Digital Excellence - Product Owner

Job Purpose

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 next‑generation 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 6,000–8,000 global sales and customer-facing employees. This includes DIGITAL PRODUCTS 2.0, field‑sales 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.

Key Accountabilities

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 (6,000–8,000 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.

Experience

• 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