Product Owner
Stars and Stories, Netherlands

Stars and Stories is an award-winning tech platform delivering authentic online reviews for the biggest brands. It all started with an entrepreneur, a vision, and a market eager for a game-changing concept. Our premise is to deliver authentic online reviews powered by big data and artificial intelligence. This goal is realized by incorporating a community of reviewers who on a daily base strive to deliver honest reviews. Because our method is unique in its form, we get to work with acclaimed companies such as Samsung, Fitbit, and LEGO who value our way of working. Our company culture is characterized by the ability to look forward. This is why we strive to attract as many bright-minded people who cohere with this philosophy.

We advocate diversity within our company, this is why our team consists out of a dazzling 14 nationalities. On top of this, we have adapted our organizational structure to the Covid-19 pandemic by stimulating a hybrid way of working, which has been implemented successfully within our company culture.

We maintain a flat organizational structure, in which ownership and personal responsibility are key. There is also plenty of room for individual growth, as we offer the opportunity to partake in a set of online courses. Lastly, we actively encourage team building by partaking in many events and weekly drinks.

In September 2020 we acquired a Swedish based company called Buzzador. Buzzador was founded in 2005. It is a company that works to create buzz about products on social media and get consumers to write honest reviews about products on selected websites.

In the role of product owner you are very close to the ‘’business’’ of Stars and Stories to identify product optimizations to smoothen and scale our business. Products within Stars and Stories are most of the time software or e-commerce related.

You own a number of projects from the business. You are the driver for the IT and process optimizations within those projects. Besides, you have excellent project management skills to ensure the improvements and new initiatives will be implemented and taken to the next level.

Next to the ownership you are taking over the project, you are prioritizing goals and analyzing the impact for the business and IT.

You are working closely together with other product owners, our VP of Operations, Operational Excellence and Tech Director.

• Sparring partners for several stakeholders to have a correct understanding of current projects and improvements and map the impact and priorities;
  
• You are analyzing (existing) business applications and processes and relate those back to tangible issue(s);
• Translate our product strategy into impactful initiatives;
• You are responsible for the timeline and you set clear goals and expectations;
• You drive improvement and new initiatives from scratch - till roll out;
• You create a transparent backlog and clear user stories;
• You are the voice between the business and our tech team;
• You report pro-actively to the business owners of the core products;
• You present useful insights to relevant stakeholders in a clear manner.

Requirements

• You have experience working in a cross functional environment, managing stakeholders at several levels;
• 3-5 years experience as a product owner, project manager or business analyst in an IT and process driven environment;
• You have excellent business analytics and communication skills;
• You are an analytical thinker with a strong attention to detail, but at the same time overseeing the bigger picture;
• You are able to synthesize processes, applications and data into clear user stories and relate those back to tangible issues;
• You are curious and always willing to learn new skills;
• You are proactive and have a ‘can do’ attitude;
• You are comfortable working in a fast-paced and changing environment;
• You have an excellent understanding of Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban) and experience in adopting them in different contexts;
• You have experience with Scrum and an understanding of modern software development practices;
• You are fluent in English both verbal and written.

Benefits

• Working for a scale-up company with all the chances, opportunities, challenges, and adventures that a corporate company can’t give you;
• International and sparkling team;
• Regular champagne moments to celebrate successes together (monthly company events on or offline);
• Working the ''hybrid way'' (50% office, 50% from home);
• Budget to spend on your working from home place;
• 3 times a week online workouts! (HIIT, Flex amp; Stretch, Yoga);
• We are open for a employment or freel

Job Rewards and Benefits