Associate Product Owner (Hybrid)

At Selective, we don't just insure uniquely, we employ uniqueness.

Selective is a midsized U.S. domestic property and casualty insurance company with a history of strong, consistent financial performance for nearly 100 years. Selective's unique position as both a leading insurance group and an employer of choice is recognized in a wide variety of awards and honors, including listing in Forbes Best Midsize Employers in 2024 and certification as a Great Place to Work in 2024 for the fifth consecutive year.

Employees are empowered and encouraged to Be Uniquely You by being their true, unique selves and contributing their diverse talents, experiences, and perspectives to our shared success. Together, we are a high-performing team working to serve our customers responsibly by helping to mitigate loss, keep them safe, and restore their lives and businesses after an insured loss occurs.

The Associate Product Owner is a product advocate and leader accountable for business value and outcomes, supporting a product mindset, and end-to-end delivery of strategic imperatives in support of a Product Owner and as part of an agile development team. A strategic thinker with an understanding of execution, this individual helps to distill product vision and strategy into actionable plans and ensure ongoing delivery of measurable value. The Associate Product Owner is a user advocate and proxy, supporting engagement with internal and external customers to understand needs and experiences and help represent these in the shaping and evolution of products. As a true business partner, the Associate Product Owner collaborates with the Product Owner and team members, product and program leaders, end users, customers, and other stakeholders in assisting with prioritizing and refining content, managing dependencies, measuring team and product outcomes, demonstrating impactful business value, and enabling meaningful continuous improvement.

• Assists with synthesis and translation of product and program strategies and vision into actionable delivery plans for an agile development team.
• Assists with ownership of end to end value delivery and outcomes at the team level, collaborating with the Product Owner, product leaders, IT partners, business leaders, and stakeholders to help ensure teams are building the right thing at the right time.
• Supports customer advocacy and proxy, participating in engagement with internal and external customers to understand needs, optimize feedback mechanisms, and help incorporate outcomes in product scope and design.
• Assists with conducting and participates in market and competitive research efforts, helping to introduce applicable findings in development of product initiatives.
• Supports collection, refinement, and analysis of relevant data for informed decision making. Develops and employs an economic view, learning to assess cost, benefit, and business value in assisting with determination of team priorities.
• Develops and helps to cultivate a product mindset, assisting with team-level understanding and alignment with product strategy throughout development and innovation activities, navigating ambiguity, and embracing change.
• Assists with ownership, management, and prioritization of the user story backlog. Helps refine features and user stories in collaboration with the Product Owner, Product Manager and Business Analyst.
• Supports demonstration of business value and helps to guide teams through agile ceremonies, program planning, defect remediation, and continuous improvement activities.
• Assists in proactively managing team-level dependencies and adapting delivery plans and communicating impacts as appropriate.
• Assists with measurement and tracking of outcomes and status reporting at the team level.

Knowledge and Requirements

* Developing understanding of the P&C insurance industry, product line or domain and aptitude for continued learning.
* Good collaborative and stakeholder management aptitude; appreciation for diverse perspectives
* Developing proficiency in customer and user engagement
* Developing proficiency in market and competitive research
* Problem-solving skills, Intellectual curiosity, and development-focused mindset
* Familiarity with data collection and analysis and developing ability to apply in effective decision-making
* Tolerance for ambiguity
* Developing ability to effectively operate at both strategic and tactical levels
* Developing understanding of product and software development lifecycles
* Familiarity with writing and refining agile requirements
* Familiarity with agile methodologies and tooling
* Conceptual understanding of regulated products
* Proficient written and verbal communication skills

Education and Experience

College degree preferred
1-2 years of business analysis experience
1-2 years of experience in insurance line of business role

Selective Insurance offers a total rewards package that includes a competitive base salary, incentive plan eligibility at all levels, and a wide array of benefits designed to help you and your family stay healthy, achieve your financial goals, and balance the demands of your work and personal life. These benefits include comprehensive health care plans, retirement savings plan with company match, discounted Employee Stock Purchase Program, tuition assistance and reimbursement programs, and paid time off plans. Additional details about our total rewards package will be provided during the recruiting process.

The actual base salary is based on geographic location, and the range is representative of salaries for this role throughout Selective's footprint. Additional considerations include relevant education, qualifications, experience, skills, performance, and business needs.

Selective is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. That means we respect and value every individual's unique opinions, beliefs, abilities, and perspectives. We are committed to promoting a welcoming culture that celebrates diverse talent, individual identity, different points of view and experiences - and empowers employees to contribute new ideas that support our continued and growing success. Building a highly engaged team is one of our core strategic imperatives, which we believe is enhanced by diversity, equity, and inclusion. We expect and encourage all employees and all of our business partners to embrace, practice, and monitor the attitudes, values, and goals of acceptance; address biases; and foster diversity of viewpoints and opinions.