Principal Product Owner

The Technical Product Owner is a highly visible principal-level product leader, responsible for driving the successful delivery and adoption of enterprise AI initiatives, platforms, and solutions. This role combines product ownership, technical acumen, and program execution to translate business opportunities into scalable AI capabilities that deliver measurable value.

The role partners closely with business stakeholders, architects, engineering teams, data teams, security, governance, and platform providers to define requirements, prioritize roadmaps, manage delivery, and ensure successful implementation of AI-powered solutions. This individual serves as the bridge between strategy and execution, ensuring AI initiatives progress from concept to production while aligning with enterprise architecture, security, and governance standards.

Duties & Responsibilities:
Strategic Product Leadership - Develop and execute the long-term product strategy across multiple product lines or the entire product portfolio. Align product strategies with overall business objectives and market trends. Collaborate with C-suite executives to shape the organization's product vision and roadmap. Drive innovation and digital transformation initiatives through product development
Portfolio Management and Optimization - Oversee the product portfolio, ensuring optimal resource allocation and strategic alignment. Lead product prioritization across multiple teams or divisions. Develop and implement frameworks for measuring product success and ROI. Identify opportunities for product synergies and cross-functional initiatives
Stakeholder Management and Influence - Serve as the primary product authority, influencing executive decisions and strategic planning. Build and maintain strategic partnerships with key industry leaders and technology vendors. Represent the organization's product vision to external stakeholders, including analysts and media
Innovation and Thought Leadership - Spearhead research and development efforts for next-generation product concepts. Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement across product teams. Contribute to industry thought leadership through speaking engagements and publications
Mentorship and Organizational Development - Mentor senior product managers and develop the next generation of product leaders. Drive the adoption of best practices in product management across the organization.

Position Specific Skills:
Strategic Thinking
Product Strategy and Vision
Portfolio Management
Agile and Scaled Agile Frameworks
Financial Analysis and Modeling
Emerging Technologies and Market Trends
Data warehouse/Data lakes
AWS
Snowflake
Python
SQL

Qualifications:

Bachelor's Degree and 8 years of experience in Product Management, Scrum, Agile OR High School Diploma or GED and 12 years of experience in Product Management, Scrum, Agile

Preferred Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in Product Management, Product Ownership, Program Delivery, Technology Delivery, or related leadership roles.
• 3+ years of experience delivering AI, Data, Analytics, Cloud, or Digital Transformation initiatives in enterprise environments.
• Proven ability to lead complex cross-functional programs involving business stakeholders, architecture, engineering, security, and governance teams.
• Strong understanding of Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), AI Agents, and emerging AI technologies.
• Hands-on knowledge of cloud-native architectures and services, preferably AWS, including AI/ML, data, integration, and platform capabilities.
• Experience working with Agile methodologies, backlog management, roadmap planning, user story development, release management, and product lifecycle processes.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills, with the ability to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.

• Experience delivering Enterprise AI Platforms or large-scale AI products.
• Experience with AWS Bedrock, Snowflake Cortex AI, Vector Databases, GraphRAG, and Agentic AI solutions.
• Experience within Banking, Financial Services, or other regulated industries.
• Product Owner (CSPO, SAFe POPM) and/or AWS Cloud/AI certifications.

Benefits are an integral part of total rewards and First Citizens Bank is committed to providing a competitive, thoughtfully designed and quality benefits program to meet the needs of our associates. More information can be found at https://jobs.firstcitizens.com/benefits.