About the Role

An exciting role is now available to join us as a Product Owner, this role can be based from Bournemouth or Croydon.

The LV=GI Product Owner Practice is evolving, and at this exciting time of change, we have an opportunity for a Product Owner to join our growing team and actively contribute to our growing Product Practice. We are  looking for someone who is as passionate about delivering a first class experience to our customers as we are.

Although you may not have previous Product Owner experience you will have a good understanding of the role and ideally will have worked closely alongside a Product Owner as a Change Delivery Analyst or in another role within the Scrum team previously. You will have energy, enthusiasm and a willingness to learn to the role to help drive engaging user experiences and help lead LV=’s visons and objectives.

As a Product Owner you will be a leading member of the Scrum team on some of our smaller deliveries initially, supporting change throughout the full development process from concept to delivery. You will evaluate all opportunities and decide what gets built and delivered through a clear concise backlog with mentoring and support from your Product Manager whilst you get up to speed. You are a clear thinker with vision, passion, energy and attention to detail with a drive to learn and improve yourself and others but above all a real team player.

Key Accountabilities:

Stakeholder Management

Acting as the interface with the Project Manager between stakeholders and the scrum team

Liaison with the wider business to inform what changes will be delivered so comms can go out to notify people of process changes where required.

Maintain awareness of activities being undertaken by the Project Managers outside of the Sprints and Scrum team, but that are required to ‘complete the picture’ for delivery

Stakeholder management – Make sure delivery progress is effectively communicted  outside of the Scrum team.

Show and tell – Be prepared to regularly demo Scrum team progress with support from the team to ensure the business areas are aware of change ahead of releases.

Agree approach with Project Manager and SMEs on engagement model with  wider operational support teams (e.g. training, process architects) to ensure upfront visibility of the project and required tasks from these areas and timeframes within which they’re required

Consulting with the Business Design Authority (BDA) in advance of significant business design decisions being implemented and using the BDA, where required, for sense check of initial sprint planning decisions (particularly where there is a people or financial impact)

Strong communication skills working very closely with your Scrum Master and managing cross team changes with other Product Managers and the Release Train Engineer.

Backlog Maintenance

Regular backlog refinement working closely with the Scrum Team.

Agreeing what stories should be ‘above’ and ‘below’ the MVP line in the backlog taking into consideration this will be fluid and may include defect fixes.

Make decisions on behalf of the business that will influence whether user stories are accepted or rejected and in which sprint they will be developed, but being mindful of the need for a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with greatest business benefit and some elements that are time driven.

Maintain awareness of wider Portfolios to ensure the backlog accurately reflects support of wider initiatives which may require additional resource support and require priority calls. This will be achieved via close collaboration with both the Product Manager and other Product Owners.

Adding new features to the backlog, but avoid deviating from the roadmap for the project

To ensure confirmation of Epics and projects are up to date and in line with priority set by the change forum and the business change work stack

Ensure the backlog is appropriately prioritised and refined ahead of sprint planning

Scrum Team Engagement

Confirming the definition of “Done” as agreed by the Scrum team is in line with your expectations and nothing is obviously missing.

Proactively work with the scrum team each Sprint to deliver code that you are able to accept as ‘done’.

Work closely with the Scrum Master to get early feedback as to if the team are on track for key delivery dates.

Ensuring the relevant SMEs/Knowledge Management Experts are made available to support the sprints and that they are aware of their roles and the expectations of them from within the Scrum team

Attend team retrospectives and punctually deliver on actions as required.

Work closely with Business Analysts to ensure you are adding as much value to the delivery team as possible.

Decision Making

Sign off of all development work completed in the sprints, ensure quality of delivery and fit for purpose in line with the definition of ‘Done’

Be available to the Scrum team and able to think clealy on your feet to give quick concise decisions to help the team pivot and change direction rapidly when required.

Maintaining a knowledge of future change items in a well defined backlog in order that these can be considered by the team when planning future sprints and PIs

Defining the minimal viable product for each project and best benefit realisation, consulting the BDA where necessary

Escalation

Flagging risks to the appropriate parties

Escalating risks outside the scrum team to the project manager / relevant stakeholders alongside the Scrum Master

Escalation to the BDA where necessary

Release / Warranty Management

Ensures the Project Management team have undertaken all relevant tasks to ensure a smooth implementation aligned with BAU processes for Release Management

Feeding into delivery plan e.g. sprints aligned with key dependencies/milestones

Input to milestone/dependency tracking with third parties

Ownership of warranty issues, and determine priority of any issues compared to the product backlog

Coaching and Line Management

You will have no line management responsibility until you progress to a Senior Product Owner.

Providing direction and support to a Change Delivery Analyst in your Scrum team as required.

About you.

No previous Product Owner experience required but a good understanding of the role and what is expected as well as a willingness to learn

Proven track record of working within a Scrum team

Ideally previous experience working in insurance or financial services

Good communication skills and stakeholder management

Working knowledge of CRS (Common Rating Service), CQS (Common Quote Service), Polaris,  Azure Machine Learning and Radar Live is prefereable

A basic understanding of the Agile methodology with experience using a number of framework eg Scrum, Kanban, DSDM

Ability to motivate and energise a cross-functional experienced team

Self-motivated

Not afraid to take a risk based approach to decision making

A real team player

Why Work for Us? 

Exciting things are happening at LV=General Insurance (LV=GI). Having recently become part of the Allianz family, we’re proud to be one of the largest personal insurers in the UK.

Driven by our pride and passion, we will always do the right thing to inspire trust in our people and our customers. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to become Britain’s best-loved insurer, by helping people look after what they love.

About the Rewards

This role is a Senior Associate cluster in the LV= Structure.  We want you to love what you do that’s why we’ve put together a benefits package that recognises and rewards a job well done.  

We’ll give you:

Flexible working opportunities – many of our employees job share or work part-time, flexi-time, or compressed hours. Our new hybrid working model now offers all employees the option to work from home 3 days a week and 2 days in the office.

30 days' holiday, with the option to buy up to 2 additional days

An excellent pension plan  (please click here to read more about it)

An annual bonus scheme based on company and personal performance

Private medical insurance which you can upgrade to family cover

Gympass

Other flexible benefits including discounted retail vouchers and dental insurance  

25% discount off our general insurance products including home, pet and travel as well as up to 50% discount on your car insurance

LV= is an equal opportunities employer who values a diverse and inclusive workplace. We recognise that people work in different ways, and we value alternative viewpoints, celebrate individuality and foster a culture where everyone can bring their true self to work. We are committed to creating a diverse workforce, we accept applications from everyone regardless of your background, beliefs, culture, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disabilities and long term health conditions

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