Product Owner – Agentic AI

In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.

Within the group, Thales Digital Solutions (TDS) is a technological innovation hub supporting all sectors of activity, both in the local Canadian market and internationally. Join us to contribute to the development of mission critical solutions. Our various cutting-edge projects use our expertise in Artificial Intelligence, Human Factors, Collaborative Autonomous Systems, Optimization, Knowledge Management, Cybersecurity and Design.

Product Owner – Agentic AI

Quebec City, QC (Hybrid) Full time

Role Summary

Our team conducts research and development (R&D) work to meet the needs of the Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Projects focus on innovative digital solutions combining software development, systems integration, modern infrastructure and generative artificial intelligence.

As part of accelerating our artificial intelligence initiatives, we want to develop a new generation of applications based on Agentic AI. These solutions go beyond traditional conversational assistants by allowing intelligent agents to analyze data, reason, make decisions, orchestrate complex workflows and interact with multiple enterprise systems autonomously and securely.

We are looking for a Product Owner specialized in generative AI and Agentic AI to join our team in Quebec City, specializing in knowledge management. Our multidisciplinary team focuses on data collection, transformation and enrichment. Our projects involve the definition and deployment of automated processing pipelines to make data accessible to users. With the support of our data scientists, the team designs, trains and integrates artificial intelligence models, including Generative AI (GenAI) based on Large Language Models (LLMs), to improve data analysis. Our team also uses AI and machine learning (ML) concepts to increase analysis efficiency.

Essential Functions

The person holding the position of Product Owner specialized in AI for defense will play a key role in understanding user and operational needs for topics applied to the defense domain. The person must be able to establish a product or service vision addressing these needs in order to feed product development teams focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions. The person occupying this position will contribute to strategic projects to improve operational efficiency, decision support and the automation of complex processes in environments where security, reliability and traceability are essential. This person must be autonomous, curious and comfortable in the fields of defense, software, AI and R&D. They will work with clients, defense domain experts, architects and software, data and AI engineers.

The person occupying this position will have experience in the defense environment, either from the industry side and/or in uniform.

This person is part of a multidisciplinary team. A strong team spirit and teamwork capabilities are mandatory.

The ideal person for the position is therefore able to demonstrate transversal skills that facilitate the transfer of work done to all stakeholders involved. Therefore, good communication skills are required.

Responsibilities of the Agentic AI Product Owner Developer:

• Act as a technical Product Owner between business users, defense domain experts and AI development teams.
• Analyze operational needs, use cases and business objectives to identify value creation opportunities using GenAI, Agentic AI and ML technologies.
• Define and maintain the product vision, roadmap and priorities based on strategic objectives and user needs.
• Work closely with data and AI engineers to better understand a use case, a need and an AI application potential by crossing operational need, data and AI.
• Translate business, technical and contractual requirements into epics and user stories, and manage and prioritize the product backlog.
• Collaborate closely with developers, architects, AI experts and stakeholders to ensure feasibility, consistency and common understanding of solutions.
• Contribute to the design and evolution of AI solutions by participating in functional and technological decisions.
• Define acceptance criteria, supervise deliverable quality and participate in the functional validation of solutions.
• Monitor delivery, risks, product performance and communicate progress, decisions and directions to stakeholders.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information systems or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience as a Product Owner, technical Scrum Master, Team Lead, senior Business Analyst or in an equivalent role within complex technological environments.
• Experience in the defense environment: land, air, naval; intelligence, logistics
• Demonstrated experience in collecting, analyzing and translating business needs and user requirements into technological solutions.
• Experience in the definition and management of digital products, including writing epics, user stories, acceptance criteria and backlog prioritization.
• Experience collaborating with multidisciplinary teams including developers, architects, business experts and stakeholders.
• Good understanding of data technologies, artificial intelligence, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and machine learning (ML).
• Ability to analyze operational processes, define use cases and translate complex technical concepts into business value.
• Mastery of Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban or SAFe) as well as product management tools such as Jira.
• Excellent communication skills, influential leadership and technical popularization.
• Fluency in French and English, both orally and in writing.

This position requires a good knowledge of English to interact, support and/or provide services to international clients, employees and/or partners as well as to foreign government authorities who do not speak French.

Desirable Qualifications

• Practical experience in application development, services or other software solutions
• Experience with C2IS (command and control information systems) and any service/function related to intelligence, data processing (ISR), planning, situational awareness (SA).
• Experience in the naval field (civil or defense) at the maintenance and in-service support level.
• Experience and knowledge of AI/ML, GenAI and Agentic AI technologies
• Experience in data analysis
• Experience in defense, maritime, naval, industrial or mission critical environments is a major asset.
• Intellectual curiosity and ability to drive complex projects in a fast-paced environment.

Physical Requirements

This position may require the employee to set up equipment and conduct field experiments in an outdoor environment.

This position requires direct or indirect access to hardware, software or technical information controlled under the Canadian Export Control List, the Canadian Controlled Goods Program, the Canadian Industrial Security Program, the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR). All applicants must be eligible or able to obtain authorization for such access including eligibility to the Canadian Controlled Goods Program and able to obtain a Canadian NATO Secret clearance.

Thales provides an extensive benefits program for all full-time employees working 24 or more hours per week and their eligible dependents, including the following:

• Company paid Extended Health, Dental, HSA, Life, AD&D, Short-term Disability, travel insurance, Employee Assistance Plan and Well-Being program.
• Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP, DCPP, TFSA) with a company contribution and a match to a DCPP, with no vesting period.
• Company paid holidays, vacation days, and paid sick leave.
• Voluntary Life, AD&D, Critical Illness, Long-Term Disability.
• Employee Discounts on insurance (home, and auto).

Thales is an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. Thales is committed to providing accommodations in all parts of the interview process. Applicants selected for an interview who require accommodation are asked to advise accordingly upon the invitation for an interview. We will work with you to meet your needs. All accommodation information provided will be treated as confidential and used only for the purpose of providing an accessible candidate experience.

This position requires direct or indirect access to hardware, software or technical information controlled under the Canadian Export Control List, the Canadian Controlled Goods Program, the Canadian Industrial Security Program, the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the US Export Administration Regulations (EAR). All applicants must be eligible or able to obtain authorization for such access including eligibility to the Canadian Controlled Goods Program and able to obtain a Canadian NATO Secret clearance.