Product Owner/Business Analyst

The New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS) is in search of hybrid Product Owner / Business Analyst within the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO). This is a hybrid role that will leverage your knowledge and experience with both waterfall (e.g., scope requirements) and agile (e.g., incremental feature-based delivery) methodologies to drive expected Business Value / outcomes. You will assist the EPMO Business Analysis Unit Manager with Projects, serving as a bridge between the Business needs and Technical / other solutions. You will be responsible for understanding and documenting business requirements, ensuring projects deliver the intended value and meet stakeholder expectations.

To ensure successful job performance, this role demands working knowledge of both product owner and business analysis practices, flexibility to take on tasks as assigned, ability to navigate conflict, a can do’ delivery-driven attitude, and an adaptive mindset.

Primary Responsibilities:

- Represent EPMO’s Projects to understand the Business needs and prioritize / execute on the scope / requirements to achieve outcome-driven Business Value: Collaborate across the organization to help the EPMO Business Analysis Unit Manager and the Business develop and communicate the product vision and roadmap to all relevant stakeholders and team members. Partner with the EPMO Business Analysis Unit Manager, the Business, IT, and other stakeholders to create valuable product outcomes. Partner with EPMO Business Analysis Unit Manager and Business to create personas and journey maps. Think strategically (e.g., macro product vision, interrelationships amongst projects) and delve into the micro details (e.g., workflows).
- Learn, understand, translate, and decompose Business needs with stakeholders: Gather, analyze, and document complex business requirements to support business outcomes / scope. Communicate effectively and work closely with team members to achieve project goals. Continuously gather feedback from users and stakeholders to inform future product / solution decisions. Work closely with stakeholders to identify and understand their needs and translate these into product requirements. Work closely with the development team throughout the product development process, providing scope / requirements clarification and direction where needed.
- Product Owner / Business Analyst owns and manages the product backlog, prioritizing items based on business value and strategic impact, writes and refines user stories with clear acceptance criteria, makes informed decisions regarding scope, features, and trade-offs to maximize return on investment, and actively participates in sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.
- Support Testing UAT: Ensuring project output meets the defined acceptance criteria and overall quality standards (after QA has performed its validations, but before final release to the Business).
- Support to the EPMO Business Analysis Unit Manager: Serve as key and trusted partner to the EPMO Business Analysis Unit Manager. Assist the EPMO Business Analysis Unit Manager with implementing effective Product Owner / Business Analysis Governance across the EPMO’s Programs and Projects and support leadership’s Change Management vision plus other continuous improvement initiatives. Partner with the Project Managers (PMs) and fellow Business Analysts on scope / requirements progress and related impediments.
- Certifications: Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA), Certificate in Product Ownership Analysis (IIBA-CPOA), Agile Product Owner Accredited Certification (e.g., ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Product Ownership – ICP-APO) or equivalent preferred. Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or equivalent not required but would be a plus.

COMPUTER SPECIALIST (SOFTWARE) - 13632

(1) A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, including or supplemented by twenty-four (24) semester credits in computer science or a related computer field and two (2) years of satisfactory full-time software experience in designing, programming, debugging, maintaining, implementing, and enhancing computer software applications, systems programming, systems analysis and design, data communication software, or database design and programming, including one year in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project; or
(2) A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and six (6) years of full-time satisfactory software experience as described in “1" above, including one year in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project; or
(3) A satisfactory combination of education and experience that is equivalent to (1) or (2) above. College education may be substituted for up to two years of the required experience in (2) above on the basis that sixty (60) semester credits from an accredited college is equated to one year of experience. A masters degree in computer science or a related computer field may be substituted for one year of the required experience in (1) or (2) above. However, all candidates must have a four year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, plus at least one (1) year of satisfactory full-time software experience in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project.
NOTE: In order to have your experience accepted as Project Leader or Major Contributor experience, you must explain in detail how your experience qualifies you as a project leader or as a major contributor. Experience in computer operations, technical support, quality assurance (QA), hardware installation, help desk, or as an end user will not be accepted for meeting the minimum qualification
requirements.
Special Note
To be eligible for placement in Assignment Level IV, in addition to the Qualification Requirements stated above, individuals must have one year of satisfactory experience in a project leader capacity or as a major contributor on a complex project in data administration, database management systems, operating systems, data communications systems, capacity planning, and/or on-line applications programming.

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.