Product Owner - Finance Systems

When our square shaped burgers made their first sizzle on the scene more than 50 years ago, people knew our approach wasn't like any other. Same goes for the way we support our employees. Our culture of openness, flexibility, and inclusiveness allows everybody to flourish in their own way. If you're looking for a career where you can be part of the action as we continue to grow our iconic brand - We got you!

The Product Owner, Finance Systems will serve as a key technology partner to Finance, Accounting, Tax, and related business teams, helping shape and deliver product capabilities across enterprise finance platforms such as Looker, Oracle and BlackLine. In this role, you will lead and develop a small team while owning and prioritizing the product backlog, translating business needs into clear requirements, supporting project initiatives, and partnering across business, technology, vendor, and support teams to deliver solutions that improve financial processes, controls, reporting, and user experience. The ideal candidate is a collaborative, outcome-focused people leader who can coach and grow talent[CB1.1][EB1.2], balance strategic roadmap priorities with day-to-day operational needs, and communicate clearly with stakeholders at all levels.

Responsibilities

• Own sprint backlog and implementation of new product initiatives. Prioritizes product backlog working against established roadmap and coordinating dependencies with other POs. Manages portfolio of IT initiatives to ensure proper prioritization and delivery of initiatives on time and on budget* Manage the steady-state product backlog for assigned Finance capabilities, balancing enhancements, break/fix needs, compliance requests, and business priorities.* Maintain clear visibility to intake, prioritization decisions, dependencies, delivery status, and tradeoffs across product work and funded project initiatives.* Partner with Project Managers and delivery teams on project initiatives to align scope, milestones, decisions, risks, and business readiness to the approved product roadmap.* Ensure project work is planned with a clear handoff back to steady-state product ownership, including support model, backlog impacts, and adoption needs.
• Responsible for development of business case and completing competitive analysis to inform short- and long-term product vision. Incorporates this knowledge when prioritizing features for releases. Makes tradeoff decisions between scope (value in expected ROI) and schedule (higher operating expense in longer release cycles) to reflect the best interests of business owners and end users.* Translate business strategy, product health, vendor capability, financial impact, and user feedback into practical roadmap recommendations.* Support annual planning and project intake by shaping initiative objectives, business value, cost considerations, dependency impacts, and expected outcomes.* Evaluate whether work should be handled as product lifecycle enhancement, operational care and feeding, vendor release, or a time-boxed project initiative.* Use business case inputs to guide prioritization and make transparent recommendations when scope, timing, budget, or capacity constraints require tradeoffs.

• As part of planning, decomposes feature(s) into user Stories and establishes Story acceptance criteria. Defines the definition of done.* Convert business needs into epics, features, user stories, acceptance criteria, and definition of done that are clear enough for delivery teams to execute.* Document requirements at the appropriate level of detail while keeping traceability to the business objective, roadmap item, or project initiative.* Clarify what success looks like for enhancements, releases, and project deliverables, including UAT expectations and business approval criteria.* Partner with engineering, vendors, QA, and business SMEs to resolve requirement questions and prevent misalignment before build or configuration begins.

• Establish and facilitate relationships with the end customer and business leadership/ owners, bringing the voice and priorities of the customer to the forefront. Work cross-functionally to ensure business requirements and solution capabilities are effectively matched and implemented. Develops spirit of teamwork and collaboration with clear lines of accountability for key decisions* Serve as the business-facing technology partner for assigned Finance capabilities, helping stakeholders understand options, constraints, sequencing, and decision points.* Facilitate alignment across Finance, Enterprise Technology, vendors, PMO, engineering, architecture, security, QA, and support teams.* Bring forward the voice of the user and business process context so solutions are designed around real business outcomes, adoption needs, and operational impacts.* Create clarity on decision rights, escalation paths, open questions, and accountable owners for product work and project initiatives.

• Weekly tracking of incidents and service tasks to completion in partnership with service team. Shares regular feedback and follow up with business partners.[CB1.1][EB1.2]* Monitor product health across assigned applications, including incidents, service requests, recurring pain points, user impact, and operational trends.* Partner with support teams, vendors, and technical delivery teams to shepherd escalations through resolution and communicate status to impacted stakeholders.* Identify themes from support activity that should become backlog items, process improvements, training opportunities, or future roadmap considerations.* Ensure project initiatives include appropriate support readiness, issue intake approach, transition planning, and ownership after go-live.

• Responsible for product introduction & review with stakeholders. Documents Story acceptance criteria into JIRA and approves/validates Stories into baseline.[CB2.1][EB2.2]* Lead product introductions, release reviews, demos, and stakeholder checkpoints so business users understand what is changing and why it matters.* Validate stories, requirements, and delivered functionality against acceptance criteria before work is baselined, released, or formally accepted.* Coordinate with change, training, support, QA, and business teams to confirm readiness for product enhancements and project go-lives.* Capture lessons learned, adoption feedback, and enhancement opportunities after releases or project milestones to inform future prioritization.

• Understands business strategy and clarifies customer objectives for scrum teams* Maintain a strong understanding of Finance business priorities, application landscape, integrations, vendor capabilities, risk areas, and user experience.* Translate strategic objectives into clear delivery direction for scrum teams, vendors, project teams, and cross-functional partners.* Provide context that helps teams make better decisions, including business process impacts, dependency considerations, stakeholder expectations, and compliance needs.* Support project initiatives by reinforcing the long-term product vision, clarifying business outcomes, and ensuring delivery choices remain aligned to Finance and Enterprise Technology priorities.
• Manages, coaches, and develops a team supporting Finance systems product work. Sets clear expectations, delegates assignments, and builds the capability and engagement of direct reports.* Directly supervise assigned team member(s), including goal setting, workload balancing, ongoing feedback, performance reviews, and career development planning.* Coach the team on product ownership practices, requirement quality, stakeholder communication, and delivery accountability.* Allocate work across the team so backlog, support, and project commitments are covered, and adjust as priorities shift.* Support hiring, onboarding, recognition, and retention while fostering an inclusive, collaborative team environment aligned to company values.

Pay Range: $122,000.00 - $214,000.00 Annually

• Education: Bachelors Degree in Finance, Accounting, Information Systems, Technology, Business, or related field required.
• 5+ years of experience supporting Finance, Accounting, Tax, or related enterprise business systems, with demonstrated ownership of cross-functional product work, enhancements, and project initiatives.
• Experience with enterprise finance platforms and tools such as Oracle ERP, Oracle EPM, BlackLine, Looker, or comparable finance technology solutions, including understanding of integrations, support needs, controls, and upstream/downstream process impacts.
• Understanding of Agile product delivery required, including backlog management, user stories, acceptance criteria, sprint planning, release planning, and UAT coordination; Product Owner certification strongly preferred.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to align Finance business partners, technology teams, vendors, project managers, and support teams around priorities, decisions, and outcomes.
• Proven prioritization and organization skills, including the ability to balance product backlog demand, production support needs, vendor releases, compliance timelines, and funded project initiatives.
• Strong financial process acumen preferred, including familiarity with general ledger, close and reconciliation, planning and forecasting, reporting, controls, audit considerations, and business benefit realization.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience, including directly managing, coaching, and developing team members, plus the ability to lead through influence, build product capability and ownership behaviors, and model Wendy's core values while partnering across Finance and Enterprise Technology teams.

Expected Work Location (In Office): It is expected that you will primarily perform work at the Wendy's Restaurant Support Center (RSC) (1 Dave Thomas Blvd, Dublin, OH 43017), or at other location(s) as designated by the Company. You are required to work in the office at least 4 days a week. Changes to work location arrangements are subject to managerial approval and business needs. #LI-Onsite

Wendy's was built on the premise, "Quality is our Recipe," which remains the guidepost of the Wendy's system. Today, Wendy's and its franchisees employ hundreds of thousands of people across more than 7,000 restaurants worldwide with a vision of becoming the world's most thriving and beloved restaurant brand.

The base pay range for this position is listed below. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and budget for the open position and also may vary depending on the candidate's job-related knowledge, skills, and experience, among other relevant factors. This range does not include an estimated value for any benefits, bonus, or other incentives that may be applicable based on position. The target annual bonus for this role is 20% of annualized base salary, based on actual company and personal performance.

Our square burgers make us different and so do our benefits! Our restaurant support roles are eligible for a wide array of benefits, including things such as parental leave, free EAP sessions, company 401k match and other great offerings. For more details about our benefits, including an overview of eligibility and terms for certain benefits, please visit our benefits website, www.wendysbenefits.com.

NOTE: Wendy's benefits, bonus, and other incentives are governed by the applicable legal plans and policies and, where appropriate, may be subject to Board approval an individual award agreement terms. Those documents supersede all other information regarding Wendy's benefits, bonus, and other incentives. Wendy's retains the right to amend or terminate its plans and policies at its sole discretion, in accordance with applicable plans, policies and laws.