ZipStaff Inc.
Senior Principal Product Owner
Washington, District of Columbia•Contract
$54 - $55 hourly
$54 - $55 hourly
About the Job
Job Title: Senior Principal Product Owner – Cloud & Observability.
Location: Washington, DC (On-site).
Employment Type: Contract (W2 through ZipStaff — No C2C or 1099).
Location: Washington, DC (On-site).
Employment Type: Contract (W2 through ZipStaff — No C2C or 1099).
About the Opportunity:
ZipStaff is seeking a Senior Principal Product Owner – Cloud & Observability to drive the strategic evolution of enterprise platform services for a major transportation organization.
ZipStaff is seeking a Senior Principal Product Owner – Cloud & Observability to drive the strategic evolution of enterprise platform services for a major transportation organization.
Operating within the Enterprise Platforms & Enablement (EPE) portfolio, this high-impact role serves as the authoritative voice of the customer to champion “Platform as a Product” across Cloud, Observability, Disaster Recovery (DR), and CloudOps value streams. You will bridge business strategy, technical architecture, and cross-functional engineering teams, leading the transition from traditional project models to an agile, product-centric approach that ensures enterprise-grade resiliency, compliance, and operational excellence.
What You’ll Do:
- Define, communicate, and execute the product vision and strategy for Cloud and Observability platforms, establishing a robust “Platform as a Product” delivery model.
- Own, prioritize, and refine the product backlog based on business value, technical feasibility, and strategic EPE portfolio goals using the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
- Act as the strategic liaison between business stakeholders, CloudOps, enterprise architecture, and technical teams to translate complex business needs into clear user stories and acceptance criteria.
- Champion deep technical alignment across cloud services, observability, and disaster recovery, treating them as an integrated ecosystem rather than isolated silos.
- Contribute to multi-year platform roadmaps and establish key performance metrics to continuously measure value delivery, platform adoption, and operational efficiency.
- Collaborate with Product Managers, portfolio leadership, and frontline technical teams to ensure continuous capability delivery supporting mission-critical enterprise operations.
Required Qualifications:
- 5+ years of experience as an Agile Product Owner or Product Manager in a large-scale enterprise environment, with proven experience leading cloud-focused or CloudOps teams.
- SAFe 6.0 Product Owner / Product Manager (POPM) certification required (or equivalent 3+ years of Scaled Agile experience in a large organization).
- Deep functional understanding of cloud infrastructure, observability frameworks, disaster recovery ecosystems, and IT Service Management (ITSM).
- Hands-on experience managing enterprise backlogs and roadmaps using Jira Software, Confluence, FigJam, and Jira Align.
- Exceptional leadership, stakeholder management, and analytical skills with a demonstrated ability to independently drive strategy and facilitate complex technical discussions.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business, or a related field; relevant work experience accepted in lieu of a degree.
- Ability to work on-site in Washington, DC.
Preferred Qualifications:
- ITIL certification.
- Prior experience driving Platform as a Product models for cloud, observability, or CloudOps platforms in a large enterprise or transportation environment.
- Background contributing to multi-year roadmaps and establishing platform metrics for adoption and operational efficiency.
- Experience facilitating complex technical discussions across architecture, operations, and business stakeholders.
Benefits
- Health Insurance.
- Dental Insurance.
- Vision Insurance.
- 401(k) + 401(k) matching.
- Paid time off.
- Referral Program.
About ZipStaff
ZipStaff partners with leading organizations to connect skilled technology professionals with high-impact contract opportunities. We focus on quality matches, clear communication, and long-term success for candidates and clients.
ZipStaff partners with leading organizations to connect skilled technology professionals with high-impact contract opportunities. We focus on quality matches, clear communication, and long-term success for candidates and clients.
To apply, submit your resume highlighting your Agile Product Owner experience (especially SAFe POPM or equivalent), cloud/observability/DR domain knowledge, backlog and roadmap ownership, and stakeholder leadership. Pure research or junior experience will not be considered.