AkzoNobel is a global leader in paints and coatings, operating in over 150 countries with a strong commitment to innovation and sustainability. Our Digital Transformation Team functions as a start-up within the enterprise, designing and delivering nextgeneration capabilities that will transition 10 billion in revenue through digital channels.
As part of this mission, the DIGITAL PRODUCTS Product Owner plays a pivotal role in shaping the next generation DIGITAL PRODUCTS experience for 6,0008,000 global sales and customer-facing employees. This includes DIGITAL PRODUCTS 2.0, fieldsales productivity apps, opportunity management, lead management, account planning and all front-end digital sales workflows.
The Product Owner will drive backlog execution, translate the DIGITAL PRODUCTS product vision into actionable delivery plans, and ensure the timely, high-quality build of DIGITAL PRODUCTS features that power commercial excellence, operational efficiency and user adoption across the globe.
Product Ownership
- Own and manage the product backlog for DIGITAL PRODUCTS & Front-End in alignment with the roadmap defined with Product Manager.
- Ensure backlog items are well-defined, refined, and prioritized based on business value, user needs, and technical feasibility.
- Balance short-term delivery efficiency with long-term scalability for a large global user base (6,0008,000 FTEs).
Requirements & Refinement
- Translate business/sales requirements into clear user stories with acceptance criteria.
- Collaborate with CX, UX, architects, engineering, external partners, data teams and digital leads to validate feasibility.
- Ensure a shared understanding of requirements across delivery and stakeholder teams.
Delivery & Sprint Execution
- Define sprint goals and support the team during sprint execution
- Accept completed work based on agreed acceptance criteria
- Ensure transparency on progress, risks and impediments
Quality & Non-Functional Requirements
- Ensure functional and non-functional requirements (performance, security, scalability) are captured within the DIGITAL PRODUCTS backlog.
- Validate that releases meet enterprise architecture, data model and security guidelines.
- Identify risks related to data integrity, integration reliability, and adoption impact.
Stakeholder Alignment
- Act as the primary point of contact for global sales, marketing and commercial operations stakeholders.
- Manage expectations, align priorities and facilitate decision-making across regions, segments and functions.
- Escalate conflicts or critical dependencies when needed to stakeholders and decision makers
Release & Adoption Support
- Support release planning, UAT cycles, and readiness activities with Product Manager in lead
- Ensure documentation and user guidance is created (training content, feature overviews, use case demos).
- Partner with adoption and change teams to drive field sales adoption and ensure measurable value realization.
Job requirements
- 10-15 years of experience as a Product Owner or in a similar product leadership role within global organizations or start-up/high-growth environments
- Proven track record of owning and delivering complex digital products and capabilities on a scale, from concept to adoption
- Strong strategic thinking and business acumen, with ability to connect product decisions to commercial outcomes
- Deep understanding of DIGITAL PRODUCTS, Salesforce, sales technology, or commercial digital domains
- Proven experience delivering digital capabilities for large user bases in global organizations or high-speed environments.
- Understanding of end-to-end DIGITAL PRODUCTS processes (lead management, opportunity management, pipeline planning, account management, activity planning, field sales execution, etc.).
- Ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence stakeholders, and manage dependencies across multiple streams
- Experience in prioritization frameworks and data-driven decision-making for roadmap planning.
- Familiarity with agile methodologies and tools such as Jira, Confluence, and Azure DevOps
- Technical fluency to engage confidently with engineering teams on architecture, integrations, and non-functional requirements
- Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills, including experience presenting to senior leadership
- Strong analytical mindset with ability to leverage insights for continuous improvement and measurable impact
