Role Overview: The Lead Products Owner is a strategic orchestrator of value flow, governance, and operational alignment for companys Generative AI (GenAI) Program. Reporting directly to the A.I. Strategist Manager (who also serves as the Functional GenAI Program Manager), this role is essential in driving the “what” and “why” of the GenAI portfolio, ensuring alignment with the overarching program strategy and vision. The Program Product Owner will manage a continuous & transparent intake process for all new GenAI Use cases from across the business, AI governance milestones, and high-level value-driven milestones, while acting as a bridge between business functions and Scaling Office (Applied Intelligence team focused), ensuring the seamless integration of AI initiatives across business functions and driving innovation, efficiency, and productivity.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Strategic Vision & Roadmap Ownership: Vision Custodian: Collaborates with the Functional & Technical Program Managers and executive leadership to define and actively implement the overarching GenAI product vision and strategy for the entire program.
Roadmap Ownership: Supports the A.I. Strategist Manager in developing and communicating the strategic GenAI program roadmap, emphasizing flexibility and value delivery over time. The roadmap is a living document the Lead Products Owner monitors, ensuring every team understands how their work contributes to the bigger picture. Value-Driven Operational Planning: Identifies and defines high-level, value-driven milestones and aligns the program deliverables with business value realization, ensuring reporting at this level. Supports the AI Strategist Manager in operational plans definition and implementation over the entire three-phased program cycle, aligned with company AI strategy & compliance.
2. GenAI Use Case Pipeline Management: Pipeline Process: Collects and organizes the pipeline of GenAI use cases from all global business functions within company, ensuring a consistent framework for submission and evaluation based on feasibility, risk, complexity, and strategic alignment. Three-Phase Delivery: Oversees the activation of use cases through a structured delivery process: 1. Experimentation: Testing feasibility and initial implementation. 2. Pilot: Conducting scaled-down validation. 3. Scale: Expanding full operational capacity.
Program-Level Backlog: Maintains and prioritizes a single, transparent program-level backlog, ensuring the most strategically valuable efforts are prioritized. Milestones Definition & Tracking: Defines and tracks governance milestones and ensures governance checks and balances are embedded throughout the development and deployment lifecycle. Roadmap Integration: Incorporates AI governance milestones directly into the program roadmap, treating them as integral parts of the delivery pipeline.
3. Stakeholder Communication & Alignment: Bridge Builder: Acts together with the AI Strategist Manager as a bridge between business stakeholders and technical delivery teams, ensuring alignment and collaboration, with a cohesive focus on the value delivered by the GenAI program communication to senior leadership and business partners, tying technical progress to strategic outcomes. Expectation Management & Reporting: Manages expectations around GenAI capabilities, emphasizing its disruptive and experimental nature. Prepares communications, reports, and presentations for stakeholders and SPOCs, including PPT presentations and event materials.
4. Dependency Resolution & Collaboration: Cross-Team Coordination: Works proactively with individual Product Owners across teams to identify and resolve product-level dependencies, ensuring foundational AI capabilities are built before downstream applications. Feedback Integration: Facilitates feedback collection from business units to inform program development and continuous improvement. Operational Plans Implementation: Organizes and prepares Experimentation Labs Framework for the GenAI program, focusing on project management aspects and adapting planning, meetings and milestones to operational plans and frameworks.
5. Program Monitoring & Change Management: Monitoring: Supports the A.I. Strategist Manager in monitoring the program and ensuring alignment with defined roadmaps. Change Management: Pairs with change management teams to promote program outcomes and maintain active business interest.
Required Skills and Qualifications: General Skills: Strong ownership and initiative-taking abilities. Excellent organizational and project management skills. Effective communication and presentation skills. Ability to brainstorm and collaborate with cross-functional teams. Technical Skills: Background in GenAI, machine learning (ML), advanced analytics, or related fields. Familiarity with AI frameworks and operational planning. Understanding of program management methodologies. Experience: Proven experience in program management or a related role. Tangential experience in AI, ML, or advanced analytics is highly desirable. Experience in stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration. Key Attributes: Strategic thinker with the ability to align program goals with organizational objectives. Proactive problem solver who can adapt to changing priorities. Collaborative mindset to work effectively with business and technical teams.
