IT Manager, Product Owner - Finance

Vision & Roadmap 

• Own and continuously refine the Finance Product Vision, ensuring alignment with Finance leadership and enterprise strategy.  

• Maintain a transparent, prioritized product roadmap, balancing strategic initiatives, technical debt, compliance, and operational enhancements. 

• Define measurable product outcomes (e.g., automation ROI, cycle time reduction, data accuracy improvements). 

• Communicate the roadmap across Finance, IT, and executive stakeholders to ensure alignment and shared understanding 

Backlog Management 

• Own the end‑to‑end product backlog, ensuring items are value‑driven, refined, and prioritized.  

• Lead backlog refinement, sprint planning, and iteration reviews in partnership with the Scrum Master. 

• Ensure backlog items are sliced into incremental, deliverable units that support continuous delivery. 

• Make real‑time scope decisions during sprints to keep the team unblocked and focused. 

Stakeholder Management 

• Act as the primary liaison between Finance leadership and technical teams.  

• Facilitate cross‑functional decision‑making and negotiate trade‑offs. 

• Communicate product progress, risks, and dependencies to senior leadership. 

• Manage relationships with third‑party vendors and implementation partners 

• Process Transformation: Oversee the documentation and continuous improvement of complex financial business processes, including General Ledger, AP, AR, Tax, and Collections. 

 Domain Expertise 

• Lead evaluation and redesign of financial processes (GL, AP, AR, Tax, Collections).  

• Ensure system design aligns with accounting principles, compliance, and audit standards. 

• Identify opportunities to automate manual processes and reduce operational risk. 

• Partner with Finance SMEs to validate requirements and ensure solutions meet business needs. 

System Integrity 

• Ensure data accuracy, consistency, and integrity across all financial systems and integrations.  

• Partner with architecture and data teams to maintain a robust data governance model. 

• Identify and mitigate risks related to data quality, system dependencies, and integration failures. 

Agile Leadership:

• Facilitate Agile ceremonies with discipline and purpose, ensuring Sprint Planning, Reviews, and Retrospectives drive transparency, alignment, and continuous improvement.  

• Translate strategic objectives into clear, achievable sprint goals, partnering with the Scrum Master and development team to maintain flow, remove blockers, and uphold Agile delivery standards. 

• Monitor delivery risks and dependencies across Finance systems, proactively escalating issues, adjusting scope, and guiding teams toward predictable, high‑quality delivery. 

Consulting & Innovation:  

• Advise Finance leaders on technology-enabled process improvements, offering data‑driven recommendations that balance innovation with operational feasibility.  

• Evaluate emerging financial technologies and industry trends, identifying opportunities to modernize the Finance ecosystem and strengthen automation, compliance, and scalability. 

• Facilitate ideation and solutioning workshops with Finance SMEs and IT partners to explore new capabilities, challenge assumptions, and co‑create forward‑looking enhancements. 

 Qualifications 

• Experience: Minimum of 5-7 years of Product Owner experience, with at least 3 years in a leadership or managerial capacity. 

• Education: 4-year degree in Finance, Accounting, Information Systems, or relevant work experience. 

• Technical Expertise: Strong technical knowledge of Salesforce.com, Zuora billing, and Certinia (FinancialForce). 

• Domain Knowledge: Deep understanding of core finance and accounting business processes. 

• Agile Proficiency: Expert knowledge of Agile best practices, including requirements gathering, process mapping, and user story development. 

• Soft Skills: Mature presence and poise to engage with senior leadership, with excellent communication and technical writing skills. 

• "Quenchy": A collaborative team player with a positive outlook and a "company and team first" attitude. 

Nice to have: 

• Prior consulting experience 

• Familiarity with SQL and/or PowerBI 

• CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner), IIBA, or PMI-PBA certification.