Product Owner

Cognizant is hiring a Product Owner to lead delivery and continuous improvement of technology solutions aligned to business objectives.

Responsibilities

• Understand the business case, including why the change is requested and the desired future state
• Use knowledge of the product value stream and system interactions to spot when new features or product changes are needed to deliver business value
• Translate business requests into clear functional and non-functional requirements
• Align stakeholder goals and expected outcomes with engineering teams and Solution Architects by creating definition-of-ready user stories
• Facilitate product backlog grooming sessions to ensure the highest-impact work is prioritized
• Maintain the product technical roadmap and advocate for timely prioritization of non-functional work
• Own a defined capability or technical product area, including product value, cost of ownership, health, and non-functional requirements (reliability, scalability, usability, security, performance)
• Build trusted partnerships with business and technology stakeholders to support product vision, goals, and priorities
• Lead sprint planning, story refinement, and feature elaboration sessions with business and technology partners
• Participate in planning sessions to support cohesive, iterative delivery of business value
• Resolve upstream dependencies and manage cross-team conflicts effectively
• Participate in team standups, sprint reviews, product demonstrations, and retrospectives
• Identify, monitor, and communicate product health metrics and KPIs, then advocate for product improvements
• Manage team capacity to support product health initiatives and reduce technical debt
• Use Agile tools such as Jira and apply strategies to improve team performance and delivery outcomes

Requirements

• Experience as a Product Owner in Agile delivery environments
• Ability to understand business needs and translate them into functional and non-functional requirements
• Strong stakeholder management and communication across business and technology teams
• Experience creating and managing user stories and product backlogs
• Knowledge of product value streams and system interactions
• Proven ability to build trusted relationships with stakeholders and establish strong partnerships
• Experience managing product roadmaps and prioritizing work based on business value
• Understanding of non-functional requirements, including reliability, scalability, usability, security, and performance
• Experience facilitating sprint planning, backlog refinement, and feature elaboration sessions
• Ability to proactively resolve dependencies and coordinate work across multiple teams
• Experience monitoring product health metrics, KPIs, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Familiarity with Agile tools such as Jira
• Focus on continuous learning and using a probe-and-learn approach to problem solving

Technology

• Jira

Benefits

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life Insurance
• Paid holidays plus Paid Time Off
• 401(k) plan and contributions
• Long-term/Short-term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Work Model

• Hybrid role: 2-3 days per week in a client or Cognizant office in Morris Plains, NJ
• Hybrid work with flexibility and support for work-life balance through wellbeing programs

Salary and Incentives

• Annual salary: $60,000 - $70,000 (depending on experience and other qualifications)
• Eligible for Cognizant’s discretionary annual incentive program and stock awards, subject to plan terms
• Applications accepted until November 8, 2026