IT Officer, Product Owner

IFC — a member of the World Bank Group — is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We work in more than 100 countries, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities. Our mission is to leverage the power of the private sector to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a livable planet.

The mission of the Corporate Information Technologies Department (CIT) is to leverage Information Technology to enable IFC’s strategic priorities and to support IFC’s business and operations. By acting as the technology partner and business enabler, the department provides state-of-the-art information and technology solutions to support IFC’s operations.

CIT is looking for a highly motivated, experienced, and versatile Product Owner with Finance and Accounting domain and with strong business analytical and technical skills to join the team. This is an exciting opportunity to join a team of highly skilled, diverse, and technical professionals and contribute to the department priorities. The position will be based in Washington DC.

Roles & Responsibilities:

• The product owner plays a key role in driving the success of a product by aligning its development with customer needs and business objectives, coordinating cross-functional efforts, and ensuring that the product delivers value to both the users and organization.
• Work with Finance and Accounting clients to understand product requirements and manage expectations for delivery.
• Develop a clear vision and strategy for the product, including defining goals, and target audience.
• Create product roadmaps that outline the features, enhancements, and updates to be implemented over time, prioritizing them based on strategic business needs.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams such as development, design, QA, Information Security, Cloud, etc., to ensure alignment and successful completion of the product development.
• Define product scope and schedule while focusing on regular and timely delivery of value to clients.
• Gather and prioritize product requirements from various stakeholders, balancing competing interests and constraints to deliver maximum value to customers.
• Develop and document business cases, business processes and workflows, requirements, use cases, test plans, test strategies, test cases, and operational procedures and plans.
• Actively manage the product backlog and prioritize business needs.
• Monitor the development process, provide guidance to the design and development team, and make decisions to ensure the product is delivered on time and within budget.
• Work across multiple functional and technical teams to initiate and manage product requirements (Functional and Technical).
• Organize and lead status meetings; prepare and track progress.
• Perform delivery planning, manage risks and issues, correct deviations from plans.
• Manage expectations for deliverables, client communications, and help implement effective product oversight and governance.
• Implement a well-defined management process and ensure ongoing process improvement to apply best practices for Agile methodology.
• Ensure that each team member is fully engaged and makes a meaningful contribution and encourages a sustainable pace with high levels of quality output.
• Develop training materials and potentially train the users on the newly developed products.

Selection Criteria

Minimum Education/Experience: 

• Master’s degree in computer science, business administration or finance
• 7+ years’ experience working with IT products. At least 2+ years of experience working as a Product Owner for large implementations.
• Experience & knowledge in SDLC, SCRUM/Kanban, Agile methodologies are required.
• Professional accounting qualification is highly desirable.
• Relevant certification is a plus.

Required Skills: 

• Excellent working experience in Finance and Accounting Domain
• Strong proven experience in accounting systems, transaction processing and accounting concepts.
• Experience working with Investment Banking, Private Equity or Capital markets is a plus.
• Familiarity with Financial products, such as Loans, Guarantees, Equity, Blended Finance, Securitization, etc.
• Experience working with multi-function project/product teams including Developers, Business Analysts, and QA Personnel.
• Experience in working with clients managing Controllers and Budget functions.
• Excellent presentation and documentation skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills including collaboration, and team building.
• Strong analytical, planning, and organizational skills with an ability to manage competing demands.
• Solid understanding of and proven experience in using appropriate tools: Agile Project Management tools such as Azure DevOps or equivalent.
• Excellent oral and written communications skills and experience interacting with both business and IT individuals.

Source: https://worldbankgroup.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=28936&site=1