Senior Technical Product Owner - AI Governance & Compliance at Royal Bank of Canada in TORONTO, Ontario, Canada

Job description

• We are seeking an experienced and driven Senior Product Owner to join our Enterprise Architecture team, supporting the AI-Powered Software Delivery (AI-DLC) initiative. This is a rare opportunity to shape how RBC builds software in the age of AI - and what that transformation means for our people, our governance, and our pace of delivery.
• AI is fundamentally changing the way software is designed, built, and delivered. As a Senior Product Owner on the Governance & Compliance stream, your mission is to embed governance integrity by design - and make it faster through AI. You will lead the product vision for automating and modernizing how governance is performed across the enterprise, ensuring that speed and control advance together rather than at each other's expense.
• The scope of this role is significant. The solutions you shape will impact governance workflows across the enterprise, ensuring regulatory requirements are met, controls are consistently applied, and the trust of our customers, regulators, and stakeholders is maintained.
• Why this role matters
• Governance is critical to how RBC builds software, but manual, repetitive processes can slow delivery and create redundant effort. This role exists to modernize and streamline governance so that speed and control advance together.
• The opportunity is transformational — using AI to automate and standardize governance intake and workflows, reducing redundant data requests and manual effort through extensible, reusable solutions. An early proof of concept has demonstrated strong, scalable results, providing a foundation for enterprise-wide governance optimization.
• This role is guided by a clear vision: every AI-assisted decision is traceable, every control is mapped, and every governance process is met - by design, not by exception.
• Scale a proven proof of concept toward broader enterprise adoption, driving standardization and efficiency across governance workflows.
• Support automated, audit-ready evidence gathering that strengthens compliance and reduces manual effort.
• Enable delivery teams by clearing a growing portfolio of AI-powered software programs for execution.
• Establish governance automation as the trusted default for how RBC governs AI-powered software delivery.

Responsibilities

• Translate high-level features and epics from product managers into detailed, actionable user stories with clear scope, business context, and acceptance criteria that define development readiness and quality standards
• Write detailed requirements and product specifications that enable development teams to understand scope, functionality, and success metrics
• Conduct weekly backlog refinement sessions with the Agile squad to continuously improve story clarity, completeness, and prioritization
• Scrum & Agile Event Leadership
• Facilitate and host bi-weekly sprint planning sessions with the Agile squad to define sprint scope, capacity and commitments
• Host and manage daily standup meetings with the Agile squad, removing blockers and maintaining team momentum
• Maintain Jira hygiene to ensure accurate tracking, visibility, and traceability of work throughout the sprint lifecycle
• Serve as the primary point of contact for the development team, clarifying requirements
• Other
• Translate complex regulatory and governance needs into simple, clear, and extensible technical requirements.
• Analyze usage data, stakeholder feedback, and audit findings to continuously improve the governance intake experience.
• Champion AI-specific risk awareness — ensuring that applying AI to the SDLC does not circumvent risk controls baked into the process and helping evolve controls, so they are tailored for an AI-powered SDLC rather than manual processes alone.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience as a Product Owner or Business Analyst in an Agile/Scrum environment, ideally at a senior level.
• Deep understanding of Agile frameworks, user story mapping, and backlog grooming techniques.
• Experience delivering governance, risk, compliance, or regulatory-driven products (e.g., OSFI, audit, controls).
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder negotiation skills across business, risk, and technical partners.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to turn complex governance needs into clear, actionable requirements.
• Familiarity with AI/ML concepts and responsible AI governance considerations.
• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or equivalent Agile certification.
• Experience with AI-DLC / SDLC governance and evidence or audit automation.
• Exposure to enterprise architecture practices and cloud platforms.
• Knowledge of data governance, controls mapping, and traceability tooling.

Skills

Required

• Agile frameworks
• User story mapping
• Backlog grooming
• Communication
• Stakeholder negotiation
• Analytical mindset
• AI/ML concepts
• Responsible AI governance

Preferred

• AI-DLC / SDLC governance
• Evidence or audit automation
• Enterprise architecture practices
• Cloud platforms
• Data governance
• Controls mapping
• Traceability tooling