Lead Development Product Owner - AI Product Solutions

Why USAA?

At USAA, our mission is to empower our members to achieve financial security through highly competitive products, exceptional service and trusted advice. We seek to be the #1 choice for the military community and their families.

Embrace a fulfilling career at USAA, where our core values – honesty, integrity, loyalty and service – define how we treat each other and our members. Be part of what truly makes us special and impactful.

We are proud to support active-duty military spouses. USAA roles may offer remote or hybrid flexibility for active-duty military spouses consistent with applicable policy and business needs.

The Opportunity

The Lead Development Product Owner – AI Product Solutions selected for this position will join AI enablement teams in USAA’s Technology organization.  The candidate will have an opportunity to support a value chain of AI delivery that runs from pilots through production.  The candidate selected for this position will be responsible for serving several AI domains and partnering with peers to manage dependencies and risks across the wider AI value chain.  This includes working with multiple delivery teams and stakeholders through all stages of the development lifecycle. 

The candidate selected for this position will be accountable for attaining, understanding, and communicating business needs to manage backlogs of work including guiding teams of Data Scientist and AI Engineers in writing and refining features and stories, planning and prioritizing work, and managing risks to delivery plans.  The candidate will also be responsible for ensuring development work adheres to applicable internal software development lifecycle controls.  The candidate will demonstrate strong critical thinking, problem solving, and technical knowledge along with an expert ability to work across multiple delivery methodologies to plan and predictably deliver business value. 

We offer a flexible work environment that requires an individual to be in the office 4 days per week. This position can be based in one of the following locations: San Antonio, TX, Plano, TX, Phoenix, AZ, or Charlotte, NC.  Relocation assistance is not available for this position.

What you'll do:

• Works with business and Subject Matter Experts to understand business strategy and vision and then writes, refines, accepts and prioritizes stories, features or epics to support effective and compliant solutions while balancing investment and business value.
• Owns and maintains a prioritized work backlog for a single or multiple Agile teams or program. Product backlog includes complete user stories or features with acceptance criteria so that they are consumable and testable by the Agile team or program. Reviews and accepts output of I/T and/or business development to ensure specified acceptance criteria have been completed.
• Serves as a knowledgeable collaborator across multiple business or system domains; is expected to lead development across multiple teams at the program and Epic level.
• Serves as direct representative of the business with one or more delivery teams throughout the product delivery cycle.
• Participates in a cross-functional team of user experience partners, designers, business analysts, developers, testers and others to develop, execute, solution and release in alignment with program, portfolio or product road maps.
• Partners with sponsors, stakeholders, and IT to facilitate, define and document relevant business processes, gaining an expert understanding of the needs, measures, and risks & controls for the improvement area.
• Participates with portfolio, program and project level plans related to schedule, scope and resources.
• Prepares the business for the change and provides tactics and metrics for benefits, adoption, and risk. Leverages existing change management routines, as needed.
• Applies expert knowledge in the business development/execution discipline, regularly seeking out opportunities to enhance, improve and advance the function.
• Coaches and mentors less experienced Product Owners, including Seniors.
• Demonstrates expert knowledge in multiple business or system domains and capable of leading development across multiple teams at the program level.
• Identifies engages, influences and leads business stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts across programs.
• Ensures risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in accordance with risk and compliance policies and procedures.

What you have: 

• Bachelor's degree; OR 4 years of relevant education and/or experience.
• 8 years of experience in process improvement, project delivery, business/requirements analysis or directly related to supported business operations/product line.

• Expert knowledge of the AI development lifecycle including data science run pilots and engineering run productionalization and hardening with a proven track record in using these skills to develop and manage products through the entire product life cycle.
• Expert experience in analyzing business requirements, process flows and use cases to identify opportunities to streamline business processes in accordance with risk management framework and regulatory requirements.
• Expert understanding and demonstrated use of Process Engineering methodologies and Change Management practices to translate business requirements into actionable functional specifications.
• Expert ability to independently work to gather business requirements, process flows and use cases to develop and deliver on business capabilities within the approved methodology, writing user stories, and following the development process through user story acceptance.
• Advanced experience analyzing and translating business requirements and proven ability to identify opportunities to streamline business processes in accordance with risk management framework and regulatory requirements.

What sets you apart:

• 8 or more years of experience delivering successful AI / Machine Learning (ML) products.
• 5 or more years of experience in enterprise technology, Data Science, or AI/ML product/program management at a major financial institution.
• 5 or more years of experience managing delivery team backlog and workflow in systems of record such as JIRA and Clarity.
• 5 or more years of experience managing execution and delivery of code development, from story writing to production, in a timely and predictable manner.
• 5 or more years of experience successfully managing development team and/or program-level risks and dependencies across large technology organizations.  Including identifying and assessing risks and dependencies, managing and/or mitigating risks and dependencies, documenting risk and dependency statuses, and presenting risk and dependency statuses to leaders and stakeholders.
• Technical fluency: comfortable understanding and discussing AI concepts and their derivative business value including working at all phases of the AI lifecycle, managing data requirements, the ability to discuss technical trade-offs and challenges with data scientist and AI engineers, and developing use cases and speaking to how technology deliverables impact stakeholders’ business needs.
• Proven ability to decompose features into iterative stories, prioritize stories in a backlog, align the backlog to a sprint cadence, and release planned story work for incremental delivery.
• Proven success managing release processes including assessing and documenting testing, determining whether code meets product requirements, presenting working technology in demos, post release validation, and accountability for documenting work completion.
• Proven ability to represent AI development with expert verbal and written communication to various audiences including Executive leaders, Director-level stakeholders, business users, IT partners, and development teams.
• Experience working with, engaging, and influencing multiple cross-functional teams and leaders including data scientists, engineers, and other personnel across geographically distributed work environments to deliver working technology.
• Proven bias towards informed action demonstrated by taking initiative to develop an understanding of ambiguous development challenges and/or stakeholder business needs, planning a path forward, and generating buy-in for quick impactful action.
• US military experience through military service or a military spouse/domestic partner

Compensation range: The salary range for this position is: $114,080 - $218,030.

USAA does not provide visa sponsorship for this role. Please do not apply for this role if at any time (now or in the future) you will need immigration support (i.e., H-1B, TN, STEM OPT Training Plans, etc.)

Compensation: USAA has an effective process for assessing market data and establishing ranges to ensure we remain competitive. You are paid within the salary range based on your experience and market data of the position. The actual salary for this role may vary by location.

Employees may be eligible for pay incentives based on overall corporate and individual performance and at the discretion of the USAA Board of Directors.

The above description reflects the details considered necessary to describe the principal functions of the job and should not be construed as a detailed description of all the work requirements that may be performed in the job.

Benefits: At USAA our employees enjoy best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellness. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, 401(k), pension, life insurance, parental benefits, adoption assistance, paid time off program with paid holidays plus 16 paid volunteer hours, and various wellness programs. Additionally, our career path planning and continuing education assists employees with their professional goals.

For more details on our outstanding benefits, visit our benefits page on USAAjobs.com.

Applications for this position are accepted on an ongoing basis, this posting will remain open until the position is filled. Thus, interested candidates are encouraged to apply the same day they view this posting.

USAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.