Product Owner - Cloud Security Engineering

Kforce has a client in Phoenix, AZ that is seeking a Product Owner - Cloud Security Engineering. Summary: The Product Owner for the Cloud Security Engineering team acts as the connection point between business stakeholders, security leadership, and engineering teams. In this role, you will define, prioritize, and manage the product backlog for cloud-security engineers and DevSecOps/DevOps practitioners, ensuring secure, compliant, scalable cloud environments across public and private platforms. Key Responsibilities include:

• Own and maintain the product backlog: gather requirements from stakeholders and technical teams, write user stories and acceptance criteria, and prioritize based on business value, risk reduction, dependencies, and product strategy
• Partner closely with cloud engineering, DevOps, and DevSecOps teams to embed security early in the delivery lifecycle (CI/CD, IaC, automated testing, monitoring), including implementing security controls as code
• Collaborate with Security Architecture, Cloud Platform, Compliance, and Risk/Governance teams to ensure cloud environments meet internal controls and external standards (e.g., NIST, CIS, ISO 27001/27017, SOC 2)
• Serve as the internal -voice of the customer, - translating business and security needs into actionable features and releases
• Lead Agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews/demos, and release planning
• Define, track, and report on product metrics/KPIs (e.g., MTTR for cloud vulnerabilities, adoption of security controls, reduction of cloud risk exposure) and use insights to inform prioritization
• Communicate progress, risks, timelines, and trade-offs to leadership across security, cloud, and business units
• Support organization-wide adoption of delivered capabilities through training, documentation, rollout coordination, and impact measurement
• 3-5+ years of product ownership or product management experience within a technical domain (cloud, infrastructure, or security preferred)
• Experience working within agile development teams (Scrum/Kanban), including backlog management and feature prioritization; hands-on experience with Jira and Confluence
• Proven experience managing a product lifecycle from vision and roadmap through delivery, measurement, and iterative improvement
• Strong understanding of major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and cloud-native security capabilities such as CSPM, DSPM, IAM, encryption, segmentation, and logging/monitoring
• Familiarity with industry security frameworks and standards including NIST CSF, CIS Benchmarks, and ISO 27000 series, as well as cloud regulatory/compliance requirements
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills with the ability to bridge technical and non-technical audiences, influence decision-makers, and drive adoption
• Strong analytical mindset and ability to evaluate trade-offs among business value, security/risk, and engineering effort