Digital Excellence Product Owner

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.

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.

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