Forward Deployed Product Owner – Bond Management

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Alabama.

📋 Description

• Design, configure, and enhance business process workflows utilizing Appian Designer.

• Lead the discovery of business processes across Bond Management operations, encompassing debt servicing, transfer agent, paying agent, waterfall accounting, and exception management.

• Identify opportunities for automation, document existing pain points, and establish operational baselines.

• Define value hypotheses, business outcomes, and success metrics for workflow prioritization and realization of benefits.

• Modernize Bond Management workflows leveraging Appian.

• Collaborate with product owners, operations leaders, technology teams, and risk partners to gather requirements, map processes, define user needs, and prioritize enhancements.

• Manage and oversee product backlog items, user stories, acceptance criteria, specifications, process flows, UI concepts, test scenarios, and release-ready requirements.

• Facilitate stakeholder working sessions to outline current and future-state workflows, iterate MVP designs, resolve issues, and ensure alignment.

• Construct, configure, and maintain Appian Designer workflows using reusable, out-of-the-box components.

• Employ AI-assisted and agentic AI tools for discovery, process analysis, documentation, prototyping, testing, defect analysis, and communication of deliverables.

• Own workflow outcomes from the discovery phase through configuration, validation, pilot adoption, and post-release optimization.

• Assist with QA, UAT, regression testing, and production validation.

• Collaborate with technology teams on integrations, data dependencies, security, platform constraints, and production support.

• Stay updated with Appian AI, Case Management Studio, RPA, data fabric, reporting, and governance capabilities.

• Advocate for Appian governance, reusability, modular design, versioning, packaging, maintainability, and controlled delivery.

• Participate in agile ceremonies, including standups, planning, backlog refinement, demos, and retrospectives.

• Develop and maintain Appian reports and dashboards to track workflow performance, user activity, operational quality, and business metrics.

• Comply with risk and regulatory standards, policies, controls, and the Company’s Risk Appetite; escalate risk issues when necessary.

• Foster a sense of belonging and embody the M&T Bank brand.

• Uphold internal control standards and enforce audit and regulatory protocols.

• Perform other related duties as assigned.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 10 years of business, analytical, technical, digital product, transformation, or product ownership experience; alternatively, a combined minimum of 14 years of higher education and/or relevant work experience, including a minimum of 10 years in the aforementioned areas.

• Practical experience with Appian, including the building, configuring, testing, or supporting of workflows, forms, interfaces, records, process models, reports, dashboards, or related Appian objects.

• Background in financial services and/or fintech, with exposure to regulated business processes, operational risk, client service, banking, wealth management, trust services, payments, capital markets, lending, compliance, or similar fields.

• Experience as a product owner, product analyst, business analyst, transformation lead, or workflow designer in an agile or iterative delivery setting.

• Proficiency in writing user stories, acceptance criteria, specifications, process flows, business rules, UI concepts, testing scenarios, or release documentation.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.

• Familiarity with QA, UAT, regression testing, defect triage, test case development, production validation, or other solution quality practices.

• Working knowledge of AI-assisted tools or agentic AI concepts, with the ability to use AI in a responsible manner.

• Capability to connect business and technical teams while articulating technical constraints, risks, dependencies, and trade-offs.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

• Ability to juggle competing priorities, work independently, and deliver results in a fast-paced, regulated transformation environment.

• Appian Level 1 or higher certification, or equivalent hands-on experience with Appian Designer (preferred).

• Familiarity with SAIL expressions (preferred).

• Understanding of Appian reusability, versioning, packaging, release management, performance, and governance (preferred).

• Experience with Appian AI, Case Management Studio, RPA, data fabric, connected systems, integrations, or document management workflows (preferred).

• Familiarity with agentic AI or AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Open Claw, Hermes, or similar (preferred).

• Experience with other low-code/no-code platforms such as Power Platform, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Pega, Airtable, Retool, Mendix, or similar (preferred).

• Background in Corporate Trust, securities servicing, bond administration, transfer agent, paying agent, or financial operations (preferred).

• Strong understanding of business process mapping, process engineering, service design, user journey design, and operational improvement methodologies (preferred).

• Experience in developing, managing, or launching digital capabilities in financial services, fintech, trust services, institutional services, compliance, legal operations, or document-intensive environments (preferred).

• Experience collaborating with UX, design, data, architecture, cybersecurity, risk, legal, compliance, or operations teams (preferred).

• Knowledge of Agile, Lean, design thinking, systems thinking, and continuous improvement principles and practices (preferred).

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive salary and performance-based bonuses.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance packages.

• Retirement savings plans with company matching contributions.

• Generous paid time off and holiday schedules.

• Opportunities for professional development and training.