Senior Associate - Product Owner, Compensation and Recognition
New York Life, New York, NY, United States
Location Designation:
Hybrid - 3 days per week
Role Overview The Senior Associate - Product Owner will support the design, development, and implementation of our Compensation Systems Modernization, focused on moving our field manager and agent benefit and compensation plans from 35 mainframe systems to modern platforms, the leading one being Varicent. This role ensures solutions exceed user expectations while providing efficiencies and increasing field visibility into their compensation packages. In this hybrid strategic and execution role, the incumbent is accountable for translating the Product Manager’s multi‑year product strategy and activation roadmap into actionable, well‑defined work for agile delivery teams. The role owns and continuously refines the team backlog, ensures work is ready for delivery, validates outcomes against user needs and business objectives, and drives cross‑functional alignment to deliver high‑quality enhancements using SAFe. The ideal candidate brings a highly analytical mindset, instinctive problem‑solving skills, strong communication and influencing capabilities, and a passion for developing best‑in‑class user experiences while thriving in the day‑to‑day rigor of scaled agile delivery.
What You’ll Do Product Ownership and Agile Delivery Leadership
Own and manage the team backlog(s) for the Agency Recruiting Platform in alignment with the Product Manager’s multi-year strategy and activation roadmap.
Translate strategy and business objectives into epics, features, and user stories with clear acceptance criteria and measurable outcomes.
Lead backlog refinement to ensure work meets Definition of Ready standards (clear scope, dependencies, non-functional requirements, compliance needs, and success measures).
Partner with Tech, Compensation Operations, UX, Data/Analytics, Compliance, and the Office of General Counsel to ensure solutions are feasible, scalable, user-centered and compliant with regulations.
Support SAFe ceremonies and activities as applicable (PI Planning, iteration planning, backlog refinement, system demos, and retrospectives).
Serve as the primary point of contact for delivery teams on scope decisions, priority trade‑offs, and requirement clarifications to maintain delivery momentum.
Accept completed work (stories/features) based on agreed-upon acceptance criteria and validate outcomes meet both user and business expectations.
Requirements, Dependencies, and Cross‑Functional Alignment
Elicit and document business, functional, compliance, and data requirements in partnership with stakeholders and the Product Manager.
Maintain alignment with Value Stream priorities and OKRs, ensuring backlog prioritization ladders up to measurable outcomes.
Identify and manage cross-team dependencies, sequencing needs, and delivery risks; proactively escape and drive mitigation plans.
Collaborate with Planning Leads, other Product Owners, and key stakeholders to coordinate roadmap execution and resolve trade‑offs while maintaining a unified delivery plan.
User Advocacy and Experience Excellence
Advocate for end users (candidates, agents, and operational partners), ensuring solutions improve the candidate and recruiting/onboarding experience and reduce friction.
Partner with UX/UI and research teams to integrate user insights into story definition and prioritization grounded in real journeys and pain points.
Continuously identify opportunities for simplification, reliability improvements, and enhanced usability.
Release Readiness, Quality, and Operational Success
Coordinate and/or participate in UAT planning and execution, defect triage, and release readiness activities, including enablement handoffs where applicable.
Ensure delivered capabilities are measurable, supportive, and aligned to operational processes (including compliance and controls).
Partner with stakeholders to define go‑live success criteria and ensure appropriate monitoring and support plans are in place.
Analytics and Measurement
Define and track product-level KPIs and health measures that support Value Stream OKRs; use insights to recommend backlog adjustments and enhancements.
Use product usage data, workflow performance indicators, and qualitative feedback to drive continuous improvement and prioritization decisions.
Communication and Thought Partnership
Support governance forums by preparing materials, surfacing decisions needed, and ensuring transparency and accountability across delivery efforts.
Serve as a thought partner to the Product Manager, helping shape practical execution paths to deliver strategy at scale.
Key Competencies
Strategic‑to‑execution translation: ability to convert product vision and business objectives into actionable, sequenced backlogs that deliver value safely and quickly.
Agile product ownership excellence (SAFe): strong command of backlog management, story writing, prioritization, and acceptance practices in a scaled agile environment.
User-centered mindset: balances business goals with user experience, operational reality, and compliance requirements.
Analytical rigor: uses data, insights, and structured problem‑solving to drive prioritization and outcomes.
Presence and influence: communicates clearly with stakeholders; drives alignment across competing priorities.
Cross‑functional leadership: builds trust across business and technology partners; resolves ambiguity and navigates dependencies.
What You’ll Bring
Bachelor’s degree required; Agile/Product Owner certification (e.g., SAFe PO/PM) is a plus.
Demonstrated experience as a Product Owner (or similar product delivery role) in a scaled agile environment.
Proven ability to define and manage product backlogs, write high-quality user stories/acceptance criteria, and partner with tech for delivery.
Experience collaborating with operations, UX/UI, data/analytics, and compliance/legal partners to deliver complex capabilities.
Strong communication skills, especially in a team environment.
Experience in financial services and/or insurance industry preferred.
Familiarity with Varicent or another sales performance management platform a plus.
Pay Transparency Salary range: $100,000‑$135,000 Overtime eligible: Exempt Discretionary bonus eligible: Yes Sales bonus eligible: No Actual base salary will be determined based on several factors but not limited to individual’s experience, skills, qualifications, and job location. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. Employees may also be eligible to participate in an incentive program.
Our Benefits We provide a full package of benefits for employees – and have unique offerings for a modern workforce, including leave programs, adoption assistance, and student loan repayment programs. Based on feedback from our employees, we continue to refine and add benefits to our offering, so you can flourish both inside and outside of work.
Our Commitment to Inclusion At New York Life, fostering an inclusive workplace is fundamental to who we are and how we serve our communities. We have a longstanding commitment to creating an environment where individuals can contribute their best and succeed together. This foundation is rooted in our core values of humanity and integrity, ensuring that every employee feels valued and supported. By embracing a broad range of perspectives and experiences, we achieve greater success and fulfill our promise of providing financial security and peace of mind to families across all communities. Recognized as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, New York Life is committed to improving local communities through a culture of employee giving and volunteerism, supported by the Foundation. We operate in the best interests of our policy owners.
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Hybrid - 3 days per week
Role Overview The Senior Associate - Product Owner will support the design, development, and implementation of our Compensation Systems Modernization, focused on moving our field manager and agent benefit and compensation plans from 35 mainframe systems to modern platforms, the leading one being Varicent. This role ensures solutions exceed user expectations while providing efficiencies and increasing field visibility into their compensation packages. In this hybrid strategic and execution role, the incumbent is accountable for translating the Product Manager’s multi‑year product strategy and activation roadmap into actionable, well‑defined work for agile delivery teams. The role owns and continuously refines the team backlog, ensures work is ready for delivery, validates outcomes against user needs and business objectives, and drives cross‑functional alignment to deliver high‑quality enhancements using SAFe. The ideal candidate brings a highly analytical mindset, instinctive problem‑solving skills, strong communication and influencing capabilities, and a passion for developing best‑in‑class user experiences while thriving in the day‑to‑day rigor of scaled agile delivery.
What You’ll Do Product Ownership and Agile Delivery Leadership
Own and manage the team backlog(s) for the Agency Recruiting Platform in alignment with the Product Manager’s multi-year strategy and activation roadmap.
Translate strategy and business objectives into epics, features, and user stories with clear acceptance criteria and measurable outcomes.
Lead backlog refinement to ensure work meets Definition of Ready standards (clear scope, dependencies, non-functional requirements, compliance needs, and success measures).
Partner with Tech, Compensation Operations, UX, Data/Analytics, Compliance, and the Office of General Counsel to ensure solutions are feasible, scalable, user-centered and compliant with regulations.
Support SAFe ceremonies and activities as applicable (PI Planning, iteration planning, backlog refinement, system demos, and retrospectives).
Serve as the primary point of contact for delivery teams on scope decisions, priority trade‑offs, and requirement clarifications to maintain delivery momentum.
Accept completed work (stories/features) based on agreed-upon acceptance criteria and validate outcomes meet both user and business expectations.
Requirements, Dependencies, and Cross‑Functional Alignment
Elicit and document business, functional, compliance, and data requirements in partnership with stakeholders and the Product Manager.
Maintain alignment with Value Stream priorities and OKRs, ensuring backlog prioritization ladders up to measurable outcomes.
Identify and manage cross-team dependencies, sequencing needs, and delivery risks; proactively escape and drive mitigation plans.
Collaborate with Planning Leads, other Product Owners, and key stakeholders to coordinate roadmap execution and resolve trade‑offs while maintaining a unified delivery plan.
User Advocacy and Experience Excellence
Advocate for end users (candidates, agents, and operational partners), ensuring solutions improve the candidate and recruiting/onboarding experience and reduce friction.
Partner with UX/UI and research teams to integrate user insights into story definition and prioritization grounded in real journeys and pain points.
Continuously identify opportunities for simplification, reliability improvements, and enhanced usability.
Release Readiness, Quality, and Operational Success
Coordinate and/or participate in UAT planning and execution, defect triage, and release readiness activities, including enablement handoffs where applicable.
Ensure delivered capabilities are measurable, supportive, and aligned to operational processes (including compliance and controls).
Partner with stakeholders to define go‑live success criteria and ensure appropriate monitoring and support plans are in place.
Analytics and Measurement
Define and track product-level KPIs and health measures that support Value Stream OKRs; use insights to recommend backlog adjustments and enhancements.
Use product usage data, workflow performance indicators, and qualitative feedback to drive continuous improvement and prioritization decisions.
Communication and Thought Partnership
Support governance forums by preparing materials, surfacing decisions needed, and ensuring transparency and accountability across delivery efforts.
Serve as a thought partner to the Product Manager, helping shape practical execution paths to deliver strategy at scale.
Key Competencies
Strategic‑to‑execution translation: ability to convert product vision and business objectives into actionable, sequenced backlogs that deliver value safely and quickly.
Agile product ownership excellence (SAFe): strong command of backlog management, story writing, prioritization, and acceptance practices in a scaled agile environment.
User-centered mindset: balances business goals with user experience, operational reality, and compliance requirements.
Analytical rigor: uses data, insights, and structured problem‑solving to drive prioritization and outcomes.
Presence and influence: communicates clearly with stakeholders; drives alignment across competing priorities.
Cross‑functional leadership: builds trust across business and technology partners; resolves ambiguity and navigates dependencies.
What You’ll Bring
Bachelor’s degree required; Agile/Product Owner certification (e.g., SAFe PO/PM) is a plus.
Demonstrated experience as a Product Owner (or similar product delivery role) in a scaled agile environment.
Proven ability to define and manage product backlogs, write high-quality user stories/acceptance criteria, and partner with tech for delivery.
Experience collaborating with operations, UX/UI, data/analytics, and compliance/legal partners to deliver complex capabilities.
Strong communication skills, especially in a team environment.
Experience in financial services and/or insurance industry preferred.
Familiarity with Varicent or another sales performance management platform a plus.
Pay Transparency Salary range: $100,000‑$135,000 Overtime eligible: Exempt Discretionary bonus eligible: Yes Sales bonus eligible: No Actual base salary will be determined based on several factors but not limited to individual’s experience, skills, qualifications, and job location. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. Employees may also be eligible to participate in an incentive program.
Our Benefits We provide a full package of benefits for employees – and have unique offerings for a modern workforce, including leave programs, adoption assistance, and student loan repayment programs. Based on feedback from our employees, we continue to refine and add benefits to our offering, so you can flourish both inside and outside of work.
Our Commitment to Inclusion At New York Life, fostering an inclusive workplace is fundamental to who we are and how we serve our communities. We have a longstanding commitment to creating an environment where individuals can contribute their best and succeed together. This foundation is rooted in our core values of humanity and integrity, ensuring that every employee feels valued and supported. By embracing a broad range of perspectives and experiences, we achieve greater success and fulfill our promise of providing financial security and peace of mind to families across all communities. Recognized as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, New York Life is committed to improving local communities through a culture of employee giving and volunteerism, supported by the Foundation. We operate in the best interests of our policy owners.
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