Sea-Watch is looking for a Product Owner (f/m/d)

up to 15 hours/week, remote

About us

Sea-Watch e.V. is a non-profit initiative dedicated to the civil sea rescue of peole on the move. In view of the humanitarian disaster in the central Mediterranean Sea-Watch provides emergency aid, demands and at the same time forces the rescue by the responsible European institutions and publicly stands up for legal escape routes. We are politically and religiously independent and are financed exclusively by donations.

 

The Sea-watch IT team is a growing and innovative department that consists of both volunteers and paid workers and is responsible for all of Sea-Watch’s IT infrastructure, both onshore and onboard. We mainly rely on open source solutions and host, for example, mail, forum, cloud and our chat tool ourselves. . We are looking for a Product Owner for our crewing database (f/m/d) with up to 15 hours per week, preferably in Berlin or hybrid/remote. The position is initially limited to 12 months with possibility of extension.

Product Owner

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced individual to fulfill the role of Product Owner for our Volunteer Database Software. Together with the Lead Developer, you will be developing our in-house application to manage the volunteers that will make up the majority of the ships’ crews. The project has been developed since 2020 and is in active use.

Your role in the team was called a product owner in our internal discussions, but that can mean different things to different people. We are looking for someone to:

  • understand our users’ needs and the value of what we are building

  • carry the vision of what the application does and develop it further

  • use that understanding to help define and prioritize upcoming features

  • communicate with stakeholders and the development team to align on goals and progress

  • help facilitate discussions and consensus-building to plan upcoming features and keep development moving forward

 

Your profile

  • You have experience in product management, business analysis or a similar role, ideally on software projects

  • You are motivated to understand user needs and represent them in the team

  • You are proactive in addressing topics, connecting with people, and moving projects forward

  • Very good communication skills with fluency in both spoken and written English. German is also useful but not required

  • Familiarity with agile software development practices and techniques such as user story mapping is a plus

  • You are open to growing into the role. Depending on your background, this could mean learning about search and rescue operations or software development practices. (Writing code or administering servers is explicitly not required.)

  • Open to working in collaborative and inclusive team structures

  • Ability to mediate between different interests and you have a goal-oriented approach to problem solving
  • Strong identification with the mission and vision of Sea-Watch e.V.

What you can expect from our side

We would especially encourage you to contact us if you are part of a group that is often
underrepresented in the IT sector.

  • Contributing to the rescue of people in life-threatening maritime distress

  • A healthy open-source software project using modern practices

  • A supportive team with a calm atmosphere that encourages growth and understanding

  • High level of influence in the team’s ways of working

  • Opportunity to gain insights into working of a mid-sized non-profit organization while working in a mostly autonomous team

  • A growing non-profit organization with constantly new challenges and ideas

  • A dynamic, varied work environment with flat hierarchies

  • Place of work is hybrid / remote with the possibility of working in our Berlin office

  • Opportunity to help shape the organization through exciting projects and organizational meetings, including thinking outside the box, and plenty of freedom to try out new things

  • Digitization, agility and participation are an essential part of our everyday life

  • A meaningful job and a monthly gross salary of 1275 Euros for 15 hours per week (increase possible due to various factors*)

  • Special payments and additional benefits, such as company pension scheme

Are you interested?

We look forward to receiving your application!

Please submit your application (CV/resume and cover letter, answer to our questions below) in English by 24. November 2024 to application@sea-watch.org. Attachments please in a PDF-document of less than 5MB.

Questions:

  1. Do you identify as flinta**? Please answer only with Yes or No (If same qualification, we prefer flinta** people / answer is not mandatory)
  2. What’s something that keeps you from working well?
  3. Regarding structures, flat hierarchies versus reality: Do you know this challenge and if so, how have you dealt with situations when there is a group with very different approaches?

 

*Our salary model allows for percentage gross salary increases that take into account family needs and personal disabilities. In addition, the salary increases by 3% with every year being with Sea-Watch.

**Flinta stands for female, lesbian inter, non-binary, trans, agender.