benefits:

We offer competitive benefits packages for full-time and part-time employees*. Full-time employees have access to medical, dental, and vision coverage, wellness plans, parental leave, adoption assistance, and tuition reimbursement. Full-time and eligible part-time employees also enjoy Paid Time Off and paid holidays, a 401(k) plan with company match, an employee stock purchase plan, and commuter benefits.

Compensation varies by role, level, and location and is influenced by skills, experience, and business needs. Your recruiter will provide details about benefits and specific compensation ranges during the hiring process. Learn more at http://www.gaig.com/careers.

*Excludes seasonal employees and interns.