COS is seeking a Product Owner to join its Product team. Reporting to the Director of Product, the Product Owner plays an essential role in COS’s product development and ability to meet its mission. The Product Owner is responsible for supporting COS’s product vision through effective and efficient management of product development activities and building and maintaining strong relationships with our community of users and stakeholders. 

Each of COS’s Product Owners manage OSF.io, a collaborative project management tool for researchers. COS’s product suite is comprised of six product interfaces (OSF.io, Preprints, Registries, Institutions, Collections, Meetings) that enable specific phases in the research lifecycle. With support from the broader Product team, this vital member of the product team will understand the use cases and workflows of the products; manage product feedback of features, improvements, and bugs in the product backlog; work with new communities to build strong relationships; and prepare to launch new branded interfaces.

Product leadership: product use expertise, stakeholder relations, customer relations, business goals

1. Establishes strong understanding of the products and use cases; collaborates bidirectionally with end users and stakeholders to understand and share future ideas for the product
2. Understands and stays updated on the scholarly research data ecosystem, incorporating the rapidly evolving landscape into the product vision and business model conversations
3. Helps execute the launch of paid membership models for branded interfaces based on stakeholder and customer needs. Leads demos and negotiations with customers to help meet organizational business goals
4. Works with the product team to assess feedback from users and stakeholders, applying the business goals to prioritize and effectively communicate with leadership
5. Collaborates with the product team and Data Scientist to develop KPIs and monitor adoption of products and features

Agile Product development: user-centric product design, UX, agile scrum methodology, requirements

1. Participates in product area project support with representation in the agile processes through attendance in scrums, discovery, kickoff, grooming, sprint planning, and product demo meetings to ensure clarity of requirements
2. Takes a user-centric approach to product management by incorporating user research to gather and understand challenges facing researchers across domains on adoption of open and reproducible research practices using COS products.
3. Informs UX enhancements and redesigns of product pages by bringing strong knowledge of user challenges and user behavior data to drive product interface and workflow improvements

Collaboration and communication: promotion, grow adoption, product marketing strategy

1. Collaborates with the Communication Coordinator to promote new features and improvements to user base and to plan outreach to communities and potential new users to grow adoption
2. Plays a critical role in developing product marketing strategies and success metrics with other members of the product team

User support: user-facing guides, support questions, user feedback

1. Stays connected with user support inquiries and responses leading to resolution of user challenges. Leverages support inquiries to improve documentation, user experience, and feature development
2. Creates and updates user-facing product help guides

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• 1-3 years experience in software product management
• Experience with scrum agile development methodologies
• Background in scientific research ideal

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong analytical, organization and documentation skills with excellent attention to detail
• Creativity and ability to convey ideas in a clear and concise way
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to handle and prioritize multiple tasks while maintaining strong attention to detail
• Self-starter and independent worker who continually seeks new challenges and responsibilities
• Sound judgment, professionalism, and a positive attitude
• Resourcefulness, creativity, and strong problem-solving skills
• Ability to react quickly to complex situations

COS offers full time employees:

Competitive salaries

401(k) with employer match. COS offers a matching contribution of 100% up to 3% of pay and another 50% up to 5% of pay (the full match will be 4% if participants elect to defer 5%)

Health, dental, and vision insurance. COS covers 100% of employee premium and 50% of all dependent coverage costs under the base plan

15 days vacation in year one

Paid family medical leave. COS offers paid leave for up to three (3) months to all full-time, regular employees to care for their child after birth, after or during the adoption process, or to care for their spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition

Modern office space and other amenities

COS promotes a flexible work environment that supports a healthy work/life balance. This position is desired to be on site in the Charlottesville, VA office, however remote accommodations will be considered.

Salary is expected to be between mid 50 to mid 60s, depending on relevant experience and skills.

COS is an equal opportunity employer and strongly encourages applications from members of groups underrepresented in science and technology industries. Please submit a resume and cover letter explaining your background and interest in the position here. Questions about the position and COS are welcome and can be directed to jobs@cos.io.