Job Family
Agile Leadership
About Us
At Transamerica, hard work, innovative thinking, and personal accountability are qualities we honor and reward. We understand the potential of leveraging the talents of a diverse workforce. We embrace an environment where employees enjoy a balance between their careers, families, communities, and personal interests.
Ultimately, we appreciate the uniqueness of a company where talented professionals work collaboratively in a positive environment — one focused on helping people look forward and plan for the best life possible while providing tools and solutions that make it easier to get there.
Who We Are
We believe everyone deserves to live their best life. More than a century ago, we were among the first financial services companies in America to serve everyday people from all walks of life .
Today, we’re part of an international holding company, with millions of customers and thousands of employees worldwide. Our insurance, retirement, and investment solutions help people make the most of what’s important to them.
We’re empowered by a vast agent network covering North America, with diversity to match. Together with our nonprofit research institute and foundation, we tune in, step up, and are a force for good — for our customers and the communities where we live, work, and play. United in our purpose, we help people create the financial freedom to live life on their terms.
What We Do
Transamerica is organized into three distinct businesses. These include 1) World Financial Group, including Transamerica Financial Advisors, 2) Protection Solutions and Savings & Investments, comprised of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits, retirement plans, and Transamerica Investment Solutions, and 3) Financial Assets, which includes legacy blocks of long term care, universal life, and variable and fixed annuities. These are supported by Transamerica Corporate , which includes Finance, People and Places, General Counsel, Risk, Internal Audit, Strategy and Development, and Corporate Affairs, which covers Communications, Brand, and Government and Policy Affairs.
Transamerica employs nearly 7 ,000 people. It’s part of Aegon, an integrated, diversified, international financial services group serving approximately 23.9 million customers worldwide.
Job Description Summary
The Product Owner (PO) develops and communicates their product’s vision to be fulfilled by their agile team(s). The PO is the team's key stakeholder who serves as proxy for the customer, both internal and external, and effectively engages other stakeholders, including other POs, to define and prioritize deliverables for their agile teams. The PO has a significant role in quality control and is empowered to accept work as done. The PO is dedicated to fulfilling these responsibilities and participates in one or two agile teams. The PO works closely with the team to align around objectives, incentives, and culture, and also engages critical stakeholders and customers to inform their product's vision and backlog as a means to help the organization achieve business agility.
Job Description
Responsibilities
Research and evaluate market-based and customer-inspired insights that inform the product's vision and comprehensive strategy planning.
Provide vision and serve as a champion of customer perspectives to the Agile team in the form of clearly written epics, themes and user stories each with clear acceptance criteria in collaboration with the team. Help the team make business trade-offs between near term and longer term product goals. Provide leadership to make the hard calls on scope and competing priorities while realistically manage stakeholder demands
Establish and prioritize the product roadmap and its backlog in collaboration with the team.
Collaborate proactively in ceremonies with UI / UX team, product scrum team, and other product owners to maintain the product roadmap, business outcomes, and goals.
Lead regular backlog refinement workshops to help estimate relative feature value and update delivery forecasts to aid prioritization, minimize oversubscription of delivery teams and manage stakeholder expectations.
Ensure product aligns with company strategy and broader product strategies through regular communication with customers, stakeholders and product management. Coordinate with the Scrum Master to facilitate short feedback loops between delivery teams and stakeholders through frequent deliveries and sharing of lessons learned.
Engage in scaled agile practices and coordinate with other Product owners (as needed) to promote cross-team alignment around product roadmaps and dependencies.
Lead product release planning with technical and business stakeholders and set expectation for delivery of new functionalities.
Participate in system demos at the end of the iteration and provide story / feature acceptance per the pre-agreed “Definition of Done” criteria.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in business, computer science, or experience work in a related field.
Solid understanding of the product lifecycle.
In-depth experience with agile methodologies, technical understanding of products, and up-to-date on industry standards and best practices
Comfortable working with multiple teams, in-house and remote
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Accurate and precise attention to detail.
Able to build strong interpersonal relationships with business analysts, UI / UX team, leadership, senior management, and internal and external stakeholders
Experience with JIRA, or a similar agile product management toolset.
Proficient computer skills, Microsoft Office Suite; working knowledge of software development.
Preferred Qualifications
Two years of related work experience.
Strongly prefer knowledge and experience with Appian
Product Owner certification (e.g. CSPO, SAFe POPM)
Track record of continued and recent education in agile, including training, conferences, user groups and self-study
Knowledge of approaches discussed in the agile space : XP, Kanban, SAFe, LeSS, Crystal, FDD, etc.
Experience as a collaborative leader.
Working Conditions
Compensation
The salary for this position generally ranges between $105,000 - $130,000 annually / per hour. Please note that the salary range is a good faith estimate for this position and actual starting pay is determined by several factors including qualifications, experience, geography, work location designation (in-office, hybrid, remote) and operational needs. Salary may vary above and below the stated amounts, as permitted by applicable law.
Additionally, this position is typically eligible for an Annual Bonus based on the Company Bonus Plan / Individual Performance and is at the Company’s discretion.
What We Offer
For eligible employees, we offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support both the personal and financial well-being of our employees .
Compensation Benefits
Competitive Pay
Bonus for Eligible Em ployees
Benefits Package
Pension Plan
401k Match
Employee Stock Purchase Plan
Tuition Reimbursement
Disability Insurance
Medical Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance
Employee Discounts
Career Training & Development Opportunities
Health and Work / Life Balance Benefits
Paid Time Off starting at 160 hours annually for employees in their first year of service.
Ten (10) paid holidays per year (typically mirroring the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) holidays).
Be Well Company holistic wellness program, which includes Wellness Coaching and Reward Dollars
Parental Leave – fifteen (15) days of paid parental leave per calendar year to eligible employees with at least one year of s ervice at the time of birth, placement of an adopted child, or placement of a foster care child.
Adoption Assistance
Employee Assistance Program
College Coach Program
Back-Up Care Program
PTO for Volunteer Hours
Employee Matching Gifts Program
Employee Resource Groups
Inclusion and Diversity Programs
Employee Recognition Program
Referral Bonus Programs
Inclusion & Diversity
We believe our commitment to diversity and inclusion creates a work environment filled with exceptional individuals. We’re thrilled to have been recognized for our efforts through the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, Dave Thomas Adoption Friendly Advocate, and several Seramount lists, including the Inclusion Index, 100 Best Companies for Working Parents, Best Companies for Dads , and Top 75 Companies for Executive Women.
To foster a culture of inclusivity throughout our workforce, workplace, and marketplace, Transamerica offers a wide range of diversity and inclusion programs. This includes our company - sponsor ed, employee-driven Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which are formed around a shared interest or a common characteristic of diversity. ERGs are open to all employees . They provide a supportive environment to help us better appreciate our similarities and differences and understand how they benefit us all.
Giving Back
We believe our responsibilities extend beyond our corporate walls. That's why we created the Aegon Transamerica Foundation () in 1994. Through a mix of financial grants and the volunteer efforts of our employees, the foundation supports nonprofit organizations focused on the things that matter most to our people in the communities where we live and work.
Transamerica’s Parent Company
Aegon () acquired the Transamerica business in 1999. Since its start in 1844, Aegon has grown into an international company serving more than 23.9 million people across the globe.
At Transamerica, hard work, innovative thinking , and personal accountability are qualities we honor and reward. We understand the potential unleashed by leveraging the talents of a diverse workforce. We embrace an environment where employees enjoy a balance between their careers, families, communities, and personal interests.
Ultimately, we appreciate the uniqueness of a company where talented professionals work collaboratively in a positive environment — one focused on helping people look forward and plan for the best life possible while providing tools and solutions that make it easier to get there.
Transamerica is a part of A egon , an integrated, diversified, international financial services group . The A egon companies employ over 2 1,500 people and have approximately 31.7 million customers .
For more information about Transamerica’s privacy practices, click here. ()
Product Owner • Cedar Rapids, IA, United States