Platform Product Owner

Are you an experienced Product Owner who wants to transform businesses around the world with AI technology. Well, this might just be the job for you!

About Sand

Sand Technologies is a fast-growing enterprise AI company that solves real-world problems for large blue-chip companies and governments worldwide.

We’re pioneers of meaningful AI: our solutions go far beyond chatbots. We are using data and AI to solve the world’s biggest issues in telecommunications, sustainable water management, energy, healthcare, climate change, smart cities, and other areas that have a real impact on the world. For example, our AI systems help to manage the water supply for the entire city of London. We created the AI algorithms that enabled the 7th largest telecommunications company in the world to plan its network in 300 cities in record time. And we built a digital healthcare system that enables 30m people in a country to get world-class healthcare despite a shortage of doctors.

We’ve grown our revenues by over 500% in the last 12 months while winning prestigious scientific and industry awards for our cutting-edge technology. We’re underpinned by over 300 engineers and scientists working across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US. 

About the role

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Product Owner to join our dynamic team building the user interface for our cutting-edge Data Science and AI platform. This platform empowers data scientists and AI engineers to build, train, and deploy sophisticated models. 

As the Product Owner, you will be the voice of the customer and will be responsible for defining, prioritizing, and managing the product backlog to deliver a world-class user experience. You will work closely with a talented team of designers and engineers in a fast-paced, agile environment.

Specific Responsibilities

• Product Vision & Strategy: Collaborate with stakeholders to define the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for the platform's user interface
• Backlog Management: Own and maintain the product backlog, ensuring it is prioritized, refined, and reflects the needs of users and the business
• User Story Creation: Write clear, concise, and testable user stories with well-defined acceptance criteria, focusing on user value and business objectives
• Sprint Planning & Execution: Actively participate in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, ensuring smooth sprint execution
• Stakeholder Management: Effectively communicate with stakeholders, including data scientists, AI engineers, product managers, and business leaders, to gather feedback and ensure alignment
• User Research & Analysis: Conduct user research, analyze user feedback, and use data to inform product decisions and prioritize features
• Acceptance Testing: Ensure that delivered increments meet the defined acceptance criteria and quality standards
• Roadmap Planning: Contribute to the overall product roadmap, ensuring alignment with the broader product strategy

Requirements - Essential

• Proven experience as a Product Owner in an Agile development environment (Scrum or Kanban) building front end applications
• Demonstrable experience in writing user stories, managing product backlogs, and prioritizing features
• Strong understanding of agile principles and practices, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear and concise user stories
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Experience working with design and engineering teams
• A passion for building user-centric products
• Relevant undergraduate degree; MSc preferred

Requirements - Preferable

• Experience working on data science or AI-related products or platforms
• Familiarity with UI/UX design principles
• Experience with user research methodologies
• CSM (Certified Scrum Master) or CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner) certification

Personal Attributes

• Courage: Willingness to speak up, challenge the status quo, and embrace new challenges.
• Humility: Openness to learning, seeking help when needed, and a focus on serving others.
• Adventure: A passion for setting ambitious goals, tackling difficult tasks, and finding joy in the journey.
• Initiative: Proactive problem-solving, a sense of ownership, and a willingness to go above and beyond.
• Resilience: The ability to bounce back from setbacks, persevere through challenges, and emerge stronger.

Due to the considerable amount of virtual work and interaction with colleagues and customers in different physical locations internationally, it is essential that the successful applicant has the drive and ethic to succeed in working in small teams physically but in larger efforts virtually. Self-drive to communicate constantly using web collaboration and video conferencing is essential.

If you're ready to transform businesses around the world with AI technology, we'd love to hear from you. Please submit your resume detailing your experience and vision for the role.