POSITION TITLE: Sr Specialist, Product Owner (Maximo) (Full-Time Regular) (Classified)
REQUISITION #: req8198
DEPARTMENT: Utilities Strategic Planning
LOCATION: UTILITIES SERVICE CTR - BLDG A
BENEFIT CATEGORY: Classified (Non-CBU) View Classifications & Benefits
EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Full-Time Regular
ANNUAL SALARY RANGE: $70, 601.00 - 117, 662.00 (Salaries are paid biweekly)
ANNUAL ANTICIPATED HIRING RANGE: $87, 000.00 - 107, 000.00 (Salaries are paid biweekly)
SELECTION PROCESS: Application deadline is 3: 00 p.m. MT on 10/1/2025.

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While the City of Fort Collins offers many remote and/or hybrid positions, all remote or hybrid work must be performed in the state of Colorado.

Why Work For the City of Fort Collins?

• Medical, dental, vision (for self, spouse, children) - eligible on the 1st of the month following date of hire
• Paid vacation, paid holidays, sick leave, and additional one-time bank of 40 PTO hours for new, full-time, Classified and Unclassified Management hires
• Retirement + company contributions - after 6 month probation period and immediate vesting
• Flexible spending: Medical expenses FSA, dependent FSA or both
• Employee Assistance Program: counseling, legal, financial assistance
• Life insurance, short-term and long-term disability
• Wellness program, workout facilities
• Employee/family onsite health clinic
• Learning and development opportunities at all levels in the organization with opportunities for career mobility
• Collaborative work environment

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Job Summary

The Sr. Specialist, Product Owner plays a key role in owning and advancing IBM Maximo for The City of Fort Collins Utility landscape, both in terms of IT (information technology) and OT (operations technology) across Light & Power, One Water, and Broadband (Connexion).

Acting as the go-to expert for Maximo and its mobile extensions (Datasplice, MaxMobile), this role blends business strategy with technical execution. You'll define and drive the product roadmap, translate stakeholder needs into user stories, and manage a dynamic backlog that ensures Maximo's asset, work, and materials management modules are fully leveraged.

Beyond configuration and integrations, you'll stay on top of vendor updates, oversee system enhancements, and work closely with developers, data architects, and utility business teams to deliver seamless, end-to-end functionality. Success in this role means optimizing Maximo to support mission-critical utility operations, improving reporting and analytics, and ensuring user adoption through training and change management-all while keeping the system reliable, cost-effective, and future-ready.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The following duties and responsibilities are illustrative of the primary functions of this position and are not intended to be all inclusive.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including utility executives, department heads, and operational teams. Act as the primary Point of Contact (POC) for the IT/OT application.
• Define, own and communicate a clear product vision and roadmap for the IT/OT application, ensuring alignment with business goals and the needs of all stakeholders.
• Gather, document and prioritize user stories and requirements. Prioritizing features and user stories based on business value, Utility needs, business impacts and technical feasibility.
• Manage and refine the product backlog to maintain a consistently up-to-date, prioritized backlog.
• Champion the voice of the customer, ensuring that configuration and features are tailored to deliver tangible business benefits and a positive user experience.
• Manage or oversee documentation of product features, release notes, and user manuals as necessary.
• Analyzes and evaluates complex business functions and processes.
• Stay abreast of upcoming product changes or enhancements from the vendor and ensure that Utility and OT/IT stakeholders are informed of their capability and availability.
• Maintain awareness of customer, competitor and product capability trends within and outside the Utilities vertical.
• Understand all integrations, configurations and dependencies that impact the product\\'s functionality, ensuring alignment between different systems and seamless end-to-end customer experience.
• Facilitate communication between stakeholders and the project collaborators ensuring everyone understands the objectives, priorities, and progress of the implementation.
• Manage and oversee the budget, including initial setup, ongoing maintenance/support, and enhancements.
• Co-ordinate training and user adoption by organizing training sessions and providing ongoing support to ensure effective system utilization.
• In partnership with the Utilities Organizational Change Manager, develop and execute a change management strategy to ensure a smooth transition to the IT/OT system.
• Coordinate with development, testing, and deployment teams (predominantly 3rd party) to ensure successful releases.
• Manage software vendor(s), consultants and service providers and their contracts ensuring that vendor relationships are productive and cost-effective.
• Project Owner Representation: Provide support for vendor Project Managers for enhancements/ updates by aiding them in navigating the City's OT/IT, legal, and procurement policies and procedures.
• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the system\\'s impact on business operations.
• Leads the design and implementation of reporting and analytics that aligns to the organization's strategies.
• Leads the design of reports to answer relevant business questions and communicate key metrics to stakeholders.
• Partner with Utility Business Line experts and Data Architects to develop reporting analytics capabilities.

Management Responsibilities

No

City Competencies

• Demonstrated cultural competence to effectively interact, work, and develop meaningful relationships with people of diverse identities, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds.
• Strong learning orientation. Leverages all resources and is creative in ways of learning for self to continue adapting to changing issues and trends.
• A desire and ability to understand the diverse needs of internal and external customers, and to create experiences and deliver services that exceed their expectations.
• A desire and ability to utilize digital tools for organizational information, individual, and teamwork.

Required Knowledge Skills and Abilities

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to engage and manage diverse stakeholder groups and technical teams. Skilled in facilitation, and executive-level communication.
• Proven ability to develop, articulate, and communicate a clear product vision and strategic roadmap.
• Experience applying organizational change management and workforce training for new technologies and methodologies.
• Thorough and detail oriented.
• Analytical mindset to assess value, make trade-offs, and guide continuous product improvement.
• Relationship building and collaboration skills across diverse and matrixed stakeholders, vendors and user groups.
• Proficiency in using business intelligence and analytics tools
• Utilities Industry Knowledge: Deep understanding of utility business processes, regulations, and standards related to asset management is preferred.

Required Qualifications

MinimumPreferredCollege degree or equivalent work experience. Other specialized skill training / certification may be requiredBachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, Engineering, or a related field.
Experience Requirements

• Five (5) or more years related experience

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they can perform every job description task. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may come from a less traditional background. The City may consider an equivalent combination of knowledge, skills, education, and experience to meet minimum qualifications. If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and skill set for the role.

Certifications/Licenses/Specialized Training

• None

The content in this posting was created for recruitment purposes. To view the full job description click the link below.

Sr Specialist, Product Owner

The City of Fort Collins will make reasonable accommodations for access to City services, programs and activities and will make special communication arrangements for persons with disabilities. Please call (970) 221-6535 for assistance.

Notice Regarding Medical and/or Recreational Marijuana Use:
Because the possession and use of marijuana, whether for medical use or otherwise, constitutes a federal offense and because the City is a drug free workplace, the City will not accommodate the medical use of marijuana and enforces written policy prohibiting working for the City while marijuana is in the body. The fact that state law recognizes medical marijuana as a prescribed, or otherwise permitted, medication does not alter or otherwise change this policy.

The City of Fort Collins is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants are considered for positions for which they have applied without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, sex, sexual orientation (including perceived sexual orientation), gender identity and expression, disability, age 40 years or older, pregnancy or related condition, genetic information, and, in certain specific circumstances, marriage to a coworker or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIRED. (Background checks are considered in relation to the responsibilities and requirements of the position)

Note: Some information in your application may be public information under the Colorado Open Records Act.Job Summary

The Sr. Specialist, Product Owner plays a key role in owning and advancing IBM Maximo for The City of Fort Collins Utility landscape, both in terms of IT (information technology) and OT (operations technology) across Light & Power, One Water, and Broadband (Connexion).

Acting as the go-to expert for Maximo and its mobile extensions (Datasplice, MaxMobile), this role blends business strategy with technical execution. You'll define and drive the product roadmap, translate stakeholder needs into user stories, and manage a dynamic backlog that ensures Maximo's asset, work, and materials management modules are fully leveraged.

Beyond configuration and integrations, you'll stay on top of vendor updates, oversee system enhancements, and work closely with developers, data architects, and utility business teams to deliver seamless, end-to-end functionality. Success in this role means optimizing Maximo to support mission-critical utility operations, improving reporting and analytics, and ensuring user adoption through training and change management-all while keeping the system reliable, cost-effective, and future-ready.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The following duties and responsibilities are illustrative of the primary functions of this position and are not intended to be all inclusive.
Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders, including utility executives, department heads, and operational teams. Act as the primary Point of Contact (POC) for the IT/OT application. Define, own and communicate a clear product vision and roadmap for the IT/OT application, ensuring alignment with business goals and the needs of all stakeholders.Gather, document and prioritize user stories and requirements. Prioritizing features and user stories based on business value, Utility needs, business impacts and technical feasibility.Manage and refine the product backlog to maintain a consistently up-to-date, prioritized backlog.Champion the voice of the customer, ensuring that configuration and features are tailored to deliver tangible business benefits and a positive user experience. Manage or oversee documentation of product features, release notes, and user manuals as necessary.Analyzes and evaluates complex business functions and processes.Stay abreast of upcoming product changes or enhancements from the vendor and ensure that Utility and OT/IT stakeholders are informed of their capability and availability.Maintain awareness of customer, competitor and product capability trends within and outside the Utilities vertical.Understand all integrations, configurations and dependencies that impact the product\\'s functionality, ensuring alignment between different systems and seamless end-to-end customer experience.Facilitate communication between stakeholders and the project collaborators ensuring everyone understands the objectives, priorities, and progress of the implementation.Manage and oversee the budget, including initial setup, ongoing maintenance/support, and enhancements.Co-ordinate training and user adoption by organizing training sessions and providing ongoing support to ensure effective system utilization.In partnership with the Utilities Organizational Change Manager, develop and execute a change management strategy to ensure a smooth transition to the IT/OT system.Coordinate with development, testing, and deployment teams (predominantly 3rd party) to ensure successful releases.Manage software vendor(s), consultants and service providers and their contracts ensuring that vendor relationships are productive and cost-effective.Project Owner Representation: Provide support for vendor Project Managers for enhancements/ updates by aiding them in navigating the City's OT/IT, legal, and procurement policies and procedures.Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the system\\'s impact on business operations.Leads the design and implementation of reporting and analytics that aligns to the organization's strategies.Leads the design of reports to answer relevant business questions and communicate key metrics to stakeholders.Partner with Utility Business Line experts and Data Architects to develop reporting analytics capabilities.
Management Responsibilities

No