Scrum Master
At Curriculum Associates, we believe a diverse team leads to diversity in thinking, making our products better for teachers and students. We're posting this role externally as Scrum Master, but internally we do not use the term "master". The person hired for this role will hold the title of Agile Lead. We want to be continually aware and mindful towards our stance as an anti-racist company and making sure our language and practices are aligned.
We are seeking an experienced Scrum Master to lead 2+ scrum teams. Both teams have had the benefit of an Agile Lead. They are building large-scale java platforms to support multi-tenant web applications. The role requires a proven track record of professional excellence and a passion to be the driver behind developing great software with a laudable purpose.
Why join this team:
Our PMO is a passionate group of servant leaders supporting high-performing teams. We are committed to quality, continuously learning and relentlessly improving. Our work directly impacts the company's goals and mission. Want to make a difference? Join us!
The impact you'll have:
- Facilitate and moderate sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint demo and sprint retrospective and backlog refinement meetings
- Remove obstacles to team and sprint success
- Encourage self-organization by facilitating the appropriate delegation of tasks and responsibilities to appropriate team members
- Coordinate across co-dependent scrum teams in multi-scrum team environment
- Utilize and improve usage of JIRA and Confluence, as a tool to monitor and manage sprint success
Who we're looking for:
- A Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or similar certification with a minimum of 2 years of experience as a Scrum Master/Agile Lead in more than one organization, for multiple teams simultaneously
- A deep understanding and the ability to apply both the theoretical and practical aspects of agile development
- Proven experience with Agile software development methodologies
- Experience working closely with Stakeholders to improve project predictably and delivery success
- Ability to help product teams generate product backlog and make them ready for the next sprint
- Experience effectively identifying and driving resolution on deliverable dependencies with other teams
- At least 1 year of experience using JIRA to track and manage Agile development, or experience using tools similar to the Atlassian suite of products
- Experience with a variety of Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban, etc.)
- Someone who has the ability to:
- Assess the Agile maturity of the team and organization and coach the team to higher levels of maturity, at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable for the team and organization
- Influence and guide development, quality, and product professionals
- Partner closely with product to set the vision and execute the sprint plan
- Foster and maintain a collaborative team dynamic
- Solve problems and think critically
- Plan and organize (and re-organize) in an environment of shifting priorities
- Communicate clearly, both by speaking directly and writing concisely
- Negotiate and manage conflict
- Proactively identify blockers and help the team look ahead for potential risks and recommend mitigations
- Provide all support to the team using a servant leadership style whenever possible, steer by example
- A Bachelor's Degree, preferably in a computer science, information technology, or an equally technical discipline; or equivalent work experience
We'd also love to see, though not required:
- Experience with Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
- Knowledge and/or experience with widely successful Agile techniques: User Stories, ATDD, TDD, Continuous Integration, Continuous Testing, Pairing, Automated Testing, Agile Games
- Experience in education technology and/or game development
More about this role:
This is a long-term temporary position with the possibility of permanent employment based on the candidate's performance and the company's needs.
Location: This position is remote with East Coast business hours (9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Eastern Time). Currently, Curriculum Associates employees are working remotely due to Covid-19. Once it is safe to go back into the office, this role will have the option of remaining remote or being based in one of our offices (North Billerica, MA; Billerica, MA; Brooklyn, NY).
Salary and Benefits: This role is full-time, paid hourly through July 2022 with the possibility of salaried permanent employment. This role is eligible for medical coverage after a 3-month period.