Junior Product Owner

ABOUT LIZARD GLOBAL

Lizard Global is the international digital agency for growing business concepts, with offices in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). We currently have a family of 40+ ambitious employees, divided by these two offices. We are a young company but praised as a fun workplace. Our goal is to become the leading digital partner globally, and we do this by focusing mainly on growing business projects. Our clients are located worldwide, in a broad range of sectors and sizes. We mainly offer the following services:

• Business research;
• UI/UX design;
• Growth hacking;
• Development;
• Product Growth Analytics

ABOUT THE ROLE / YOUR ROLE IN LIZARD GLOBAL / YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR

Your role as a Junior Product Owner would focus on being the frontline of our company, forming the bridge between clients and internal operations. You'll work with guidance from senior POs as you build the judgment to eventually own client relationships, budget conversations, and scope decisions independently. Your responsibilities are, among other things:

• Supporting client meetings by preparing agendas and follow-up actions
• Assisting in managing one or more client projects under guidance
• Helping translate business requirements into user stories, epics, and backlog items
• Maintaining and refining the Product Backlog in ClickUp, at least one sprint ahead
• Ensuring user stories are clear, testable, and ready for development
• Supporting Sprint Planning, Backlog Refinement, Sprint Reviews, and Retrospectives
• Helping prepare sprint reports and delivery updates for clients
• Assisting in managing client expectations by clearly communicating progress, trade-offs, and next steps
• Collaborating closely with Developers, Designers, QA, and Scrum Masters
• Learning to identify risks, dependencies, budget/scope pressure, and escalating them appropriately
• Developing empathy for end users and helping validate solutions against user needs
• Working alongside AI-assisted development workflows used across delivery teams, and learning how they change what a PO needs to spec, review, and validate

As a Junior Product Owner, you are expected to ask questions, learn fast, and build confidence in balancing client needs, delivery constraints, and product value, including budget and scope trade-offs. You will gradually take on more ownership as your skills and experience grow.

QUALIFICATIONS / REQUIREMENTS / YOU SHOULD HAVE

• 1+ years of experience in a digital product, project, or business analyst role
• Basic understanding of Agile and Scrum principles and ceremonies
• Fluent in Dutch and strong command of English (this is a client-facing Rotterdam role)
• Strong communication skills, able to explain complex situations in a structured, decision-oriented way
• Comfortable respectfully pushing back or saying no when needed, even early in your career
• Analytical mindset with attention to detail
• Interest in software development and willingness to build technical understanding, including how AI-assisted development tools are changing delivery workflows
• Ability to manage priorities and tasks across multiple projects without becoming reactive
• Comfortable working in a structured, process-driven environment
• Motivation to grow into a more senior Product Owner role, including eventual ownership of budget and client-facing decisions
• Professional attitude and reliability in client-facing situations

NICE TO HAVES

• Experience working in a digital agency or consultancy environment
• Exposure to AI-assisted or agentic development workflows (e.g. AI coding assistants, automated agent-based task execution)
• Familiarity with tools such as Cursor, ClickUp, Harvest or similar tools
• Exposure to UI/UX design processes or basic design thinking
• Experience working with international or cross-functional teams
• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field

HOW WE WORK: AI-AUGMENTED DELIVERY

Lizard Global is moving toward an AI-augmented delivery model, where AI coding assistants and agent-based workflows handle a growing share of implementation work alongside our developers. This changes what we need from a Product Owner:

• Backlog items and user stories need to be written with enough precision that both humans and AI agents can act on them without ambiguity
• POs are expected to build a working understanding of what these tools can and can't do, so they can set realistic expectations with clients and identify where AI-assisted output still needs human review
• Sprint planning and estimation increasingly account for AI-accelerated development cycles, which shifts PO focus further toward scope clarity, validation, and client communication rather than just tracking velocity
• As a Junior PO, you'll be expected to get comfortable working alongside these tools early, you won't need to be technical, but you will need to be curious about how they change the shape of your job

WHAT CAN WE OFFER YOU? / BENEFITS

• Work directly with experienced leaders who invest in your growth
• Travel/commuting reimbursement
• Unparalleled professional freedom for personal growth - mold your role to fit your skillset!
• Continuous learning through training, workshops and professional development resources
• Flexible working arrangements that support work-life balance
• Collaborate with a diverse, international team of ambitious professionals
• Friday drinks, team events and regular social activities