AI Product Owner
Lead the product direction for a major international AI transformation — turning strategy into clear priorities, roadmaps and delivery across complex enterprise programmes. Open to South Africa-based candidates.
The role
We're looking for an AI Product Owner to play a pivotal role in a major enterprise-wide AI transformation for one of the Middle East's leading financial institutions. This is a priority role within a programme delivering six major AI projects, building self-contained agentic AI systems on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
You'll sit at the centre of business, technology and delivery — taking strategic objectives and turning them into a clear, prioritised, executable roadmap for engineering teams. You'll own prioritisation and delivery accountability across interconnected AI workstreams, helping senior stakeholders make decisions, managing trade-offs and ensuring technical teams always know what needs to be delivered next and why.
This isn't a traditional Product Owner role focused purely on managing tickets. We need someone commercially strong, technically fluent and confident working with senior stakeholders in a fast-moving enterprise transformation where requirements continue to evolve as the technology is built.
Location: an international client assignment based in Riyadh, working on site with the client and wider delivery team. Open to South Africa-based candidates.
What you'll do
- Own prioritisation and delivery accountability across multiple AI transformation workstreams.
- Translate strategic business objectives into clear, sequenced AI product roadmaps.
- Build, maintain and prioritise product backlogs across multiple technical projects.
- Work directly with senior stakeholders to define outcomes, requirements and priorities.
- Translate business needs into actionable requirements for AI, data and engineering teams.
- Partner with AI Engineers, Data Engineers and architects to sequence technical delivery and manage dependencies across the six initiatives.
- Make clear prioritisation and trade-off decisions across competing requirements.
- Maintain visibility of progress, risks, dependencies, decisions and blockers, and establish effective delivery and product governance.
- Ensure technical solutions stay aligned to measurable business outcomes rather than becoming technology-led exercises.
- Lead and facilitate senior stakeholder workshops, planning sessions and programme decision-making.
What you'll bring
A senior Product Owner equally comfortable discussing business outcomes with executives and technical delivery with engineering teams.
- Significant experience as a Product Owner, Product Manager or transformation delivery lead within complex enterprise environments.
- Experience delivering AI, data, technology or digital transformation programmes.
- Strong technical fluency in agentic AI, LLM deployment and modern AI architecture.
- The ability to understand technical dependencies and sequence AI and data delivery effectively.
- Strong product backlog management, roadmap development and requirements-writing capability.
- Demonstrated ability to engage, challenge and influence senior stakeholders within large organisations.
- Strong commercial judgement, balancing value, scope, complexity and delivery constraints.
- Experience managing delivery across several concurrent projects, and confidence where requirements are incomplete or rapidly evolving.
- Excellent communication, facilitation and stakeholder-management skills.
Nice to have
- Previous Product Ownership across AI or data transformation programmes.
- Banking or financial services experience, or work within highly regulated environments.
- Understanding of enterprise AI governance and responsible AI.
- Experience establishing governance across large, multi-project programmes.
- Exposure to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Middle East or Saudi market experience.
- Accommodation and agreed living expenses in Riyadh are covered, together with one return trip home per month.
- A 10% project completion bonus, on top of salary.
How our process works: add your details and CV using the form, and we’ll review your experience and suitability. If it’s a strong match, we’ll be in touch to arrange a conversation.
Add your details
Tell us a little about you and attach your CV. We’ll review and get in touch if it’s a good match.