What does a Product Owner do?
Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders. As the product owner, you are responsible for ensuring that the development team maintains a consistent vision and overseeing the product backlog. You are also expected to supervise the actual product development stages and anticipate the needs of clients.
Product owner responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real product owner resumes:
- Manage remote teams to port core and legacy components into AWS.
- Manage a global team to create Java base EDI / XML / XSL mapping suite.
- Gather and define requirements for the BSS require to operate and manage the SaaS offerings.
- Serve as technical contact for affiliate partners during API integration and create and manage API documentation.
- Manage the team to redesign the Java base desktop trading community management product to a web base portal.
- Used Microsoft TFS to manage project phases, sprints and burn down chart of various stages of SDLC.
- Direct automating the regression testing using QTP.
- Validate reports, database via SQL, and XML data transfers.
- Decompose requirements in form of epics, themes, and sprint backlog.
- Transition all web assets from a local server to a more reliable AWS infrastructure.
- Involve with the whole UAT to ensure the performance of the system and application.
- Participate in the UI work sessions and responsible for communicating the same to the team.
- Work with clients to establish requirements for enhancements / new functions including UI / UX.
- Experience project manager and scrum master for agile, waterfall, and customize development methodologies.
- Introduce agile development practices, lead scrum, and advocate on behalf of business partners.
Product owner skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Product Owners are proficient in User Stories, Acceptance Criteria, and Product Backlog. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Creativity.
We break down the percentage of Product Owners that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- User Stories, 10%
Identified ambiguities in requirements and understand and translate the business process model into user stories in agile/scrum methodology.
- Acceptance Criteria, 7%
Defined market acceptance criteria and ensured product development output remains consistent with product objectives.
- Product Backlog, 5%
Managed product backlog by gathering market feedback to understand pervasiveness and urgency of issues, and adjusting prioritization of features.
- Analytics, 5%
Gathered and documented insurance agency and broker business requirements to be used for business intelligence dashboards and data analytics.
- Product Management, 4%
Required Product Management and base-line Project Management for entire project from assignment to production implementation.
- EPICS, 4%
Captured user story points, categorized into respective epics and maintained the requirement matrix.
"user stories," "acceptance criteria," and "product backlog" are among the most common skills that product owners use at work. You can find even more product owner responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a product owner to have is analytical skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to analyze industry trends to determine the most promising strategies for their organization." Product owners often use analytical skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "conducted a/b testing and analyzed web traffic and account conversion using omniture/sitecatalyst and urchin. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling product owner duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "managers must be able to communicate effectively with a broad-based team made up of other managers or staff members during the advertising, promotions, and marketing process." According to a product owner resume, here's how product owners can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "co-ordinated the wide range of communications between the product development team and the offshore development teams. "
Creativity. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of product owners is creativity. This skill is critical to many everyday product owner duties, as "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must be able to generate new and imaginative ideas." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "coordinated with external developers, as well as creative, legal and qa teams utilizing agile methodology. "
Interpersonal skills. For certain product owner responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "interpersonal skills." The day-to-day duties of a product owner rely on this skill, as "managers must deal with a range of people in different roles, both inside and outside the organization." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what product owners do: "advised personnel on process improvement and interpersonal skills. "
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in product owner job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what product owners do. Product owner responsibilities rely on this skill because "advertising, promotions, and marketing managers must manage their time and budget efficiently while directing and motivating staff members." You can also see how product owner duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "lead the development team offshore to set up a configured security and organizational hierarchy for sales for salesforce implementation. "
The three companies that hire the most product owners are:
- Deloitte438 product owners jobs
- Pwc362 product owners jobs
- U.S. Bank253 product owners jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable product owner resume templates
Build a professional product owner resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your product owner resume.
Compare different product owners
Product owner vs. Marketing director
Marketing directors are responsible for the overall branding and marketing direction of the company. They are in charge of identifying goals and strategies related to marketing. They create strategies that cater to the target market of the organization's products and services to help with sales. They lead the company's marketing department and create the company's brand promise. They ensure that all marketing collateral is in line with the rest of the marketing campaigns of the organization. They should be updated on all the current trends in the marketing world.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a product owner are more likely to require skills like "user stories," "acceptance criteria," "product backlog," and "analytics." On the other hand, a job as a marketing director requires skills like "marketing campaigns," "sales strategies," "email campaigns," and "press releases." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Marketing directors really shine in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $131,349. Comparatively, product owners tend to make the most money in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $108,319.The education levels that marketing directors earn slightly differ from product owners. In particular, marketing directors are 10.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a product owner. Additionally, they're 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product owner vs. Vice president product development
A vice president for product development is responsible for leading the product development team in the execution of development activities to enhance the product's brand image in the market and achieve the sales performance target. Vice presidents for product development monitor the product development techniques from the conceptualization to the final execution and market release. They also handle the budget and resource allocation to support product development operations, ensuring that the outputs meet the quality standards and timetables.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that product owner responsibilities requires skills like "user stories," "acceptance criteria," "product backlog," and "epics." But a vice president product development might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "r," "direct reports," "product design," and "product portfolio."
Vice presidents product development may earn a higher salary than product owners, but vice presidents product development earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $164,622. On the other hand, product owners receive higher pay in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $108,319.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Vice presidents product development tend to reach similar levels of education than product owners. In fact, they're 2.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product owner vs. Scrum master
A scrum master is a job that's rooted in leadership. It is the scrum master's responsibility to ensure a scrum process over the development of a project. They are not directly involved in the decision-making but guide the team in completing the scrum process with their experience and expertise. Also, a scrum master must be adept at being agile in approaching a project and also be able to schedule meetings during the process. In addition, the scrum master acts as a coach as well, helping the scrum teamwork cross-functionally.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a product owner is likely to be skilled in "analytics," "product management," "product vision," and "user experience," while a typical scrum master is skilled in "continuous improvement," "conflict resolution," "agile principles," and "scrum ceremonies."
Scrum masters make a very good living in the energy industry with an average annual salary of $110,550. On the other hand, product owners are paid the highest salary in the manufacturing industry, with average annual pay of $108,319.scrum masters typically earn similar educational levels compared to product owners. Specifically, they're 3.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.8% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Product owner vs. Marketing manager
Marketing managers are experienced employees who oversee the marketing department of the organization. They manage activities such as marketing campaigns, social media postings, company branding, and other strategic marketing activities. They provide strategic direction and come up with departmental goals. They also provide proper training for employees in the department to ensure that they have a deep understanding of its marketing tools. Marketing managers should be creative, should have good interpersonal skills, and should be flexible.
Types of product owner
Updated January 8, 2025
