Product Owner

BriefYour role

L3 salary: Not published yetSalary figures open with the salaries section.
Upcoming dated changes: 1 change aheadNext: 1 Jul 2027
Where the changes come from
Each change in the Regulatory calendar comes from an official text, linked on its page.
A change affects this role directly when it names a process that is one of the role's main tasks.
Top critical skills: Product discovery and metrics
Prioritisation and roadmapping
Agile delivery (Scrum, Kanban)

What the role does

Product Owner is a role in Change, Projects & Product. The family covers project, programme, product ownership, business analysis, process and service delivery. The core skill is product discovery and metrics, and the main work is change and project delivery.

This is a brief profile written from the catalogue. A full profile with a day in the life, level descriptions and the effect of AI is being written.

Levels

L1 Starting out 0-2 years
L2 Independent 2-5 years
L3 Senior or specialist 5-9 years
L4 Leads a team or an area 8-14 years
L5 Leads the function 12+ years

Full level descriptions and job titles

The EFO level names are the common scale; job titles differ between employers.

Levels of Product Owner
Level	What the work looks like	Typical years	Typical job titles
L1 Starting out	Learns the job; executes defined tasks with supervision	0-2	Banks: Analyst, Junior Analyst, Associate (asset servicing), Trainee, GraduateAsset servicers: Junior, Specialist (entry), Officer
L2 Independent	Owns a process end to end; trains L1; first contact for the team's clients	2-5	Banks: Analyst / Senior Analyst, AssociateAsset servicers: Specialist, Senior Specialist, Senior Officer
L3 Senior or specialist	Deep expertise; handles exceptions and change; represents the function in projects	5-9	Banks: Senior Associate, AVP, Assistant ManagerAsset servicers: Senior Specialist, Expert, Team Lead (small team)
L4 Leads a team or an area	Manages people or a large process; owns budgets or controls; escalation point	8-14	Banks: VP, Manager, Senior ManagerAsset servicers: Team Lead, Manager, Head of Section
L5 Leads the function	Accountable for the function in a legal entity or region; sets priorities and standards	12+	Banks: Director, Executive Director, Managing Director, Head of functionAsset servicers: Head of Department, Director

Skills

The percentage is the skill's share of the role; the bars are drawn relative to the anchor skill, which is shown full.

Critical 4

The job cannot be done without these.

Product discovery and metricsWeight 14.0%Anchor skillExpected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Prioritisation and roadmappingWeight 9.3%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Agile delivery (Scrum, Kanban)Weight 9.3%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Requirements gathering and documentationWeight 9.3%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you

Important and supporting skills 18

Important 9

Needed in most positions.

Design judgment and trade-offsWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Experiment design and A/B testingWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Project tools (Jira, Asana)Weight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Stakeholder managementWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Professional written communicationWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Choosing the right metric for the questionWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Leading without formal authorityWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Functional analysis between business and ITWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you
Defining and using KPIsWeight 4.7%Expected level: practitionerRelevant to you

Supporting 6

Help in many positions.

Querying data with SQLWeight 2.3%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you
API design and integrationWeight 2.3%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you
Product marketing and messagingWeight 2.3%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you
Structuring ambiguous problemsWeight 2.3%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you
Verbal communication and presentingWeight 2.3%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you
User acceptance testing coordinationWeight 2.3%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you

Useful 3

Occasionally useful.

Design tools (Figma)Weight 0.8%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you
Visualisation tools (Power BI, Tableau)Weight 0.8%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you
Persuasion and influenceWeight 0.8%Expected level: working knowledgeRelevant to you

Processes

The work the role takes part in.

Change and project delivery

What each process covers

Change and project deliveryMainRunning programmes and projects: plans, budgets, requirements, testing, cutover.

Dated changes for this role

1 Jul 2027ECB digital euro pilot with 36 payment providersRelevant to you

See all 1 in the Regulatory calendar

Salary snapshot

Salary figures are not published yet

The L3 salary range for this role, with its sources, will appear here when the salaries section opens.

Certifications

PMP PMI
PRINCE2 Practitioner Axelos
Certified ScrumMaster Scrum Alliance
Professional Scrum Master I Scrum.org
CBAP IIBA
CAPM PMI

Concepts to know

All 13 concepts

Neighbouring roles

Roles that need many of the same skills, by weighted skill overlap, with the skills you would need to add.

Product Owner (Banking)

92% skill overlap

To add: Trade lifecycle

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Business Analyst

48% skill overlap

To add: Process mapping and redesign, Process mapping tools (Visio, Lucidchart), Attention to detail

Your role

Business Analyst (Banking)

47% skill overlap

To add: Process mapping and redesign, Trade lifecycle, Process mapping tools (Visio, Lucidchart)

Your role

Business Analyst (Insurance)

47% skill overlap

To add: Process mapping and redesign, Insurance regulation (Solvency II, IDD, NAIC, IRDAI), Process mapping tools (Visio, Lucidchart)

Your role

AI Business Analyst

47% skill overlap

To add: Large language model applications, Process mapping and redesign, Change management and adoption

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AI Transformation Analyst (Banking)

45% skill overlap

To add: Large language model applications, Process mapping and redesign, Trade lifecycle

Your role

Do this job? Suggest a correction

Sources

The EFO role catalogue, with skills, levels and processes. How it is built
ESCO classification of the European Commission (external site) for job titles