Company description:

Valenture Institute partners with the world’s leading education institutions to transform physical limitations into digital opportunities. We create new opportunities for students to choose an aspirational online learning experience by offering fully-supported online high school programmes.

As a social enterprise, Valenture Institute is also committed to levelling the playing field and increasing access for all students through free curriculum offerings and blended learning micro schools in underprivileged communities.

The role:

Summary:

The Technology Team Product Owner (TTPO) is responsible for driving the evolution of UCT Online High School’s custom user-facing platforms. These include the Application Portal, Guardian Portal, Marking Platform, ExamEase, and other tools required to support the efficient operation of the school.

This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role that goes beyond traditional business analysis. The TTPO is accountable for gathering and validating business needs, translating them into clear product specifications, collaborating closely with the engineering team to ensure high-quality, timely delivery and ensuring solutions are thoroughly tested and embedded in the business.

Responsibilities:

Product Discovery & Planning

• Develop a deep understanding of operational processes, regulatory requirements, and user journeys across all relevant platforms.
• Proactively identify product opportunities for improvement, optimisation, or technical maintenance.
• Gather business needs through workshops, interviews, and process analysis challenging and refining assumptions where needed.
• Collaborate closely with the Head of Technology Operations to define, maintain, and prioritise the product backlog in alignment with strategic objectives.

Requirements & Solution Design

• Translate business needs into well-scoped user stories, process flows, functional requirements, and acceptance criteria for implementation.
• Collaborate with the Engineering Manager and developers to co-design solutions and clarify technical requirements.

Delivery & Quality Assurance

• Participate and contribute to the Technology team’s agile rituals, including backlog refinement, sprint planning, and retrospectives.
• Coordinate with QA and business stakeholders to support system and user acceptance testing (UAT), validate releases post-deployment, and ensure quality standards are met.

Stakeholder Engagement & Support

• Serve as a key liaison between business teams and the Engineering function.
• Communicate product progress, roadmap priorities, and changes clearly and regularly.
• Facilitate handovers to operational teams, including support documentation, demos, and training materials.
• Support incident triage and resolution for platform issues that require product context or business insight.

Leadership

• Line manages junior team members, providing mentorship, support, and professional development opportunities. This includes participating in recruitment, capacity planning and performance management activities as required.

Requirements:

• Tertiary qualification in a relevant field (e.g. Information Systems, Product Management, Computer Science, Business Analysis)
• 5+ years of experience in business analysis, product ownership or platform design in complex operational environments
• Experience with agile methodologies and working in product/engineering teams
• Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and drive solutions across multiple stakeholders
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong analytical and decision-making abilities

Advantageous:

• Background in EdTech, online learning, or educational product development
• Previous Product Owner experience
• Familiarity with QA processes or certification
• Project management or agile certification
• Data literacy and comfort with using data to inform decisions

Benefits:

• Family member discount to Valenture Institute
• Remote working

• Voluntary savings programme
• Half-day birthday leave

Equal opportunity employer:

Valenture Institute is committed to transformation and the company's Employment Equity plan will be considered during the selection process. Valenture Institute considers itself an Equal Opportunity Employer and thus aims to eliminate all forms of unfair discrimination in the recruitment and selection of staff.