Product Owner
Xero is a beautiful, easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping advisors grow and thrive.
At Xero, our purpose is to make life better for people in small business, their advisors, and communities around the world. This purpose sits at the centre of everything we do. We support our people to do the best work of their lives so that they can help small businesses succeed through better tools, information and connections. Because when they succeed they make a difference, and when millions of small businesses are making a difference, the world is a more beautiful place.
How you’ll make an impact
As a Product Owner, you will be responsible for executing on our product vision, strategy and roadmap. You will work alongside a talented engineering pod. Your skillful product leadership and management of the pod’s backlog enables the pod to deliver compelling products and services that solve real problems for our customers.
Success Looks Like
- You have a clear understanding of Xero’s strategic priorities and how your products and services align to it. You have articulated a compelling product vision that the pod pursues with missionary zeal. They know what’s important, how they are contributing, and why what they’re doing matters.
- Product, design and engineering are considered side-by-side: They are all involved in product discovery. Your skill in modern product discovery practices enables the pod to understand and use many experimental techniques.
- You and the pod actively seek out metrics to validate a hypothesis and measure results. You enable the pod to instrument their work so they immediately understand how their products are being used and ultimately whether customer and business value is being created.
- You have brought your customers and pod closer together: The pod obsesses over customers. They engage directly with them and get product ideas from observing customer struggles, and analyzing customer data.
- You have built healthy relationships with your stakeholders. Key stakeholders are involved in product discovery activities; and all stakeholders are updated appropriately on product releases and roadmaps.
- The boundaries of your products (what the pod owns, what they don’t, and even the grey areas) are articulated and understood inside and outside of the pod.
- You and the pod have built a compelling portfolio of products and services that your customers love to use.
Competencies
- Inspires & Motivates - Keeps Xero’s vision and strategy at the forefront of decision-making and actions. Communicates and helps others understand the importance of the vision and strategy.
- Communication & Interpersonal - Engages and listens to others, adjusting communication style to fit the audience and message. Building rapport comfortably with people across teams, functions, cultures and levels.
- Learning Agility - Shows a strong willingness to learn and adjust to new people and environments. Actively works to understand strengths, identify opportunities to develop, embrace new ways of thinking and apply new information.
- Empathy - Keen ability to sense others' feelings, understand how they see things, pick up on social cues, and take an active interest in the concerns of others.
- Professional Competency - Product ownership. Knowledgeable in product ownership. Has a toolkit of modern product discovery practices to draw upon.
Experience
- Proven experience championing strategic priorities and helping others relate to and align with it.
- A solid track record of addressing customer needs.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills. Ability to build meaningful, collaborative relationships across all levels of the business.
- Experience in leading a team through influencing and persuasion, without formal authority; and communicating meaningful direction.
- Product Ownership experience — with a toolbox of modern product discovery practices to draw upon.
- Experience in using a range of metrics to monitor the success and health of products and services.
- Ability to advocate for a product or service with customers and stakeholders.
- Experience working with innovative software development projects at scale, is preferred
Xero is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Why Xero?
Diversity of people brings diversity of thought, and we like that. A collaborative and inclusive environment is important to us. Working at Xero will provide you with a diverse and inclusive environment alongside people who will respect, challenge and support you to have fun while you do the best work of your life. We are a place where personal development, flexible working, innovation, and well-being are not just inspired but celebrated. We value our people and offer a wide range of compelling benefits and perks, including Xero shares.
Xero’s collaborative culture is underscored by our values - #Ownership, #Challenge, #Beautiful, #Human and #Team - which empower us to understand and serve customers, attract top talent and continuously innovate. From the moment you step through our doors, you’ll feel welcome and supported to do the best work of your life.