Lead Product Owner

Company Description

At Tracr we're looking for an inspiring and driven Lead Engineer to join our high performance Engineering teams.

Tracr™, a Forbes Blockchain 50 venture, is enhancing trust within the diamond industry by assuring provenance, traceability and authenticity of natural diamonds from their country of origin through the entire value chain to the end consumer.

Initiated by The De Beers Group, Tracr is the only end-to-end industry platform built collaboratively with the diamond industry to connect the value chain, foster a culture of innovation, and enhance business practices. Above the Tracr Platform an ecosystem of business services and insights are being developed that will create new and sustainable sources of value for the industry.

Tracr provides the industry with the ability to better communicate the story of a diamond and substantiate the positive sustainability and local economic development stories to the end consumer.

We are not looking exclusively for someone with the perfect experience, values, and culture fit. We are instead looking for someone who can enrich our existing values, and culture.

Job Description

The Tracr Lead Product Owner is responsible for the definition, design, planning and delivery of key features and platform enhancements in the Tracr ecosystem. This role works with internal and external stakeholders to ensure reliable delivery of value to Tracr’s customers in line with Tracr’s strategy and commercial goals. You will own and manage the Tracr platform roadmap, ensuring that Tracr is following a robust delivery process, capturing priorities from Tracr’s leadership and commercial teams and building these into a coherent delivery schedule.

Working closely with the product designers, engineers and other technical resources you will ensure clearly documented requirements, close alignment between customer needs and technical designs, and predictable and efficient delivery within Tracr’s software delivery model. As a team lead you will model positive leadership practice in line with Tracr’s culture and values.

You will be a strongly detail-oriented product specialist, able to move seamlessly between analysis, project management, and feature planning to achieve clear definitions of work within a complex environment. You will be an imaginative problem solver, able to plan epics and stories flexibly. This role will combine elements of project management, business analysis and commercial awareness to take efficient, feasible solutions all the way from conceptualisation to successful customer delivery.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee the Product and the Product Design Team, and the Product Delivery Process.
• Ownership of Product Roadmap, Product Backlog, and Product Delivery Plan.
• Coordination of feature prioritisation with leadership and commercial teams to support Tracr’s strategic priorities, and maximise value delivered.
• Facilitation of key governance sessions to lead, steer, and ultimately, drive delivery progress.
• Engagement with cross-functional teams (BD, Commercial Strategy etc) and other internal stakeholders to map product needs and translate feedback into business requirements.
• Sprint Planning, working closely across multiple teams to agree efficient routes for delivery.
• Business analysis and requirements gathering to document detailed user journeys and deliver clear requirements for engineering.
• Validating feasibility and coherence of plans and suggesting creative options for product delivery vs priorities, system abilities and constraints.
• Ensure buy-in and business sign-off of critical path activities at key points in the delivery cycle.
• Working with the technical analyst to ensure that business requirements are mapped into detailed technical specifications and realistic delivery plans.
• Active engagement in the Engineering’s Sprint events and release ceremonies.
• Oversee the release and launch of new features to the market to drive engagement and adoption.
• Collaborate with Finance and Commercial teams to ensure features and capabilities of the Tracr platform are accurately represented in contracts and other commercial agreements.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in technical product roles preferably within an agile development framework.
• Experience in end-to-end Product Ownership, preferably in an entrepreneurial or digital innovation context.
• Previous experience in digital platform delivery, within a complex technical environment, preferably in an engineering context.
• Experience in developing an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) jewellery pipeline, overseeing the creation, strategy, and management of digital products that align with sustainability, ethical sourcing, and social responsibility in the jewellery industry would be highly advantageous.
• Direct experience working with delivery of data science or data engineering solutions is advantageous.
• Experience of working with senior stakeholders, commercial and customer engagement teams.
• Proven record of being able to deliver software successfully to customers.
• Software delivery methodologies, Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Kanban etc.
• End-to-end product lifecycle management.
• Strong technical understanding, ideally with hands on experience.
• Excellent project management skills, able to manage scope, lead teams, and report on progress towards milestones.
• Time management: Able to prioritise, structure work, and effectively manage capacity to deliver to tight timelines.
• Working knowledge of Jira for managing large, complex workloads.
• Proficiency in enterprise knowledge management tooling, e.g. Confluence.
• Familiarity with Amazon Web Services (AWS), XML and JSON data schemas.
• Working understanding of Unified Modeling Language (UML).
• Working knowledge of Python 10+ an advantage.
• Strong mentoring and team leading skills.

Additional Information

• A great working environment
• Fantastic pension scheme
• 27 days of holiday + bank holidays with the opportunity to buy or sell 5 more days
• Private Healthcare
• Mental health is a top priority for De Beers Group - we offer free subscription to Headspace and have mental health first aider
• Competitive salary
• Your Choice membership discounts
• Employee share schemes 
• Staff discount
• Flexible benefits package 

Who we are

De Beers Group is a company with a rich history and a sparkling future. Since 1888 our experts have searched the world for nature’s most precious gem. Our diamonds bring beauty to the world. But we think they can do so much more. We want our diamonds, and our business, to make life brilliant – for our people, our customers and the world around us. Venetia Mine is part of De Beers Group Managed Operations Business which integrates mines, operations and support functions in the De Beers Group producer countries of Canada and South Africa to shape a safe, sustainable future for De Beers Group’s people, shareholders, communities and partners.

Safety

Safety first is a way of life for us. We are unconditional about the safety, health and well-being of our colleagues, at work and at home, and about that of the communities where we work. We aim to lead the industry by investing in innovation to protect people, who are at the heart of our business. Our high performing teams take accountability for their own and others' actions, work collaboratively, and always show care and respect.

Inclusion & Diversity

We are committed to promoting an inclusive and diverse workplace where we value and respect every colleague for who they are. We provide equality of opportunity to enable everyone to fulfil their potential. Referrals incentive applicable: This opportunity is open to a paid referral incentive according to the Referral Policy. Referral incentives are applicable to De Beers Group internal employees only. 

Building Forever

Sustainability is at the heart of our decision-making – it is how we do business.   Building Forever is key to our purpose as it represents our ambitious and holistic sustainability framework and is central to our ability to deliver long-term value to our communities and partners. This shapes how we protect our social and environmental license to operate, build a long-term legacy in our host communities and earn consumers’ trust in our diamonds that they can wear with pride. 

Background Checks

Successful candidates will be required to complete background screening which may include a criminal check and validation of qualifications.

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