Product Owner (Workday Product Incubator)

At Kainos, we’re problem solvers, innovators, and collaborators - driven by a shared mission to create real impact. Whether we’re transforming digital services for millions, delivering cutting-edge Workday solutions, or pushing the boundaries of technology, we do it together.

We believe in a people-first culture, where your ideas are valued, your growth is supported, and your contributions truly make a difference. Here, you’ll be part of a diverse, ambitious team that celebrates creativity and collaboration.

Ready to make your mark? Join us and be part of something bigger.

Main purpose of the role & responsibilities in the business:  

At Kainos, we provide a proven track record of launching innovative and creative SaaS products designed to help Workday customers maximize their Workday investment. Our existing solutions include Workday testing, compliance, data masking, employee document management and pay transparency analyzer.

This role is within our new product innovation team and will involve market validation, designing proof of concepts and working with design partners to launch new products to the Workday ecosystem.  These products will use the latest Workday and AI technology to bring value to Workday customers.

As a Product Owner for new products, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the product vision and roadmap, ensuring they delivers measurable value to our Workday customers. Working as part of our wider product management team, you will collaborate closely with customers, prospects, and internal stakeholders to address market needs, enhance functionality, and strengthen our competitive position in this strategically important and high-growth area. You'll own the product backlog across one or more functional areas, ensuring our products stay at the forefront of the industry. This means you'll gather and prioritize product and customer requirements, and work closely with our top-notch development, sales, pre-sales, marketing, and professional services teams to surpass customer satisfaction goals and maintain our leading market position. Your passion for product management will shine through in everything you do. You will relish the challenge of solving complex problems and experience the thrill of working on new products and watching them flourish and make a real difference. This is your chance to make a significant impact and leave your mark on our products and services during this exciting growth phase.

You will be responsible for:  

• Understanding customer needs, personas and why they engage with your product.  

• Becoming an expert in the problems we solve for and “why” they matter.  

• Running structured workshops with customers and internal stakeholders.  

• Defining and building solutions to address customer needs. 

• Defining the benefits your solutions deliver and how to measure success.  

• Knowing your competition and how to stay ahead of them.  

• Launching products and features including organising and enabling internal teams such as delivery, pre-sales, onboarding to maximise impact etc.  

• Supporting Roadmap Delivery and the product backlog; 

• Creating actionable user stories for development teams.  

• Supporting the prioritision of the backlog to ensure goals are met.  

• Identifying and measuring the success criteria for each delivered feature.  

• Defining and communicating release acceptance criteria for each product feature, including the criteria for MVP.  

• Measuring, tracking and improving non-functional aspects of the product.  

Minimum (essential) requirements:  

• Demonstrable experience and capability to successfully carry out the key elements of the Product Owner role above. Demonstrable experience of delivering as part of an agile team. This should include excellent user story creation skills, articulating the business needs in a format that is easily consumable by the scrum team. 

• Excellent communication skills are vital. You’ll need to be a persuasive and effective communicator with strong negotiating skills. It’s not only about talking, you’ll need to be able to listen, understand, and build on other’s viewpoints.   

• You will have an enthusiasm for new technologies and innovation and be prepared to take advantage of the flexibility provided to challenge and be proactive in bringing new ideas to how we work and to the product roadmap.  

• You will need an eye for detail, particularly to interpret supplied information and understand sources and challenge where necessary.  

• Comfort and ability to engage with customers (including internal) to understand requirements, and support functional or technical product discussions.  

• A good understanding of technology, digital services and trends.  

Desirable:  

• Experience working as a Product Owner in a SaaS environment on managing backlog, working with development teams and building Product Roadmaps   

• Prior Workday implementation or product development experience  

At Kainos, we believe in the power of diversity, equity and inclusion. We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected, and given an equal chance to thrive.   We actively seek out talented people from all backgrounds, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them who they are.   We also believe every candidate deserves a level playing field. 

Our friendly talent acquisition team is here to support you every step of the way, so if you require any accommodations or adjustments, we encourage you to reach out. 

We understand that everyone's journey is different, and by having a private conversation we can ensure that our recruitment process is tailored to your needs.