Role Summary

The Product Owner (PO) is the tactical product leader embedded with an Agile delivery team, accountable for maximising the value delivered by ensuring the team backlog is clear, prioritised, and execution‑ready.

The PO translates strategy and stakeholder intent into well‑defined Features and Stories, drives backlog refinement, provides day‑to‑day decisions and clarifications, and formally accepts completed work against agreed acceptance criteria and Definition of Done.

This is a delivery‑aligned role: it focuses on enabling effective team execution and predictable outcomes, not portfolio strategy.

Key ResponsibilitiesTeam Backlog Ownership & Readiness● Own and maintain the team backlog, ensuring work items are structured, prioritised, and continuously refined.● Ensure Features and Stories have sufficient clarity for implementation (problem/context, acceptance criteria, dependencies, constraints).● Drive backlog hygiene and traceability so work remains visible, current, and actionable in the team's tooling (e.g., Azure DevOps).

Refinement, Sprint Planning & Execution Support● Lead and/or coordinate backlog refinement to prepare work for upcoming sprints.● During sprint planning, present the highest‑priority work and facilitate the conversation so the team can make realistic commitments based on capacity.● Provide ongoing clarification during execution to keep delivery unblocked and aligned to intended outcomes.

Stakeholder Alignment & Cross‑Team Coordination● Act as the team's primary day‑to‑day interface for stakeholders, ensuring the team plan remains aligned to stakeholder needs and inter‑team dependencies.● Coordinate priority conflicts and dependency impacts with peer teams (and escalate where needed) to preserve flow and delivery confidence.

Story Acceptance & Quality Accountability● Be accountable for Story acceptance, confirming work meets acceptance criteria, aligns to Definition of Done, and is suitable for release/use.● Ensure validation evidence is captured appropriately (tests, demos, notes, acceptance outcomes) to avoid "nearly done" carryover.

Delivery Planning Visibility (Optional / Where Used)● Maintain delivery visibility by keeping planned work accurately represented (e.g., sprint‑level view, start/target dates where your process uses them).

Key Working Relationships● Delivery Team (Engineers/QA/Design as applicable) — shared understanding of what "done" means and delivery sequencing● Scrum Master / Team Coach — facilitation and flow; supports refinement and planning mechanics● Product / Program Leadership (PM/TPM/Solution roles where applicable) — priorities, outcomes, trade‑offs, and dependency alignment● Stakeholders / SMEs — requirements clarity, feedback loops, and acceptance inputs

Success Measures