Product Owner - Security Automation

Job Title: Product Owner - Security Automation

Start Date: 28th July 2025
End Date: 27th February 2026
Location: Hybrid (1-2 days/week onsite at Welwyn Garden City)
Engagement: part time (3 days/week)
Rate: £400/day
Sector: Cybersecurity/Automation
Contract Type: Inside IR35

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Product Owner to join a dynamic cybersecurity automation engineering team on a part time contract basis. This role plays a critical bridge between the engineering function and cybersecurity operations, ensuring that automation initiatives align with real-world operational needs and deliver tangible improvements in threat detection, incident response, and workflow efficiency.

The ideal candidate will have a solid understanding of cybersecurity operations and agile product ownership, with the ability to manage priorities, collaborate cross-functionally, and translate operational pain points into impactful automation solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Alignment & Backlog Ownership

  • Act as the voice of the internal customer-primarily the cybersecurity operations team-within the automation engineering team.

  • Own and manage the product backlog, ensuring consistent prioritization based on value, feasibility, and security risk reduction.

  • Define and communicate product vision and goals to stakeholders and engineering teams.

• Requirements Gathering & Translation

  • Engage with cybersecurity operations stakeholders to gather detailed requirements and understand day-to-day operational pain points.

  • Translate these needs into well-defined user stories, acceptance criteria, and technical use cases for the development team.

  • Continuously groom and refine the backlog in line with feedback and emerging priorities.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Collaborate closely with automation engineers to ensure a clear understanding of requirements, dependencies, and timelines.

  • Facilitate sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives to maintain momentum and focus.

  • Ensure deliverables are aligned with sprint goals and stakeholder expectations.

• Impact Evaluation & Reporting

  • Track and measure the effectiveness of automation solutions through stakeholder feedback and defined KPIs.

  • Provide regular updates and reports to cybersecurity leadership and project stakeholders.

  • Adjust and reprioritize initiatives based on outcomes, new information, and evolving operational demands.

Key Deliverables

• A continuously maintained and well-prioritized product backlog.

• Documented and actionable user stories with clear acceptance criteria.

• Sprint plans aligned to stakeholder goals.

• Reports and dashboards tracking automation initiative impacts.

• A strong feedback loop with cybersecurity operations to guide engineering focus.

Candidate Requirements Must-Have Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as a Product Owner or Agile Business Analyst in a technical or cybersecurity-related environment.

• Strong knowledge of agile frameworks and tools (eg, Scrum, Jira, Confluence).

• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills.

• Ability to break down complex operational requirements into clear, concise user stories.

Highly Preferred

• Background or exposure to cybersecurity operations (SOC, detection/response, alert triage, incident management).

• Familiarity with the types of automation commonly deployed in security environments (SOAR, Scripting, playbooks).

• Experience working within hybrid or enterprise IT environments.

Work Environment & Schedule

• Flexible hybrid working model; expected 1-2 days onsite at Welwyn Garden City. May alternate weekly (eg, week on/week off).

• part time engagement (3 days per week) to allow flexibility for the right candidate.