Platform Product Owner (MT3) - Information Technology: Card Platform
Listing reference: capgh_000319
Listing status: Online
Apply by: 6 August 2025
Position summary
Industry: Banking
Job category: Informatics
Location: Windhoek
Contract: Permanent
EE position: No
Introduction
As a Platform Product Owner (PPO) you will have end to end accountability for your product, from strategy, delivery, service lifecycle and production operations. This will require strong business and technical experience, as well as strong leadership skills. The PPO are expected to have subject matter expertise in all areas of product management, including demand management, business management, stakeholder management, roadmap development, communications, and user experience.
The (PPO) is a member of the Agile Team responsible for defining product features and user stories. The PPO is responsible to prioritize the product and sprint backlog to streamline the execution of program priorities while maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of the Features or components for the team. The PPO has a significant role in quality control and is the only team member empowered to accept stories as done. This role has significant relationships and responsibilities outside the local team, including working with Platform Management (Platform Owner, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, etc.), who is responsible for the Program Backlog, to prepare for the Program Increment (PI) Planning meeting.
Job description
KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS (KPAs)
•Ensuring that overall product strategy aligns with threat landscape, control objectives, and efficiency goals
oOverseeing Product Definition and Value Proposition development. Document and articulate/share Product Offering and Product Roadmap. Stakeholder Engagement, not limited to Financial Management and Service Measurement.
oResearch and setting strategic direction for the product portfolio
oDemonstrating strong understanding of the importance of end to end software development which will include working in Agile frameworks
oEnforcement of a fail fast culture
•Ensuring that overall product strategy aligns with threat landscape, control objectives, and efficiency goals
oOverseeing Product Definition and Value Proposition development. Document and articulate/share Product Offering and Product Roadmap. Stakeholder Engagement, not limited to Financial Management and Service Measurement.
oResearch and setting strategic direction for the product portfolio
oDemonstrating strong understanding of the importance of end to end software development which will include working in Agile frameworks
oEnforcement of a fail fast culture
•Collaborative preparation and participation in Program Increment (PI) Planning
oAs a member of the Platform Management team, the PPO is heavily involved in program backlog refinement and prep for PI planning and plays a significant role in the planning event itself. Before the planning event, the PPO updates the team backlog and typically reviews and contributes to the program vision, roadmap, and content presentations.
oDuring the event, the PPO is involved with story definition, providing the clarifications necessary to assist the team with their story estimates and sequencing. The PPO also drafts the team’s specific objectives for the upcoming PI.
•Efficient iteration execution
oMaintaining the team backlog – With input from the Solution Architect and other stakeholders, the PPO has the primary responsibility for building, editing, and maintaining the team backlog. Consisting mostly of user stories, it also includes defects and enablers. Backlog items are prioritized based on user value, time, and other team dependencies determined in the PI planning meeting and refined during the PI.
oIteration Planning – The PPO reviews and actively engage the Scrum Master & Platform Owner on the backlog as part of the prep work for Iteration Planning, including coordination of dependencies with other PPOs. During the iteration planning meeting, the PPO is the primary source for story detail and priorities and has the responsibility of accepting the final iteration plan.
oJust-in-time story elaboration – Most backlog items are elaborated into user stories for implementation. This may happen before the iteration, during iteration planning, or during the iteration. While any team member can write stories and acceptance criteria, the PPO has the primary responsibility for maintaining the flow. It’s usually good to have approximately two iterations’ worth of stories ready in the team backlog at all times. More would create a queue, while less might inhibit flow.
oApply Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) – PPOs collaborate with their team to details stories with acceptance criteria and acceptance tests.
oAccepting stories – The PPO is the only team member who can accept stories as done. This includes validation that the story meets acceptance criteria and has the appropriate, persistent acceptance tests, and that it otherwise complies its Definition of Done (DoD). In so doing, the PPO also assures a level of quality, focusing primarily on fitness for use.
oUnderstand enabler work – While PPOs are not expected to drive technological decisions, they are supposed to understand the scope of the upcoming enabler work and to collaborate with the Solution Architect and Platform Engineer to assist with decision-making and sequencing of the critical technological infrastructure that will host the new business functionality.
oParticipate in team demo and retrospective – As the person responsible for requirements, PPOs have an essential role in the team demo, reviewing and accepting stories. They also participate in the Iteration Retrospective, where the teams gather to improve their processes and are active in the Agile Release Train’s (ART’s) Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop.
oManage competing priorities from cross-functional stakeholders with regard to product design.
oMaintaining the team backlog – With input from the Solution Architect and other stakeholders, the PPO has the primary responsibility for building, editing, and maintaining the team backlog. Consisting mostly of user stories, it also includes defects and enablers. Backlog items are prioritized based on user value, time, and other team dependencies determined in the PI planning meeting and refined during the PI.
oIteration Planning – The PPO reviews and actively engage the Scrum Master & Platform Owner on the backlog as part of the prep work for Iteration Planning, including coordination of dependencies with other PPOs. During the iteration planning meeting, the PPO is the primary source for story detail and priorities and has the responsibility of accepting the final iteration plan.
oJust-in-time story elaboration – Most backlog items are elaborated into user stories for implementation. This may happen before the iteration, during iteration planning, or during the iteration. While any team member can write stories and acceptance criteria, the PPO has the primary responsibility for maintaining the flow. It’s usually good to have approximately two iterations’ worth of stories ready in the team backlog at all times. More would create a queue, while less might inhibit flow.
oApply Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) – PPOs collaborate with their team to details stories with acceptance criteria and acceptance tests.
oAccepting stories – The PPO is the only team member who can accept stories as done. This includes validation that the story meets acceptance criteria and has the appropriate, persistent acceptance tests, and that it otherwise complies its Definition of Done (DoD). In so doing, the PPO also assures a level of quality, focusing primarily on fitness for use.
oUnderstand enabler work – While PPOs are not expected to drive technological decisions, they are supposed to understand the scope of the upcoming enabler work and to collaborate with the Solution Architect and Platform Engineer to assist with decision-making and sequencing of the critical technological infrastructure that will host the new business functionality.
oParticipate in team demo and retrospective – As the person responsible for requirements, PPOs have an essential role in the team demo, reviewing and accepting stories. They also participate in the Iteration Retrospective, where the teams gather to improve their processes and are active in the Agile Release Train’s (ART’s) Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop.
oManage competing priorities from cross-functional stakeholders with regard to product design.
•Efficient program execution
oIterations and Agile teams serve a larger purpose; the frequent, reliable, and continuous release of value-added solutions. During each PI, the PPO coordinates dependencies with other PPOs.
oThe PO, in collaboration with the Scrum Master, has an instrumental role in producing the feedback to Platform stakeholders during the weekly Scrum of Scrums.
oIterations and Agile teams serve a larger purpose; the frequent, reliable, and continuous release of value-added solutions. During each PI, the PPO coordinates dependencies with other PPOs.
oThe PO, in collaboration with the Scrum Master, has an instrumental role in producing the feedback to Platform stakeholders during the weekly Scrum of Scrums.
Minimum requirements
CORE COMPETENCIES:
•Deciding and Initiating Action
•Leading and Supervising
•Working with People
•Adhering to principles & values
•Relating and Networking
•Persuading and Influencing
•Presenting and Communicating Information
•Writing and Reporting
•Applying Expertise and Technology
•Analysing
•Learning & Researching
•Creating and Innovating
•Formulating Strategies and Concepts
•Planning and Organising
•Delivering Results and Meeting Customer Expectations
•Following Instructions and Procedures
•Adapting and Responding to Change
•Coping with Pressures and Setbacks
•Entrepreneurial and Commercial Thinking
•Deciding and Initiating Action
•Leading and Supervising
•Working with People
•Adhering to principles & values
•Relating and Networking
•Persuading and Influencing
•Presenting and Communicating Information
•Writing and Reporting
•Applying Expertise and Technology
•Analysing
•Learning & Researching
•Creating and Innovating
•Formulating Strategies and Concepts
•Planning and Organising
•Delivering Results and Meeting Customer Expectations
•Following Instructions and Procedures
•Adapting and Responding to Change
•Coping with Pressures and Setbacks
•Entrepreneurial and Commercial Thinking
EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS
•Strong communication and technical skills with the ability to quickly grasp technical issues/concepts
•Dissect high-level information into details and is able to communicate details in a manner understood by relevant audiences
•Your ability to drill down into the details of a delivery request without losing sight of the big picture
•Should have good functional knowledge of Banking (Retail, Investment, Corporate and Commercial) Fast learner; able to learn new software solutions, business processes and design techniques quickly and efficiently
•Ability to make critical judgement decisions and solid organization skills
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to understand, work with, and shape the vision of customers and stakeholders
•Proven ability to quickly learn new business domains and technical applications
•Strong communication and technical skills with the ability to quickly grasp technical issues/concepts
•Dissect high-level information into details and is able to communicate details in a manner understood by relevant audiences
•Your ability to drill down into the details of a delivery request without losing sight of the big picture
•Should have good functional knowledge of Banking (Retail, Investment, Corporate and Commercial) Fast learner; able to learn new software solutions, business processes and design techniques quickly and efficiently
•Ability to make critical judgement decisions and solid organization skills
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to understand, work with, and shape the vision of customers and stakeholders
•Proven ability to quickly learn new business domains and technical applications
•Prepare agreed deliverables in line with standards, to meet agreed quality standards and timelines
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to understand, work with, and shape the vision of customers and stakeholders
•Transaction Switch and CMS (E.g. Postilion) Software development and configuration knowledge and experience
•Transaction Switch and CMS (E.g. Postilion) Software implementation best practices knowledge and experience
•Core Banking Solutions (Phoenix, etc.) knowledge and experience
•Experienced with Story Mapping
•5 years banking experience
•5 years product management experience
•3 years experience as Business Analyst
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to understand, work with, and shape the vision of customers and stakeholders
•Transaction Switch and CMS (E.g. Postilion) Software development and configuration knowledge and experience
•Transaction Switch and CMS (E.g. Postilion) Software implementation best practices knowledge and experience
•Core Banking Solutions (Phoenix, etc.) knowledge and experience
•Experienced with Story Mapping
•5 years banking experience
•5 years product management experience
•3 years experience as Business Analyst
QUALIFICATIONS
•Bachelor; Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or an equivalent qualification in terms of the product area, and/or a minimum of 5 years management experience in the product area with confirmed applicable track record; and
•Certification or experience in areas related to Product Management, Scrum or Agile methodologies
•Bachelor; Computer Science, Information Systems, Software Engineering, or an equivalent qualification in terms of the product area, and/or a minimum of 5 years management experience in the product area with confirmed applicable track record; and
•Certification or experience in areas related to Product Management, Scrum or Agile methodologies