Evolve GIB Product Owner at Caava Group

Role purpose




• Own execution readiness for General Insurance Business (GIB); maintain domain backlog priority within delegated PM direction; align requirements, design, engineering, QA and program inputs; and ensure each commitment reaches an evidence-based exit gate or is formally changed. The role protects business-process integrity, customer usability and delivery predictability while keeping roadmap and commercial authority with the appropriate leaders.



Strategic outcomes




• A prioritised backlog aligned to approved outcomes


• Build-ready stories with testable acceptance criteria


• Dependencies, blockers and ageing visible with owner and date


• Reduced ambiguity-related rework and avoidable carryover


• UAT, demo and release packs complete before the gate


• Formal acceptance/rejection decisions made promptly


• Quotation-to-policy work is sequenced and testable


• Underwriting rules and referrals are traceable


• Policy issuance and servicing evidence is complete


• Claims and recoveries dependencies surface early


• Coinsurance and reinsurance flows have approved rules


• Customer proof progresses through formal gates



Key responsibilities


Product-domain execution




• Maintain the execution view across General Insurance Business (GIB) value packs and capabilities.


• Translate PM-approved priorities into sequenced work and explicit exit evidence.


• Protect end-to-end journey coherence, rules, data, integrations and operational controls.



Backlog, stories and acceptance




• Own backlog hygiene, priority order and ageing within delegated authority.


• Ensure stories contain context, user outcome, rules, dependencies, designs and testable acceptance criteria.


• Apply Definition of Ready before sprint commitment and reject half-ready work.



Discovery, requirements and design




• Bring ambiguity, rule gaps and decision questions to PM/BA/design early.


• Maintain traceability from approved scope to requirements, stories, tests and acceptance.


• Prevent unapproved customer changes from entering build.



Sprint and delivery support




• Bring ready and sequenced work to refinement and planning.


• Answer product-intent questions within agreed SLA and record decisions.


• Track returned items, carryover and causes; initiate corrective action.



Dependencies and blockers




• Maintain product-level dependency and blocker records with owner, date, impact and escalation.


• Surface critical blockers before sprint, UAT or release.


• Follow through until verified closure, not merely reassignment.



UAT, proof and release




• Prepare product inputs for QA, UAT, demos and release readiness.


• Support triage, confirm acceptance alignment and record product acceptance/rejection.


• Distinguish prototype, demo, QA, UAT, acceptance, production and adoption.



Quality, reporting and improvement




• Audit backlog, story and evidence quality weekly.


• Publish accurate weekly status, risks, decisions and recovery actions.


• Use defect, return, ageing and stakeholder evidence to improve the operating system.



Key Deliverables and Quality Standards




• Domain backlog: Prioritised, current, sequenced; stale/duplicate items removed.


• Story packs: Context, user outcome, scope, rules, designs, dependencies and testable criteria.


• Definition of Ready checklist: Completed before commitment; exceptions approved and visible.


• Capability/value-pack map: Capabilities, journey, stage, owner, dependency and evidence current.


• Traceability view: Approved scope -> requirement -> story -> test -> decision.


• Dependency/blocker log: Owner, age, SLA, impact, due date, escalation and verified closure.


• Sprint-readiness pack: Committed scope, DoR evidence, dependencies, risks and decision gaps.


• UAT/proof/release pack: Scenarios, data, environment, product truth, known issues, fallback and sign-offs.


• Weekly execution report: Actual movement, RAG, evidence, decisions, recovery and next gate.


• Post-release learning register: Defects, usage feedback, benefits signal and backlog action.



Stakeholder-management expectations




• Prepare meetings with facts, decisions required and evidence links.


• Record decisions, changed scope, owners and dates within one working day.


• Escalate when a P0/P1 blocker is unowned, an SLA will be missed, product truth is disputed, or customer/release risk is material.


• Use professional Kenyan/British English and communicate product status without exaggeration.


• Route customer changes through PM/BA governance before backlog commitment.


• Resolve priority conflict by exposing business impact, dependency, evidence and trade-off - not by silently reordering work.



Skills, Competencies and Experience




• Experience: Typically 3-7 years in Product Owner, Business Analyst, delivery analyst or comparable enterprise-product role.


• Domain: Working knowledge of General Insurance Business (GIB) processes, controls, users, data and integrations; insurance/fintech experience preferred.


• Delivery: Agile planning, refinement, Jira/workflow tools, UAT, release readiness, dependency and defect control.


• Technical literacy: Can reason about APIs, data, business rules, environments, security/NFRs and integration dependencies without owning solution design.


• Communication: Clear writing, facilitation, customer-facing discipline, decision records and timely escalation.


• Behaviour: Ownership, curiosity, evidence discipline, integrity, collaboration, urgency and calm under delivery pressure.


• Education/certification: Relevant degree or equivalent experience; Product Owner/Agile certification desirable, not a substitute for evidence of execution.