Application Platform Owner

The Application Platform Owner serves as the accountable owner for how platforms operate, are configured, and evolve to support product outcomes. This role is responsible for governing platform behavior, configuration standards, and decision-making within defined guardrails.

The Application Platform Owner partners closely with Product Owners, ensuring that platform capabilities can safely, consistently, and efficiently support product strategy. While the Product Owner defines what outcomes are needed, the Application Platform Owner owns how the platform is configured to deliver them, balancing speed, reuse, risk, and long-term platform health.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Product & Roadmap Strategy Alignment - Partners strategically with Product Managers and product teams to shape roadmap initiatives, ensuring solution readiness, technical feasibility, and alignment between business objectives and system capabilities. Translates strategic goals into well-defined, outcome-driven requirements and user stories that enable efficient delivery.
• Platform Configuration Ownership - Owns the configuration model for assigned platforms, including rules, parameters, workflows, and guardrails. Acts as the authority on platform behavior and ensures consistency across use cases.
• Decision Rights & Governance - Serves as the decision-maker for platform configuration changes and exceptions within defined boundaries. Establishes and enforces standards to prevent one-off solutions and platform drift.
• Product Enablement Partnership - Partners with Product Owners to translate desired outcomes into viable platform configurations. Provides recommendations and tradeoffs rather than raw analysis.
• Platform Evolution & Reuse - Guides how the platform evolves over time by identifying reusable patterns, reducing complexity, and shaping sustainable solutions. Conducts annual platform maturity assessments.
• Requirements Shaping & Oversight - Ensures requirements align with platform standards and are configurable, reusable, and supportable. Demonstrates strong user story writing capabilities to clearly articulate intent, outcomes, and acceptance criteria when needed, while ensuring stories enable efficient delivery and accurate platform configuration. May delegate detailed documentation but retains accountability for platform fit.
• Release Readiness for Configuration Changes - Owns readiness for configuration-driven releases, including validation, coordination, and post-release monitoring expectations.
• Process Design & Improvement - Designs and governs scalable processes for intake, configuration changes, and exception handling.
• Stakeholder Leadership - Acts as the primary platform contact for stakeholders, Risk, Compliance, and Operations, managing tradeoffs and resolving conflicts related to platform behavior.
• Problem Resolution - Leads systems-level problem solving across configuration, workflow, data, and operational impacts to prevent recurring issues.
• Vendor Partnership & Relationship Management - Serves as the primary liaison to vendors, cultivating strong, collaborative relationships to support platform stability and evolution. Partners with vendors on configuration changes, enhancements, and issue resolution, ensuring vendor solutions align with product needs, platform standards, and long-term sustainability. Holds vendors accountable for outcomes while fostering productive relationships.
• Bank Policies - Adhere to bank policies and procedures designed to comply with Federal regulations, including but not limited to the Bank Secrecy Act, USA Patriot Act and OFAC regulations. To that end, ensure timely and accurate preparation of Currency Transaction Reports, Suspicious Activity Reports and other recordkeeping requirements.
• Avoid all real or perceived conflicts of interest and always maintain client privacy and confidentiality.
• Perform other job duties as assigned.

Education/Skills/Business Acumen:

• Scope of Responsibility - Operates with a high degree of autonomy and accountability over platform behavior. Owns cross-initiative platform decisions and influences product strategy through feasibility, sequencing, and risk-based recommendations.
• Leadership - Provides formal platform leadership, setting standards and guardrails. Mentors Senior BSAs and elevates analysis and configuration practices across teams.
• Complexity - Manages platform-wide complexity across multiple products, channels, and regulatory considerations.
• Decision-Making - Makes binding decisions on platform configuration and exceptions. Escalates only those decisions that exceed defined guardrails or carry enterprise-wide impact.

Education and Experience

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 5+ years in platform ownership, product/platform operations, systems administration/configuration ownership, or closely related roles where you were accountable for platform outcomes (not just project deliverables).
• Demonstrated experience owning system configuration and platform-level decisions, including:
• tradeoffs (risk/cost/scale),
• prioritization across competing demands,
• and driving decisions to closure with cross-functional partners.
• Proven ability to operate beyond project boundaries by identifying systemic issues, aligning stakeholders, and improving platform health (e.g., reducing incidents, improving adoption, raising quality, simplifying workflows).
• Demonstrated experience of end-to-end ownership where platform problems were identified, aligned stakeholders, made/forced the key decisions, and delivered a measurable improvement (e.g., adoption, stability, cycle time, risk reduction).

Preferred:

• JavaScript and HTML experience strongly desired.
• Certifications such as IIBA-CPOA, CBAP, or equivalent (helpful, but not a substitute for demonstrated platform ownership and decision accountability).
• Experience supporting regulated financial services

Technical Skills:

• System Analysis and Design: Understanding system architecture, workflows, system integrations, databases, and APIs.
• Data Analysis Tools: Familiarity with SQL, data visualization tools, and reporting software to represent requirements/processes in graphical forms (flow charts, swim lanes, PowerPoint presentations, etc.).
• IT Infrastructure: Knowledge of networking, servers, and cloud computing environments to understand technical dependencies.
• Project Management Tools: Experience with Agile and traditional project management tools (e.g., JIRA, Confluence, MS Project).
• Modeling Techniques: Knowledge of process modeling and data flow diagrams (e.g., BPMN, UML).
• Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC): Understanding of SDLC phases, with experience in requirements definition, design, development, testing, and implementation.

Business Acumen:

• General knowledge of bank systems, including operating and network systems, with a strong desire to learn more about these systems and other technologies.
• Strategic Thinking: Ability to align system solutions with broader business objectives and product roadmaps.
• Process Optimization: Experience identifying and implementing process improvements that drive business value.
• Customer-Centric Mindset: Anticipate and understand end-user needs, enhancing overall user experience with delivered solutions.

At WaFd Bank you get all of these great benefits!

• Paid time off for vacation, sick days and holidays
• Health insurance
• Stock options
• Bonus programs
• Generous 4% 401(k) matching plus a generous 3% annual contribution, 7% total employer contribution
• Paid Parental Leave
• Life and AD&D insurance
• Long-term disability
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Employee assistance programs
• Pre-tax health and dependent-care spending plans

WaFd Bank Benefits Summary - Click here for more information

We are committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action. We recruit, hire, train and promote persons in all job titles and ensure that all other personnel actions are administered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, military and/or veteran status, or disability in accordance with Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, which require affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity in all aspects of employment. WaFd Bank does not discriminate on the basis of national origin or citizenship status as provided under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, or any other Federal or State legally-protected classes. WaFd Bank is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities to the full extent required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you feel you need a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the ADA, you are encouraged to contact us at 800.324.9375

EEO Policy Statement - WaFd Bank

Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal - click here for more information

California Consumer Privacy Act- CCPA 2025