Product Owner

Product Owner — Bucharest

Location: Bucharest (on-site) · Team: Product · Reports to: Head of Product · Contract: permanent employment contract, full-time

About EC Markets and the role

EC Markets is an FCA-regulated FX and CFD brokerage. Our engineering team builds and runs our investing and trading app: a React Native / Expo app on iOS, Android and web, backed by a Java Spring Boot API on AWS that connects trading, custody, identity verification, payments and market-data platforms.

We are looking for a Product Owner to own the backlog for our investing and trading app and turn business, client and regulatory needs into well-defined work our engineers can deliver. You will work closely with the Engineering Lead and QA Lead, and with stakeholders across Trading, Compliance, Risk, Finance, Operations and Marketing.

What you will be doing

Product ownership

• Own and prioritise the product backlog against client value, regulatory obligations, risk and delivery capacity.
• Turn business needs into clear epics and user stories with testable acceptance criteria.
• Contribute to the product roadmap and keep it current and visible to the business.

Delivery

• Lead backlog refinement and set sprint goals; accept completed work.
• Work with the Engineering Lead and QA Lead on scope, trade-offs and release readiness.
• Give every epic a clear owner and exit criteria.
• Run business acceptance testing and sign-off with the teams that raised the requirement.

Regulation & outcomes

• Build regulatory requirements into the product with Compliance, including FCA Consumer Duty, client money and KYC / AML.
• Use product analytics to measure outcomes and inform priorities.
• Communicate releases and changes clearly to internal stakeholders.

What you will bring (non-negotiable)

• At least 4 years in product roles, including 2 or more as a Product Owner or Product Manager on a live consumer digital product, ideally mobile.
• Experience in regulated financial services: trading, investing, wealth, payments or banking.
• Scrum in practice, with Jira and Confluence.
• Strong writing of user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Enough technical understanding to discuss APIs, third-party integrations and trade-offs with engineers.
• Data-informed decision-making using product analytics.
• Stakeholder management with senior business and technical colleagues.
• Fluent English.

Nice to have

• Retail investing or trading products (ISA, SIPP, CFDs, spread betting).
• Working knowledge of FCA Consumer Duty.
• CSPO, PSPO or equivalent certification.
• User research and UX collaboration.
• Experience with AI-powered product features.

Qualifications

• Degree in Business, Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 4–7 years of relevant experience, or 1–3 years at a similar level.

Compensation & benefits

• Base salary: 220,200 RON – 330,000 RON gross per year (18,350 RON – 27,500 RON gross per month), before employee tax and social-security contributions.
• Annual bonus: eligible for the Group bonus scheme
• Pension & social security: employer contributions in line with statutory requirements.
• Health: supplementary health insurance.
• Annual leave: 20 working days plus public holidays.
• Equipment & learning: company-provided hardware; annual learning and certification budget (incl. product and agile certifications).
• Travel: occasional travel to other Group offices, paid for by the company.

Where a candidate sits within the band is determined by assessed experience against the role criteria, depth of product ownership on live consumer products and relevant financial-services and regulatory exposure. The same criteria apply to any later pay progression.

How we hire

Our recruitment process is aligned with Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency and equal pay:

• Transparent pay from the start. The salary band, bonus and benefits above apply from the first conversation. We will not offer below the published band on the basis of a candidate’s current or previous pay.
• No salary-history questions. We will not ask about your current or previous salary at any stage, and our application form does not collect it.
• Gender-neutral process. The job title and this description are gender-neutral, and we welcome applications from candidates of all genders and backgrounds. Interview panels are balanced wherever practicable.
• Objective, written criteria. Shortlisting, interview scoring and the final offer within the band are made against pre-defined, written criteria, scored independently by each interviewer. The same criteria apply to later pay progression and are available on request.
• Your rights once hired. You may discuss your own pay to exercise your right to equal pay, and you may request, in writing, information on your individual pay level and on average pay levels by sex for workers doing the same work or work of equal value, in line with applicable law.

Process at a glance: CV screen → Talent Acquisition conversation (30 min, incl. salary band) → interview with the Head of Product and Head of Technology (60 min) → case exercise: prioritise a backlog and write stories with acceptance criteria, presented to a panel (90 min) → offer. Typical end-to-end timeline: 3–4 weeks. Reasonable adjustments are available at any stage; just let us know.

Equal opportunities and how to apply

EC Markets is an equal-opportunities employer. We make hiring decisions on the basis of skills, experience and demonstrated potential, and do not discriminate on the grounds of sex, gender identity, age, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability, marital or civil-partnership status, pregnancy or parental status, or trade-union membership.

Please do not include your current or previous salary: we will not use it in our decision and are not permitted to ask for it. Any personal data you share will be processed in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Notice and the GDPR.

Questions about the role, the salary band or reasonable adjustments are welcome at any stage; just ask the Talent Acquisition team.