Scrum Master II

Facilitates and champions the agile software development process by coaching & mentoring development teams, identifying & eliminating impediments, and promoting the use of standards and practices. Ensures smooth operation of agile process & activities, is responsible for leading daily stand-ups, backlog prioritization, planning, retrospectives, and other team ceremonies. Proactively solves problems by partnering with teams to succeed in the delivery of business value.

Drives Agile and Lean frameworks that result in quality product delivery, continuous improvement, and timely releases. Manages work in progress, removes impediments, promotes transparency and are an advocate and coach towards autonomous, self-organizing and empowered teams. Coaches teams, business owners and stakeholders in agile maturity practices and supports relentless improvement and building a growth mindset.

Assists with agile training and coaching, promoting accountability and transparency across all levels of the organization. Helps teams learn to identify dependencies, skill/knowledge gaps, and other barriers; encouraging the team to participate and own action items and escalating as necessary. Ensure teams’ delivery success by leveraging the appropriate agile methodology (Scrum/Kanban/etc.) to enable predictable, quality delivery while maintaining a focus on the continuous improvement of the team.

10% or as needed

• Organizes and facilitates agile team activities and ceremonies (e.g. Planning, Daily stand-up, Backlog Refinement, Demos/Reviews, and Retrospectives).
• In a Scaled Agile model, facilitates scaled planning for the team-e.g. Pre-Planning/Preparation, PI Planning Events and represents the team at broader planning and coordination sessions.
• Actively coaches other leaders, peer roles and individual contributors on continual improvement, growth mindset and maturing current Agile adoption.
• Coaches team members and other Scrum Masters regarding adoption of agile standards, tools, and best practices to improve collaboration and self-management, promoting healthy interactions both with team and with external stakeholders.
• Understands and utilizes Lean-Agile metrics to help teams continually improve. Assesses the Agile/Scrum maturity of the team & coaches the team to higher levels of maturity.
• Understands the mechanics of the Agile framework or method and teaches the specific roles, work products, and activities to team members. Increases team knowledge of Agile/Lean topics helping them understand “why” practices work not just “how.”
• Stays current with Agility industry trends & explores other perspectives.
• Comfortable experimenting with a variety of approaches based on need & fit. Promotes the use of/experimentation with quality/engineering practices.
• Collaborates with the product owner(s) to ensure the team has a healthy product and Sprint backlog.
• Serves as Scrum Master for 2-3 Agile Teams.
• Coaches the team towards the importance of regular sprint reviews/demo to demonstrate finished work to stakeholders and celebrates team achievements.
• Manages and helps the team implement areas of improvement as identified in the Retrospective.
• Facilitates dependency management/risk management/impediment removal for the team.
• Works with Product Owners and Program Managers to understand the product roadmap, priorities, and schedules to guide delivery.
• Enables the team to become high performing through collaboration and a relentless focus on continuous improvement including cross-skilling across the team.
• Communicate with leaders across the organization to ensure transparency into delivery progress, challenges, and risks.
• Support the team in using agile planning and development tools (e.g. Azure DevOps, Jira, Confluence, M365, etc.).

• Performs other duties as assigned by management.

This job requires a background that demonstrates the following minimum knowledge, skills, talents, and traits:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, information systems, or business administration and/or equivalent formal training or work experience.
• 3+ years of experience as a Scrum Master required.
• 2+ years’ experience leading multiple Agile teams on successful software delivery; experience with Agile tools that support metrics and tracking iterative development.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively, be approachable and enjoy working with passionate people.
• Demonstrated ability to coach through constructive conflict and adept at building positive partnerships across the organization.
• Awareness of Agile technology practices, techniques, and DevOps (e.g., user stories, Test Driven Development, Continuous Integration, Continuous Testing, Pairing, Automated Testing).
• Effective facilitation skills at the team and department level. Ability to remain neutral, apply conflict management & establish trust. Ability to have difficult conversations.
• Knowledge and understanding of industry standard software best practices, development lifecycle processes and methodologies.
• Ability to effectively guide teams in the use of Agile/Scrum/Kanban practices to deliver value to our customers.
• Ability to effectively coach the team to higher levels of maturity at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize workload of multiple teams and the work intersections between them.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision and is responsible for applying Agile practices, skills, tools and techniques to deliverables, processes, and systems that meet or exceed business needs and expectations.
• Experience working with business end users and stakeholders at all levels in the organization.
• Experience with processes and tools supporting Agile methodologies (ADO, VSTS, Jira).
• Self-directed, self-motivated, thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning; ability to take ownership of work and demonstrate initiative.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including organizational, team building, and issue resolution; works effectively with colleagues at all levels.
• Active listener and open to different points of view; flexible and adaptable.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; strong presentation and facilitation skills.

• Ability to get the job done effectively and efficiently; ability to build a trusting work environment where problems can be openly discussed.
• Engages well with others and passionate about providing an exemplary customer experience.

• Agile certifications such as Advanced Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Professional ScrumMaster, SAFe Scrum Master, SAFe Advanced Scrum Master, PMI-ACP.
• Experience leading/facilitating training sessions.
• Experience working in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) strongly preferred.
• Experience partnering with external vendors (integrations, testing, etc.).