Senior Product Owner / Product Manager - Chicago, IL (Hybrid Preferred – Locals Preferred, Non-Local

Job Title: Senior Product Owner / Product Manager
Location: Chicago, IL (Hybrid Preferred – Locals Preferred, Non-Locals Also Considered)
Duration: 6+ Months
Rate: DOE

Position Summary

We are seeking an experienced Senior Product Owner / Product Manager to lead enterprise-level digital product initiatives within the healthcare domain. The ideal candidate will have strong Agile product management experience, the ability to work closely with cross-functional teams, and a proven track record of delivering scalable, customer-focused solutions. Healthcare and PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Management) experience is highly preferred.

This role will be responsible for defining product strategy, managing product backlogs, collaborating with engineering and architecture teams, and ensuring successful product delivery while maintaining high standards for quality, scalability, security, and customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Use customer feedback, market analysis, business insights, and data-driven decision-making to define and prioritize product initiatives
• Develop and manage product roadmaps, success metrics, and product strategies aligned with business goals
• Engage with customers, stakeholders, and end users to understand business needs, behaviors, and pain points
• Lead build-test-learn experiments to validate product assumptions and improve product direction
• Create, prioritize, and continuously refine the product backlog by translating complex business requirements into epics, features, and user stories with clear acceptance criteria
• Partner with Engineering, Architecture, UX, and QA teams to define technical solutions and delivery plans
• Define and manage non-functional requirements (NFRs) including scalability, performance, resiliency, availability, and observability
• Collaborate with Security, Compliance, and Risk teams to implement security-by-design and privacy-by-design principles
• Define telemetry, analytics, and instrumentation requirements to measure product adoption, reliability, and business outcomes
• Ensure production readiness through release planning, feature flag strategies, incident management expectations, and operational runbooks
• Balance feature delivery with modernization initiatives, technical debt reduction, refactoring, and dependency upgrades
• Drive Agile best practices and ensure continuous feedback loops throughout the product lifecycle
• Coach and mentor team members and cross-functional stakeholders on Agile collaboration, experimentation, customer research, implementation, and rollout strategies
• Collaborate with business and IT leadership to ensure alignment and successful execution of product goals
• Proactively identify and resolve obstacles, risks, and roadblocks impacting delivery timelines
• Develop and improve service processes, SLAs, and operational excellence initiatives

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in IT, Digital Product Management, or related fields
• Minimum 5 years of experience as a Product Manager/Product Owner in Agile environments
• Minimum 3 years of experience translating business requirements into technology solutions
• Strong understanding of Agile methodologies including Scrum, SAFe, and Kanban
• Experience managing enterprise digital products across the SDLC
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• Experience working with cloud platforms, enterprise applications, and modern software delivery practices
• Hands-on experience managing product backlogs, sprint planning, and roadmap execution
• Ability to work closely with engineering and architecture teams on technical solution planning
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills

Preferred Qualifications

• 3–5 years of Healthcare industry experience
• Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) experience highly preferred
• Experience advocating for UX/UI and customer-centered design practices
• Product Management certifications such as CSPO, SAFe POPM, or equivalent
• Experience driving quality improvement and cost optimization initiatives
• Strong understanding of observability, analytics, and product performance metrics

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Business, or related field preferred

Note: Local candidates to Chicago, IL are preferred; however, strong non-local candidates will also be considered