Product Owner

Career Area

Engineering

Job Description

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, youre joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We dont just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

About Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc. is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment and a recognised global leader in technology‑enabled solutions for heavy industry. With a history spanning over a century, Caterpillar supports customers across the mining value chain through advanced equipment, autonomous technologies, digital platforms and data‑driven services designed to improve safety, productivity and operational efficiency.

About Cat® MineStar™ Solutions — Cat® MineStar™ Solutions is Caterpillar’s flagship mining technology platform. It is a comprehensive and highly integrated suite of systems used to manage, automate, and optimise mining operations. MineStar supports asset tracking, fleet management, operational visibility, safety systems, equipment health, and automation capabilities across surface and underground environments, and can be deployed in modular capability sets including Fleet, Terrain, Detect, Health and Command.

Role Summary

The Product Owner (PO) is the tactical product leader embedded with an Agile delivery team, accountable for maximising the value delivered by ensuring the team backlog is clear, prioritised, and execution‑ready.

The PO translates strategy and stakeholder intent into well‑defined Features and Stories, drives backlog refinement, provides day‑to‑day decisions and clarifications, and formally accepts completed work against agreed acceptance criteria and Definition of Done.

This is a delivery‑aligned role: it focuses on enabling effective team execution and predictable outcomes, not portfolio strategy.

Key Responsibilities

Team Backlog Ownership & Readiness

• Own and maintain the team backlog, ensuring work items are structured, prioritised, and continuously refined.
• Ensure Features and Stories have sufficient clarity for implementation (problem/context, acceptance criteria, dependencies, constraints).
• Drive backlog hygiene and traceability so work remains visible, current, and actionable in the team’s tooling (e.g., Azure DevOps).
  
  

Refinement, Sprint Planning & Execution Support

• Lead and/or coordinate backlog refinement to prepare work for upcoming sprints.
• During sprint planning, present the highest‑priority work and facilitate the conversation so the team can make realistic commitments based on capacity.
• Provide ongoing clarification during execution to keep delivery unblocked and aligned to intended outcomes.
  
  

Stakeholder Alignment & Cross‑Team Coordination

• Act as the team’s primary day‑to‑day interface for stakeholders, ensuring the team plan remains aligned to stakeholder needs and inter‑team dependencies.
• Coordinate priority conflicts and dependency impacts with peer teams (and escalate where needed) to preserve flow and delivery confidence.
  
  

Story Acceptance & Quality Accountability

• Be accountable for Story acceptance, confirming work meets acceptance criteria, aligns to Definition of Done, and is suitable for release/use.
• Ensure validation evidence is captured appropriately (tests, demos, notes, acceptance outcomes) to avoid “nearly done” carryover.
  
  

Delivery Planning Visibility (Optional / Where Used)

• Maintain delivery visibility by keeping planned work accurately represented (e.g., sprint‑level view, start/target dates where your process uses them).
  
  

Key Working Relationships

• Delivery Team (Engineers/QA/Design as applicable) — shared understanding of what “done” means and delivery sequencing
• Scrum Master / Team Coach — facilitation and flow; supports refinement and planning mechanics
• Product / Program Leadership (PM/TPM/Solution roles where applicable) — priorities, outcomes, trade‑offs, and dependency alignment
• Stakeholders / SMEs — requirements clarity, feedback loops, and acceptance inputs
  
  

Success Measures

A Product Owner Is Successful When

• The team consistently has enough ready work to execute without churn
• Sprint outcomes are predictable because work is well‑defined before commitment
• Stakeholders experience fast clarification, clean decisions, and transparent progress
• Completed work is accepted with confidence (clear acceptance criteria, evidence, low rework)
  
  

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong backlog management capability (refinement, prioritisation, slicing, readiness)
• Experience operating in Agile delivery cadences (refinement, sprint planning, review/acceptance)
• Comfort “owning the system of work” in tooling (e.g., create/edit/move items in Azure DevOps)
• Clear communication and rapid decision‑making with technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Experience in mining operations and/or familiarity with the MineStar product suite is desirable (not required)
  
  

Posting Dates

May 13, 2026 - May 26, 2026

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply

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