- What is a product owner?
- Why use this product owner resume example?
- How to write a great product owner resume
- Which skills are relevant for a product owner resume?
As a product owner, you likely have a lot of product development knowledge and technical expertise to showcase in your resume and it can be easy to get lost in the details. Don’t worry, we can help! If you’re a product owner seeking to take the next step in your career, use our resume example and style guide to create a job-winning resume.
What is a product owner?
Product owners wear many hats and juggle many priorities. They apply strong project leadership, communication, and technical skills, combined with expertise in Agile, Scrum and Waterfall methodologies, to strategically steer product development activities. Product owners may work across diverse departments, from engineering to marketing, and are in high demand, so there are plenty of opportunities out there.
Why use this product owner resume example?
When you’re looking to advance your career as a product owner, it’s important to have an impressive resume that showcases your strategic leadership of product development activities, project wins, and technical expertise. Our resume guide and example will help you create a memorable resume that will position you as the product owner to hire.
The professional profile is your initial pitch, so it needs to grab the attention of the hiring manager and tell them why you are the perfect person for the job. Our resume example shows exactly how you can highlight your product lifecycle management, combined with your talent for engaging teams, key stakeholders, and business partners.
The all-important experience section is next.This section balances paragraphs with bullet points, providing recruiters with clear and concise information about your specific responsibilities and showcasing your wins as a product owner.
Education and credentials sections follow, with the highest and most relevant qualifications listed in a clear and concise format, thereby wrapping up the perfect product owner resume.
How to write a great product owner resume
Here are some expert tips to creating a strong product owner resume and making sure you get noticed in the candidate pool:
Your opening professional summary needs to showcase your extensive experience in product development and stakeholder engagement. Keep this to around four key sentences, with the first providing an overview of your career to date.
Provide a detailed summary of your industry-specific expertise, including technical skills, methodologies, core competencies, and specialist certifications.
In the professional experience section, start with your most recent experience first and work back to earlier roles (covering a period of 10 to 15 years). Tell the hiring manager how you can deliver user-centric, data-driven solutions and ensure on-track project delivery, using action verbs to start each sentence.
While it may be tempting to tell the hiring manager in-depth details of the projects you have delivered as a product owner, this can lead to information overload. Instead, keep your resume concise, with highlighted focal points and the positive outcome from each project. If you’re a seasoned product owner, cherry-pick key projects to highlight rather than listing every one.
Ensure you complete a full proofread of your resume before you submit your job application. Spelling errors, typos, and grammatical errors show a lack of attention to detail, which is not the professional image you want to project as a product owner.
Which skills are relevant for a product owner resume?
When outlining skills on your product owner resume, make sure that they are relevant to the job opportunity by checking the job description. Here are some of the top skills to include:
Full product lifecycle management
New product development
Requirements gathering
Data analytics
Project and program leadership
Agile/Scrum/Waterfall methodologies
User acceptance testing
Stakeholder engagement
Summary example
Broad-based background and breadth of technical savvy leading full product development / software development life cycle for multiple next-generation product lines.
Excel at planning and executing all phases of large-scale product development projects and programs from concept to execution. Highly resourceful in formulating and implementing forward-thinking product visions and roadmaps in partnership with business and IT partners. History of conducting in-depth market / business analysis and requirements gathering for use in product development strategies and user stories.
Employment history example
Product Owner/Product Architect at Equifax Workforce Solutions, St. Louis 2018 - Present
Formulate, update, and manage product roadmap. Interface with stakeholders to gather requirements, provide updates on project status, and gather information for user stories. Plan and execute project scope, schedule, and strategy. Develop, maintain, and prioritize product backlog. Facilitate program increment (PI) and breakout sessions. Employ Agile methodologies throughout SDLC, including planning and participating in development sprints, providing product demonstrations during end of sprint review, maintaining product backlog, and conducting internal bug scrub reviews with key stakeholders.
Served as main product owner for a major effort to modernizer tax form management; led scrum team and acted as key point of contact for prioritizing and escalating maintenance issues.
Wrote all use case stories, prioritized features, reviewed test cases, coordinated UI design and documentation, and created release plan.
Contributed to full regression testing following code completion, integration testing, and all activities leading up to general release.
Facilitated grooming sessions with development team to break out Epics into defined user stories.
Partnered with Product Management and UX designers to streamline and modernize user interface and provide a mobile responsive UI for employee and employer applications.
Designed and delivered self-service configuration wizard for new and returning clients to reduce hiring needs during peak season, resulting in $500K in savings.
Product Owner/Technical Product Manager at DRA Solutions, St. Louis 2010 - 2018
Interviewed end users to gather and translate requirements into functional use case stories for developers. Acted as key liaison between end users, customer service, and developers. Planned and administered execution of project scope. Reviewed test cases and assisted with manual testing during development sprints. Administered and prioritized product backlog. Utilized multiple methodologies and processes, including Waterfall and Agile / Scrum. Liaised regularly with customers, sales staff, and industry experts to define business requirements for specific product enhancements. Partnered with Sales Department regarding key release points and areas to highlight for demos, and to submit bids.
Played key role in several projects that included implementation of new modules within ILS, software enhancements, and development of new client interfaces for over eight major releases.
Acted as Product Owner on multiple Scrum teams, actively participating in daily scrum meetings, creating and prioritizing use case stories for development sprints, working with scrum master to plan upcoming sprints, and prioritizing product backlog.
Served as Product Owner for a web-based interface geared toward the k-12 and public library market; held accountability for writing all use case stories, prioritizing features, and reviewing test cases, UI design, and documentation.
Education example
Master of Science, Library & Informational Science at University of Missouri - Columbia
Bachelor of Science, Business Administration at Culver Stockton College, Missouri
Skills example
Windows 10
Software Development Life Cycle
Product Lifecycle Management
Google Cloud
Certified SAFe 4 Product Owner
