CMR Product Owner

Title:

CMR Product Owner

Belong. Connect. Grow. with KBR! 

Around here, we define the future.

But we all share one goal: to improve the world responsibly as a company of innovators, thinkers, creators, explorers, volunteers, and dreamers.

KBR is seeking a highly motivated Product Manager to support NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Evolution and Development 3 (EED-3) contract.  KBR is a subcontractor on RTX’s EED-3 team to provide Earth scientists and others access to data from NASA’s Earth Science missions. As a member of the EED-3 team, you will work in a fast-paced Agile environment that ensures accurate and timely design, development, and deployment of products and services that allows the large collection of NASA earth science data to be more discoverable by the end user community. Search and Discovery is an Agile Release Train in which the products and services are built as part of the NASA’s Earth Observing System Data Information System (EOSDIS) program, which provides end-to-end capabilities for managing NASA’s Earth science data from various sources – satellites, aircraft, field measurements, and other programs. Search and Discovery products include the Common Metadata Repository (CMR). 

As a member of the EED-3 team you will ensure adherence to operational agreements and polices, compliance with program and NASA standards and requirements, leveraging of industry best practices for automation and scalability of assets, and implementation of issue detection and alerts.  

Full-time telecommuting or remote working is available for this position.

*** Must be US Citizen or a Permanent Resident/Green Card holder. ***

Duties & Responsibilities:

The following duties are expected to be carried out by the Product Owner: 

• Define and own the product roadmap for our large-scale backend system, aligning with business needs and technical feasibility. 

• Work directly with engineers to evaluate, plan, and prioritize new features, optimizations, and architectural improvements. 

• Ensure that performance benchmarks are maintained, even as our dataset and API usage grow. 

• Stay ahead of industry trends, proactively identifying new technologies or approaches that could improve system scalability, reliability, and efficiency. 

• Act as the interface between business and engineering, translating high-level goals into actionable technical plans. 

• Drive technical discussions and ask insightful questions to ensure feasibility and identify risks early. 

• Manage trade-offs between short-term delivery and long-term scalability, making decisions that balance technical debt and future needs. 

• Maintain a deep understanding of the system architecture, API functionality, and data storage constraints to ensure informed decision-making. 
• Facilitate an engineering-first culture, ensuring that technical excellence remains at the core of product development.
• Work with stakeholders to define clear success metrics for product performance and growth. 

Required Education, Experience, and /or Skills:

• At least 6 years in a Technical Product Owner, Technical Program Manager, or similar role (Hands on experience / usage of the applications) with a strong focus on backend systems and API development (CMR). 

• Technical background (engineering experience highly preferred) with a strong understanding of large-scale data storage and backend infrastructure. 

• Experience working with high-volume, large-scale databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, NoSQL, distributed storage solutions). 

• Solid understanding of API development, performance optimization, and scalability challenges. 

• Ability to ask deep technical questions and critically assess engineering decisions. 

• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to navigate trade-offs in a resource-constrained, high-performance environment. 

• Experience working in lean engineering teams—you understand how to move fast without the safety net of large ops or QA teams. 

• Comfortable working with observability tools, monitoring performance, and troubleshooting issues with engineers. 

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to break down complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and experience creating RACI charts. 

Desired Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience with GraphQL, STAC APIs, or other geospatial data APIs. 

• Experience working in high-growth environments where backend scalability was a key focus. 

• Familiarity with modern cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or similar). 

• Experience leading database migrations, performance tuning, or re-architecting data storage solutions. 

• Knowledge of distributed systems, caching strategies, and database sharding. 

• Exposure to AI/ML approaches for large-scale data analysis. 

• Experience using Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), particularly as a Product Owner. 

Required Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field  
 
This position requires a U.S. Person who is eligible to obtain any required Export Authorization.   

this position may work remotely. Relocation is NOT available. Quarterly travel for a few days may be required for quarterly planning.

May have deep knowledge of project management. Advanced knowledge of related disciplines within work area and ability to identify links and potential impact on projects, programs, or systems. 

Must be US Citizen or a Permanent Resident/Green Card holder.

Basic Compensation:

$115,300.00 - $173,000.00

The offered rate will be based on contract affordability and the selected candidate's working location, knowledge, skills, and/or experience and in consideration of internal parity.

Experience and/or Education in lieu of these qualifications will be reviewed for applicability to meet these requirements.

KBR Benefits​

KBR offers a selection of competitive lifestyle benefits which could include 401K plan with company match, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, AD&D, flexible spending account, disability, paid time off, or flexible work schedule.  We support career advancement through professional training and development.​

Click here to learn more: KBR Benefits

Belong, Connect and Grow at KBR
At KBR, we are passionate about our people and our Zero Harm culture.  These inform all that we do and are at the heart of our commitment to, and ongoing journey toward being a People First company.  That commitment is central to our team of team’s philosophy and fosters an environment where everyone can Belong, Connect and Grow. We Deliver – Together. 

KBR is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, union status and/or beliefs, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.