Product Owner

Location: This hybrid role requires 3 days on-site at our Burnaby, BC office and 2 days remote per week.

Welcome to Specsavers – where we’re not just about eyecare and eyewear, but changing lives through better sight. Ranked the 5th Best Workplace™ in Canada and 12th globally by Great Place to Work®, we’re proud of our optometrist-owned model that makes high-quality, eyecare and eyewear accessible to all Canadians.

Founded 40 years ago in the UK by visionary husband and wife optometry duo Doug and Mary Perkins, Specsavers has remained privately owned since day one. Today, we are a $7.8 billion global business with over 45,000 colleagues across more than 2,700 retail optical locations.

In Canada, our support office is based in Burnaby, BC. Since entering the market in 2021, we’ve been scaling rapidly, now with over 270 locations nationwide. With advanced clinical equipment and a wide range of affordable, high-quality eyewear, we’re transforming the way Canadians experience eyecare.

If you’re passionate about making a difference and want to be part of a values-driven organization, join us as we continue to grow. Together, we can change lives through better sight.

What You’ll Do

The Product Owner is responsible for the end-to-end ownership and evolution initially of our PMS/EMR Application, acting as the primary bridge between the Specsavers business, internal delivery teams and the external vendor.

The role defines and maintains a business-driven product roadmap aligned to the annual plan, while ensuring value is maximised from both internally driven change and vendor-delivered capabilities.

A critical part of the role is maintaining a tight feedback loop with live operations, working closely with the Technology Service Desk to identify recurring issues, service pain points and improvement opportunities, and feeding these into the product backlog and PI planning cycles.

The Product Owner ensures effective delivery by coordinating across Business Analysts, delivery teams, testing functions and the vendor to support prioritisation, PI planning, testing and release readiness.

Key Responsibilities

Product Ownership & Strategy

• Own the PMS/EMR Application product lifecycle, including vision, roadmap and continuous improvement
• Define and maintain a product roadmap aligned to the annual business plan and strategic priorities
• Ensure a balance between new features, technical improvements and operational stability
• Continuously assess product performance and identify opportunities to deliver additional value

Business Engagement & Advocacy

• Engage with stakeholders across Retail, Clinical and Operations to capture business needs
• Act as a strong advocate for the business, ensuring requirements are clearly represented and prioritised
• Translate business needs into structured product features, user stories and outcomes
• Facilitate prioritisation decisions based on business value, effort and strategic alignment

Vendor Management & Roadmap Alignment

• Build and manage a strong relationship with the our external vendor.
• Influence vendor priorities to align with Specsavers’ business needs where possible
• Maintain a detailed understanding of the vendor roadmap and upcoming capabilities
• Bring vendor roadmap insights back into the business to inform prioritisation and avoid duplication
  • e.g. aligning internal demand (such as inventory management improvements) with existing or planned vendor functionality
• Challenge and collaborate with the vendor to maximise delivery value and efficiency

Backlog & Delivery Management

• Own and prioritise the product backlog, ensuring it is clear, structured and value driven
• Work closely with Business Analysts to refine requirements into detailed user stories and acceptance criteria
• Ensure backlog readiness ahead of PI planning cycles
• Balance competing priorities across business initiatives, technical debt and operational improvements

Service Desk & Continuous Improvement Integration

• Work closely with the Technology Service Desk to understand recurring incidents, service trends and user pain points
• Translate service desk insights into backlog items, ensuring live issues and improvement opportunities are prioritised appropriately
• Identify patterns in incidents and problems, feeding these into Problem Management and continuous improvement initiatives
• Ensure that key operational issues are incorporated into PI planning cycles, alongside strategic enhancements
• Drive a proactive approach to reducing support demand through product and process improvements

PI Planning & Testing Coordination

• Collaborate with delivery teams to support PI planning, ensuring backlog readiness and alignment
• Work with Business Analysts, delivery teams and test teams to coordinate PI testing and release cycles
• Ensure appropriate business validation, UAT and sign-off processes are in place
• Support successful releases by aligning delivery outcomes with business expectations

Stakeholder & Delivery Collaboration

• Act as the key interface between business stakeholders, delivery teams and the vendor
• Collaborate with architects, developers and support teams to ensure successful implementation
• Provide regular updates on roadmap progress, delivery status and upcoming changes
• Ensure transparency in prioritisation decisions and trade-offs

Governance & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure product decisions align with governance frameworks and technical standards
• Track delivery outcomes and measure business value of delivered features
• Drive continuous improvement in product management and delivery practices
• Identify opportunities to improve usability, efficiency and system performance

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience as a Product Owner, Product Manager or similar role
• Experience managing enterprise applications and vendor-backed platforms
• Strong experience working with third-party vendors and influencing external roadmaps
• Ability to define and manage product roadmaps aligned to business strategy
• Experience managing and prioritising complex backlogs
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• Experience working within Agile or scaled Agile environments (including PI planning)
• Experience working with service management functions (e.g., Service Desk, Incident, Problem Management)
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability

Nice-to-have:

• Experience in retail, healthcare or multi-site environments
• Familiarity with ERP, POS, or clinical systems
• Experience leveraging service metrics and operational data to drive product improvements
• Knowledge of testing and release processes

Compensation:

$120,000 - $130,000 base salary, plus quarterly bonus, profit sharing, and benefits. Actual compensation will be determined based on experience

Speccies’ Benefits

• 4 weeks of vacation and 1 paid volunteer day per year
• 1 extra paid day off plus an eyecare voucher to celebrate your birthday.
• Health and dental benefits, RRSP matching and a Healthcare Spending Account active from your first day.
• Mental health and wellbeing support, including $3,000 annually for practitioner care and access to our Employee Assistance Program.
• Quarterly bonuses, based on your performance.
• Annual Profit Share program to recognize your part in Specsavers’ success.
• Free parking, access to the building gym, and a fully stocked kitchen with snacks and coffee/tea.
• On‑site wellness offerings in-office, including RMT and yoga sessions.
• Team and company social events, including holiday and annual celebrations.

Behaviours We Value

• Collaborative: We work together as one Specsavers to deliver on our purpose
• Curious: We question, explore, and seek out diverse perspectives to develop our knowledge and understanding
• Courageous: We challenge the status quo, we experiment with good ideas, and we are brave, bold, and fast in our decision making
• Compassionate: We care, support, and help each other
• Commercial: We treat money wisely and make decisions that are good for our customers, our partners, our people and for the long term

We hope that in applying with us, you value these things as well!

Our Hybrid Work Model

Experience the best of both worlds. At Specsavers, we embrace a hybrid approach that balances in-office collaboration with the flexibility to work from home. We come together in office three days a week to connect, innovate, and keep our culture thriving.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Specsavers, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We believe that a diverse team enriches our work environment and enables us to achieve our goals. We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage candidates of all backgrounds and abilities to apply. If you believe you can contribute to our mission and vision, we welcome your application, even if you don't meet every qualification listed. We value the unique skills and perspectives each individual brings to our team.

Accessibility and Accommodations

We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible workplace. If you require accommodations at any stage of the application or interview process, please let us know by contacting us at careers.ca@specsavers.com . We will work with you to meet your needs and ensure a fair and equitable experience.

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