Lead Product Owner

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Founded in 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club (“the Club”) is a world-class racing club that acts continuously for the betterment of our society. The Club has a unique integrated business model, comprising racing and racecourse entertainment, a membership club, responsible sports wagering and lottery, and charities and community contribution. Through this model, the Club generates economic and social value for the community and supports the HKSAR Government in combatting illegal gambling.

The Department

Since 1884, The Hong Kong Jockey Club has been a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s sports and entertainment landscape, driving innovation while contributing to the betterment of society. We are seeking motivated individuals eager to help shape the future of sports and entertainment in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. If you value creativity, collaboration, innovation, and love a challenge, this opportunity is for you.

The Job

Backlog Ownership & Multi‑Squad Prioritisation

• Own a multi‑squad or program‑level backlog aligned with PM strategy and enterprise constraints
• Break complex product intent into phased, buildable slices with clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and edge‑case logic
• Maintain a dependency‑aware view of increments and ensure two‑sprint readiness across squads
• Make autonomous day‑to‑day decisions on scope, sequencing, and prioritisation to keep delivery moving
• Support prioritisation and effort sizing by working with squads, engineering leads, and PMs to produce consistent effort estimates and trade‑off analyses; provide PMs with clear, data‑backed options (cost, risk, timeline, operational impact) to enable timely prioritisation decisions

Advanced Requirements & System Behaviour Specification

• Translate ambiguous or multi‑system product intent into clear, unambiguous specifications
• Define behaviour across integrations, APIs, pricing engines, market-creation logic, legacy platforms, data flows, and operational scenarios
• Ensure requirements incorporate compliance, responsible gambling, security, and operational considerations
• Act as the single owner of detailed requirements; no BA handoff

Cross‑Team Delivery Execution & Decision Making

• Lead refinement and planning for multiple squads; ensure engineering has clarity on behaviour and rules
• Resolve ambiguity across teams without escalation; manage trade‑offs balancing scope, risk, quality, and timeline
• Identify and remove cross‑team blockers, technical sequencing issues, and operational constraints
• Accept completed increments and ensure they meet intended UX and system rules
• Own integrated delivery plan and dependency resolution across squads
• Provide go/no‑go recommendations for cross‑squad releases based on risk and operational readiness, escalating strategic scope changes to PM
• Escalate and coordinate with vendor partners and BAU owners when cross‑squad resolution is not possible or when solutioning becomes highly complex; act as the escalation owner to drive vendor remediation, contract‑level decisions, or BAU process changes required for delivery

Quality, Testing Depth & Release Integrity

• Partner with QA to define comprehensive test coverage, including negative paths and regulatory edge cases
• Validate end‑to‑end functionality across multiple integrated systems during QA, UAT, and pre‑production checks
• Ensure operational readiness across Channels, Trading, Operations, and Customer groups
• Support PM and business users in launch planning, training, and risk mitigation.
• Ensure that any vendor‑delivered components and BAU operational processes are validated and that escalation paths into BAU teams and vendors are defined and tested before release

Cross‑Functional & Regulatory Collaboration

• Independently engage stakeholders across Compliance, Legal, Risk, Security, Trading, and Operations
• Ensure regulatory and operational constraints are incorporated into delivery sequencing and requirements
• Communicate clearly with senior stakeholders and manage expectations across teams
• Proactively prevent late‑stage surprises by embedding constraints early in design and delivery

Post‑Launch Performance & Iteration

• Analyse launch performance using data and customer behaviour insights
• Identify systemic issues, gaps, or opportunities for iteration; feed improvements back into the backlog
• Own defect triage and behaviour clarification for cross‑team production issues
• Drive continuous improvement across squads and share delivery best practices
• When post‑launch issues require vendor fixes or BAU process changes, coordinate triage and escalation, and ensure corrective actions are tracked in the backlog and prioritised appropriately

Coaching & Leadership Contribution Optional

• Coach junior POs on story quality, acceptance criteria structure, backlog discipline, stakeholder handling, and delivery flow
• Contribute to improving delivery standards, patterns, and operating models across the organisation

About You

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Business, Engineering, or related disciplines.
• Minimum 1 year of relevant experience in product delivery, system behaviour definition, or software execution roles.
• Minimum 5 years of people management experience
• Demonstrated experience driving independent ownership of complex, cross‑team software delivery.
• Strong track record in regulated or high‑risk environments (e.g., wagering, finance, fintech, payments).
• Deep experience in agile delivery environments; coaching experience a plus.
• Proven ability to handle multi‑system integrations, legacy systems, and vendor coordination.
• Proven experience coordinating with third‑party vendors and BAU/operations teams, including managing escalations, vendor remediation, and contract or SLA‑driven outcomes.
• Demonstrable experience in effort estimation and supporting prioritisation at program level (e.g., producing trade‑off analyses, relative sizing, and capacity planning).
• Strong understanding of transactional, rules‑driven product environments (wagering preferred).
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills across technical and business domains.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving capabilities; able to challenge and resolve ambiguity quickly.
• Solid understanding of APIs, system behaviour, data flows, and integration patterns.
• Experience ensuring compliance, operational readiness, and customer experience integrity.

Apply Now!

We offer competitive salary and benefits packages, a dynamic working environment and development opportunities.

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Equal Opportunity and Inclusive Hiring

We are an equal opportunity employer and strive to create an inclusive workplace for all. Applicants from diverse backgrounds are welcomed to apply. If you have any special needs or require accommodations during the interview process, please e-mail us via careers@hkjc.org.hk. Personal data provided by job applicants will be used strictly in accordance with the Club's notice to employees and job applicants relating to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance. A copy of which will be provided immediately upon request.