Technical Product Owner (m/f/d) - AI & Automation

Have you built software yourself, think in architectures, and can still talk to clients on a business level? And for you, AI is not a new career topic, but something you deal with every day anyway? Then read on.

We are a technology-driven digital agency from Dortmund. For many years, we have been developing sophisticated web applications for clients ranging from medium-sized businesses to public institutions – with modern technologies, clear processes, and an open development culture.

What the role is really about

You are a Product Owner – but your product is not an individual client project, but the topic of AI & Automation at raphael. As soon as AI is involved in a project or with a client, you get involved: sometimes personally in client meetings, sometimes in the background as a sparring partner for our other POs. In addition, you will build up our internal AI structures.

You are not alone in this. You will have direct sparring with internal AI enthusiasts from development, project management, and management. You will set the direction together – you are the owner. As the topic grows, your role will grow with it, up to leading the AI & Automation department.What the role is really about

You are a Product Owner – but your product is not an individual client project, but the topic of AI & Automation at raphael. As soon as AI is involved in a project or with a client, you get involved: sometimes personally in client meetings, sometimes in the background as a sparring partner for our other POs. In addition, you will build up our internal AI structures.

You are not alone in this. You will have direct sparring with internal AI enthusiasts from development, project management, and management. You will set the direction together – you are the owner. As the topic grows, your role will grow with it, up to leading the AI & Automation department.

Responsibilities

Bringing AI into our projects and to our clients

• You will go into sparring with our POs and project managers on the question: What is possible with AI for this client? Listen, follow up, jointly develop use cases that we can present to the client.
• You will realistically assess feasibility, effort, and business value – including giving the honest answer when AI is not the right solution.
• You will build your own prototypes with LLMs, RAG, agent workflows, and automation tools (e.g., n8n, Make) and write solution concepts that our development team can implement directly.
• You will set up individual chatbots for client projects, develop MCP interfaces, refine prompts, and ensure output quality until our POs can do it independently.

Expanding AI competence within the team

• You will continue to build our AI structures: tools, processes, standards – always with a focus on effective benefit.
• You will gradually share your knowledge with our POs and developers until standard cases are handled routinely within the team.
• You will establish best practices and evaluation criteria for use case decisions, in close coordination with management.

Qualifications

Technical Skills

• A demonstrably long-standing, deep technical foundation: You have developed software yourself and/or architected systems. Web and digital have been your home for many years, not just since the AI hype.
• Several years of experience as a Product Owner, technical Project Manager, Consultant, or Senior Developer with client contact, ideally in the digital or agency environment.
• Solid understanding of modern web architectures: API-first, Headless, REST/Webhooks, integrations with CMS, CRM, and ERP.
• Python or TypeScript at a productive level, you build prototypes yourself.
• Practical AI experience: LLMs, prompting and context engineering, RAG, automation tools. Whether professional or self-driven, we don't care, as long as you can demonstrate it.
• Agile methodologies from practice, not from the textbook.

Personal Skills

• You can translate technology into business value – for decision-makers at the client's side as well as for developers.
• You are proactive: You don't wait for tasks, you seek them out.
• You are creative in use case generation and see possibilities where others say "it's not possible."
• You have a sense of reality: The best use case is not the most spectacular, but one that delivers added value.
• You enjoy working in a sparring mode: contributing ideas, discarding them, rethinking them.

What you don't need to bring

• Years of professional AI experience. Almost no one will have that by 2026 – your tech foundation plus verifiable AI practice counts for us.
• Personnel responsibility from day one. You start as a content driver; leadership grows with the department.
• Every AI tool. Curiosity and a hunger for learning are mandatory, completeness is not.

But honestly: Without a real tech foundation, this won't work. Anyone who has never seriously built software themselves will not be happy in this role – and neither will we.

Benefits

What awaits you at our company

• Exciting client projects from medium-sized businesses, NGOs, and public institutions.
• An agency with flat hierarchies, a lot of personal responsibility, and a real team culture.
• Direct contact with management and quick decisions.
• Flexible working hours and 100% remote – you are only on-site for client appointments and joint sparring sessions.
• MacBook with full equipment to get started effectively.
• Further training that suits you – conferences, courses, certifications.
• Perspective: Building and leading the AI & Automation department.

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