CSB Product Owner (Agile Product Owner Advisor) - Cigna Healthcare - Hybrid - CT, MO, MN, TN or TX - Cigna

Summary:

Cigna Supplemental Benefits (CSB) is seeking an experienced Product Owner to maximize the value delivered by an Agile scrum or Kanban development team within the CSB line of business. The primary responsibilities of the Agile Product Owner will encompass activities associated with the following high-level objectives: Serve as the development team's "voice of the customer"; Manage and prioritize the development team's backlog; and Support the development team on a day-to-day basis in their delivery of committed business value.

Responsibilities:

Voice of the Customer

• Partner with Product Management responsible for the Program Backlog to understand the customer experience and related business strategy, priorities, and business value pertaining to features in the assigned development team's backlog.
• Develop comprehensive understanding as the subject matter expert for assigned Agile Product Team / Scrum Team, keeping up-to-date with changing needs.
• Educate the development team about the "what" and the "why" of the business objectives from the perspective of the impacted stakeholder/s and persona/s.
• Maintain cadenced and ad hoc as-needed communication with product manager/s to ensure alignment between program and team objectives throughout product development lifecycle.
• Drive continual focus on product quality; ensure product meets quality requirements both technically and from a business/customer experience perspective.
• Close gaps in understanding about the customer intent in features and user stories.
• Ensure user stories align at a detailed level with the business objectives and expected results outlined in the feature at a high level.

Product Backlog Management and Prioritization

• Create and lead creation of Features, User Stories and Acceptance Criteria which clearly communicate customer / stakeholder needs to the development team, and will increase velocity and quality of the program.
• Assess business value and prioritize all Stories to focus on those with maximum value that align with strategy as defined by Product Management.
• Accept User Stories once they meet the team's agreed-upon Definition of Done.
• Collaborate with development team to define and elaborate technical learning goals into refined and prioritized backlog items aligned with Iteration Goals.
• Streamline the execution of team priorities while maintaining the conceptual and technical integrity of the features / components for the team.
• Ensure all requests follow the defined process, are prioritized, well communicated, and delivered.
• Sequence sprint planning to align with business value and customer impacts.
• Lead the development team in identifying dependencies and tradeoffs as well as problem solving risks that may appear in the product backlog. Provide continuous updates of dependencies, risks and tradeoffs to Product Management.
• Ensure no additional work is added to the PI or to the sprint without consent of development team and of Product Management in keeping with clearly expressed business prioritization.
• Update Product Management on story status to align on delivery expectations.
• Partner with Product Management to consult and advise business owners and stakeholders regarding work in progress as needed to ensure transparency and alignment.

Day-to-Day Development Team Support

• Partner with scrum master to socialize, facilitate and model SAFe Agile principles and practices in the development team context.
• Participate in Agile development team ceremonies (e.g. Daily Standup, Backlog Refinement, Iteration Planning, Iteration Review, and Iteration Retro).
• Assist Product Management with PI Planning readiness.
• Partner with scrum master to lead PI Planning breakout sessions.
• Work with the development team on value-based decomposition of features into user stories.
• Draft team objectives for the PI.
• Draft team objectives per iteration.
• Represent development team's interests and provide updates as needed during ART Program ceremonies (e.g. ART Sync, PO Sync, PI Planning, Inspect and Adapt and Problem Solving Workshop).
• Contribute insights to program level feature grooming.
• Lead team level user story grooming ceremonies.
• Maintain open-door availability to development team for questions, guidance and direction throughout the day.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's Degree and 3+ years related work experience in Product Ownership, Product Management, Business Analysis or Management Consulting.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office tools
• Working knowledge of Agile methodology
• Experience interfacing with technology teams in an Agile environment
• Strong relationship management skills, including managing the expectations of multiple stakeholders
• Exceptional executive presence in written and verbal communications. Poise in front of large, executive audiences.
• Comfortable with ambiguity, able to manage with vision and purpose, and drive to a cohesive, collaborative result
• Strong organizational skills necessary to accomplish a large number of tasks within a specified timeframe
• Demonstrated ability to influence across a matrixed organization and develop trusting working partnerships with internal and external partners.
• Self-motivated, detail oriented, and willing to adapt to tactical needs in a fast-paced, changing environment.
• Accomplished decision-maker who is able to quickly make and execute well-supported prioritization decisions

Preferred:

• Healthcare background strongly preferred
• Proficient in project management tools and methodology
• POPM - SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager certification
• Lean Six Sigma certification
• Change Management certification
• Experience with Jira software for creating and managing epics and user stories
• Familiarity with Gherkin format for writing acceptance criteria and test cases

If you will be working at home occasionally or permanently, the internet connection must be obtained through a cable broadband or fiber optic internet service provider with speeds of at least 10Mbps download/5Mbps upload.

About Cigna Healthcare

Cigna Healthcare, a division of The Cigna Group, is an advocate for better health through every stage of life. We guide our customers through the health care system, empowering them with the information and insight they need to make the best choices for improving their health and vitality. Join us in driving growth and improving lives.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, disability, sex, childbirth (including pregnancy) or related medical conditions including but not limited to lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital or familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, citizenship status or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing the online application process, please email: SeeYourself@cigna.com for support. Do not email SeeYourself@cigna.com for an update on your application or to provide your resume as you will not receive a response.

The Cigna Group has a tobacco-free policy and reserves the right not to hire tobacco/nicotine users in states where that is legally permissible. Candidates in such states who use tobacco/nicotine will not be considered for employment unless they enter a qualifying smoking cessation program prior to the start of their employment. These states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Washington State.