IT Technical Product Owner - Managed Container Platforms Team at Costco in Issaquah, WA

Costco IT is responsible for the technical future of Costco Wholesale, the third largest retailer in the world with wholesale operations in fourteen countries. Despite our size and explosive international expansion, we continue to provide a family, employee centric atmosphere in which our employees thrive and succeed.

This is an environment unlike anything in the high-tech world and the secret of Costco’s success is its culture. The value Costco puts on its employees is well documented in articles from a variety of publishers including Bloomberg and Forbes. Our employees and our members come FIRST. Costco is well known for its generosity and community service and has won many awards for its philanthropy. The company joins with its employees to take an active role in volunteering by sponsoring many opportunities to help others.

Come join the Costco Wholesale IT family. Costco IT is a dynamic, fast-paced environment, working through exciting transformation efforts. We are building the next generation retail environment where you will be surrounded by dedicated and highly professional employees.

Product Owners are responsible for defining requirements, assisting with the overall product roadmap/vision, and driving value at the scrum team level. Product Owners work closely with teams and are the “voice of the customer”, ensuring the needs of the end-user are incorporated into the product from design to deployment. Product owners are responsible for the authoring of functional user stories which are used to support the day to day development of new features and capabilities.

We are seeking a Technical Product Owner to join our Managed Container Platform team. You will work closely with engineers, architects, stakeholders, and leadership to drive the development and enablement of enterprise Kubernetes solutions, including OpenShift, AKS, and GKE. This role is critical in shaping the roadmap, prioritizing the backlog, and delivering container platform capabilities aligned with organizational goals. Product Owners work closely with teams and are the “voice of the customer”, ensuring the needs of the end-user are incorporated into the product from design to deployment. Product owners are responsible for the authoring of functional user stories which are used to support the day to day development of new features and capabilities.

The IT Product Owner excels in building relationships while working with architects to understand customer expectations and business values of the product. The Product Owner defines business outcomes and will decide, in partnership with the development team, what to build and what not to build by prioritizing and adjusting the product backlog. Facilitates product vision, Scrum meetings and sprint planning, provides sprint goals and new user stories, gives feedback during the sprint review, drives information and learning in the daily scrum, and reflects and takes action during the sprint retrospective. The development team will also seek your expertise in specifying acceptance criteria for each user story, writing acceptance tests, and running acceptance testing. Working in a test and learn environment, you will lead a project team in the implementation of upgrades to existing services, capabilities, and processes.

If you want to be a part of one of the worldwide BEST companies “to work for”, simply apply and let your career be reimagined.

ROLE

● Defines and communicates the minimum viable product (MVP) for a given application / product and the supporting release plans.

● Collaborates with Product Managers and technology stakeholders (e.g., Systems Architects) to define new and or enhanced product requirements and functionality.

● Collaborates with Product Managers to the support the prioritization of feature enablers defined by architects within the product roadmap.

● Works continuously / daily with teams to provide answers, feedback and direction on work items, enablers, user stories, etc.

● Prioritizes the sprint backlog (as part of the sprint planning ceremony) based on the sequencing / ranking of features defined in the product roadmap.

● Refines product requirements based on the input obtained through sprint showcases / demos.

● Creates and authors user stories with detailed acceptance criteria written in the customers’ voice.

● Collaborates with the team to prepare the estimates for the user stories within the product backlog.

● Conducts the formal review and acceptance of user stories implemented by a team within a sprint.

● Drives the execution of user acceptance testing (UAT) activities with support from business and technology team members.

● Supports and participates in program level ceremonies including product increment (PI) planning sessions with input and consultation from the Product Manager.

● Performs functional reviews as part of sprint demos and showcases along with the Product Manager and Delivery Manager.

● Serves as the primary point of contact for OpenShift, AKS, and GKE container platforms.

● Defines and communicates the product vision, strategy, and roadmap in alignment with organizational priorities.

● Establishes and communicates the minimum viable product (MVP) and release plans.

● Authors detailed user stories with acceptance criteria in collaboration with the development team.

● Prioritizes and refine the product backlog, ensuring alignment with business needs and technical strategy.

● Breaks down complex problems into smaller, actionable items that deliver incremental value.

● Works with architects, Product Managers, and stakeholders to define and enhance product requirements.

● Partners with Scrum Masters to align sprint plans and backlog priorities with the product roadmap.

● Manages shifting priorities and inter-team dependencies to deliver maximum value.

● Provides direction and feedback to development teams throughout the sprint cycle. Specify and review acceptance criteria, facilitate user acceptance testing (UAT), and formally accept completed work.

● Proactively identify and resolve technical and operational blockers.

● Advocates for platform enhancements, observability improvements, and adoption of best practices.

● Stays informed on industry standards and trends to identify opportunities for innovation.

● Participates in daily standups, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.

● Supports program-level ceremonies such as product increment (PI) planning.

● Monitors and reports on progress, risks, and challenges to stakeholders and leadership.

● Consults Engineering Managers for guidance and clarity on the product vision, roadmap, requirements.

● Collaborates with Scrum Masters to ensure the work managed by teams achieves the highest value relative to needs priority of the business.

● Collaborates with Scrum Masters and teams to define the sprint plan based on the priority outlined within the overall product vision and roadmap.

● Ensures teams meet their sprint commitments so product deliverables are on time.

● Breaks down big problems into small stories that provide value to users.

● Writes detailed acceptance criteria that developers and QA can rely upon to complete their tasks.

● Participates in daily standup Scrums, Sprint Planning Meetings, Sprint Reviews, and Retrospectives.

● Ensures the product strategy aligns with the goals of the organization.

● Analyzes potential partner relationships for products.

● Keeps a watchful eye on future vision planning to ensure the organization is keeping up with industry standards and identifying new functionality that is desirable for users.

● Interacts professionally with a diverse group: executives, managers, subject matter experts, and software developers.

● Develops project scopes, objectives, and milestones, involving all relevant stakeholders (internal and external) and ensuring technical feasibility.

● Works with program managers to communicate project statuses and identifies, addresses, and escalates potential setbacks and risks.

● Identifies, tracks, and manages risks; escalates when necessary.

● Organizes sprint and milestone demonstrations with stakeholders while providing guidance to agile teams.

● Manages inter-team dependencies to prevent impediments and foster collaboration.

REQUIRED

● Technical Knowledge: Strong understanding of Kubernetes, container orchestration platforms (OpenShift, AKS, GKE), and associated technologies.

● 3+ years’ as a Product Owner, Technical Product Manager, or similar role in the cloud or container technology space

● 5+ years’ experience working in agile software teams.

● 3+ years’ Agile Product Owner experience.

● Experienced with JIRA, Azure DevOps, and related Agile tools.

● Solid understanding of DevOps and software development process, as well as experience working in these environments.

● Solid understanding and experience of SAFe framework and Scrum XP methodology.

● Must be well organized, accurate, and attentive to detail.

● Excellent public relations and follow up skills.

● Must be able to work independently and have strong written and verbal communication skills.

● Must be able to perform multiple tasks concurrently in a fast-paced environment.

● A strong work ethic and sense of accountability.

● Strong interpersonal and business partnering skills.

● Good judgment and decision-making skills.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, health benefits - medical/dental/vision/hearing aid/pharmacy/behavioral health/employee assistance, health care reimbursement account, dependent care assistance plan, short-term disability and long-term disability insurance, AD&D insurance, life insurance, 401(k), stock purchase plan to eligible employees.

Costco is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Costco is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or any other legally protected status. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request to IT-Recruiting@costco.com

If hired, you will be required to provide proof of authorization to work in the United States. Applicants and employees for this position will not be sponsored for work authorization, including, but not limited to H1-B visas.

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