Location: Rosebank, Johannesburg
Salary: Market Related
Start Date: ASAP
Location: Cape Town (Non-Negotiable)

Company Overview:
Lesaka is a leading South African financial technology company. We deliver financial services to consumers (B2C) and merchants (B2B) in Southern Africa through our proprietary banking and payment technologies. We offer banking, lending and insurance products to consumers and cash management solutions, bill payment technologies, value-added services, business funding and card acquiring solutions to formal and informal retail merchants.

We are looking for a Business Product Owner to organize, prioritize and assess work for our scrum team. Business Product Owner responsibilities include gathering feature requests, scheduling releases and coordinating sprints.

To be successful in this role, you should be able to identify user needs and work with cross-functional teams to manage product releases. Ultimately, you’ll help us roll-out products that deliver our company’s vision.

Description:
A Business Product Owner, oversees the development of products from start to finish to ensure they meet the clients’ needs and preferences. Their main duties include determining the overall vision of products, managing various backlog items and deciding which features each product will have according to clients’ preferences.

What Does a Business Product Owner Do?

• Business Product Owner are members of the team who manage the entire product development process within an organization.
• They’ll research and determine the clients’ needs to determine which features to include on products and will pitch ideas for product features to stakeholders.
  
• Business Product Owner will then continue to act as the primary contact between the scrum teams, product development departments and stakeholders.
• They’ll collaborate closely with both the scrum and product development departments to ensure the products meet specific objectives as outlined by stakeholders and clients.
• After product completion, the Business Product Owner will conduct a final review and submit their approval before releasing the product to clients.

Business Product Owner Experience Requirements:

• An experienced Business Product Owner should have worked for a minimum of 3 years in the role, or in a similar one, such as Product Management. They should have a good knowledge of software development and other relevant web technologies.
• They should also be familiar with agile processes. An experienced Business Product Owner needs to have proven hands-on experience managing all stages of the product life cycle. They should be able to stick to timelines and measure progress during development.

Business Product Owner Skills and Qualifications:
To carry out the role of a Business Product Owner successfully, a candidate should possess the following skills and qualifications:

• In-depth knowledge of Scrum and Agile Software Development Methodology
• Working knowledge of product development architecture
• Proficiency in the use of analytic tools
• Ability to prioritize effectively
• Excellent knowledge of user-centered design principles
• Excellent oral and written communication
• Ability to work with large teams
• Understanding of design quality standards
• Work experience as a Business Product Owner or similar role in product management
• Familiarity with agile is a plus
• Hands-on experience managing all stages of the product life cycle
• Technical background with knowledge of software development and web technologies
• Team spirit and good communication ability
• Good organizational skills
  

As part of their role on a product team, a successful Business Product Owner should fulfill the following duties and responsibilities:

• Collaborating with prospective users and clients to understand and anticipate their needs and translate them into product requirements
• Defining the vision for the team’s product
• Creating a product road map based on this vision
• Managing the product backlog and prioritizing them based on changing requirements
• Overseeing all stages of product creation including design and development
• Developing user stories
• Monitoring and evaluating product progress at each stage of the process
• Liaising with the product team and end-users to deliver updates
• Participating in Scrum meetings and product sprints
• Incorporate feature requests into product roadmap
• Groom and prioritize backlog
• Develop user stories and define acceptance criteri
• Set sprint goals
• Write acceptance tests
• Plan releases and upgrades
• Follow progress of work and address production issues during sprints
• Analyze preferences and requests of end users
• Refine our agile methodology based on results and client feedback
• Keep track of industry trends