Software Engineering - Product Owner
Electrum is a next-generation payment software technology company.
Since 2012, we've delivered trusted, enterprise-grade, cloud-native software to optimise financial transaction processing. Our deep expertise has established us as a respected partner in high-volume, low-value payment schemes, enabling clients to deliver services to millions of South Africans daily.
At Electrum, we are grounded in impact – designing solutions that matter, acting with urgency, and continuously learning as we scale. We believe in creating together – working side by side with our clients and teams to build meaningful, lasting solutions. We prioritise making it safe – encouraging open communication, smart risk-taking, and trust so that creativity and alignment thrive. And we back empowered strong teams – hiring brilliant people, collaborating hard, and holding each other to high standards while leading with empathy and kindness.
When you join the Electrum team, you’ll get to:
- Be part of the entire journey — from the spark of an idea to the final product launch.
- Grow your skills through world-class training and hands-on learning every day.
- Receive mentorship and guidance from industry leaders who are invested in your success.
- Work in a dynamic, innovative workplace where collaboration and creativity thrive.
- Tackle real-world customer challenges and see the impact of your work firsthand.
- Explore plenty of opportunities to grow your career and expand your expertise.
- Gain valuable experience in a leading FinTech environment, contributing to meaningful, high-impact projects.
The Role
The Product Owner is the functional lead for a dedicated engineering team. Embedded directly within the development team, you own the delivery of new features and product stability by maintaining a prioritised, transparent product backlog.
You serve as the vital bridge between Product Management/Sales and Engineering, translating strategic goals and user needs into actionable deliverables while advocating for the product’s long-term health and technical feasibility. By balancing preventative maintenance with innovation and competitive analysis, you ensure the team spends time on the right things to drive client success and market position.
Responsibilities:
Product Execution & Backlog Management
- Own, maintain, and prioritise a detailed product backlog at service and schema level that development teams can execute on.
- Ensure the backlog is always visible, transparent, and clearly understood by stakeholders.
- Continuously prioritise work to maximise team impact and product value.
- Focus time and effort on high-value initiatives that move the product forward.
- Balance new features with preventative maintenance and long-term product stability.
Agile Ceremonies & Sprint Planning
- Partner with Team Leads to define and commit to sprint goals.
- Participate in daily stand-ups and lead backlog grooming sessions.
- Make critical in-sprint decisions when trade-offs are required.
- Prioritise effectively between projects, support work, and incidents — clearly communicating the reasoning behind decisions.
Product Project Delivery
- Define project scope and milestones aligned to business objectives.
- Create clear, well-structured user stories and functional specifications.
- Support Business Analysis where needed, ensuring transaction flows and user journeys are intuitive and effective.
- Facilitate UX collaboration and engage with client focus groups throughout delivery.
Stakeholder Advocacy & Reporting
- Represent client strategy and market positioning beyond immediate feature requests.
- Advocate for long-term product health — technically and commercially — including pushing back on misaligned or unfeasible requests.
- Provide regular reporting on progress, risks, and milestone tracking.
- Participate in quarterly planning to commit to achievable delivery outcomes.
Incident & Maintenance Management
- Support incident response by providing product context when required.
- Own and drive the maintenance backlog, ensuring critical technical health work is delivered.
- Help reprioritise in-flight work when system issues or incidents affect team capacity.
Requirements
Qualifications:
- Experience: 4+ years experience managing product backlogs and guiding technical teams.
- Skills: Strong ability to develop business cases, prioritise stories/epics, and help clients understand value propositions.
- Technical Literacy: Deep understanding of product architecture and the ability to work closely with engineering teams on highly technical backend systems.
- Education: Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, or a related field
- Experience in the payments or fintech industry is a plus
Benefits
Why Join Electrum?
- We believe in a People First approach, ensuring a culture where you can thrive and make a real difference
Your Career & Culture
- Career Growth: Delivering world-class financial software is challenging, but your effort will earn you hands-on experience with products used by millions, accelerating your career.
- Strong Teams: We keep teams small, focused, and collaborative to maximize impact.
- Transparency: We openly discuss strategy, finances, and salaries. Mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities that we actively discuss.
- Autonomy: We trust you. You're expected to seek out the data needed for informed decisions and manage your own time—knowing when to focus and when to recharge.
- Shared Vision: You'll have the power to shape the vision of how we build the future of financial services.
Practical Perks
- Here's how we support our culture:
- Flexible Work: Office-first environment with flexible hours.
- Generous Leave: Starting at 20 days per year.
- Office Perks (Cape Town): Fully-stocked kitchen and daily catered lunch.
- Social Life: Regular team activities like hikes, getaways, and dinners