Scrum Master III

Job Summary

Consistently models the advanced qualities of a servant leader and exhibits the behaviors of a Lean-Agile Leader with a Lean-Agile Mindset. Trains and coaches Agile teams and Stakeholders to embrace SAFe Core Values, adopt and apply SAFe Principles, and implement SAFe practices. Effectively removes impediments and actively communicates with leadership and outside stakeholders to protect the team from uncontrolled expansion of work while improving performance in the areas of quality, predictability, flow and velocity. Exhibit collective responsibility for the design, development, testing and/or deployment of system functionality. Provides guidance, mentorship, and training of Agile Dev team members.

Essential Job Functions

Acts as a servant leader for multiple teams and their stakeholders. Aids the team and Product Owner in efforts to manage and sequence the backlog. Leads more complex teams involving work with routine external team impact or dependencies including multiple system integration points. Eliminates impediments and resolve issues and dependencies more independently with limited support from Release Train Engineer or other resources. Assists in building a high-performing team and foster relentless improvement at the Team and Program level while improving team performance in areas of quality, predictability, flow, and velocity. Identifies SAFe anti-patterns and resolves with limited support and applies SAFe principles to facilitation, enablement, and coaching for multiple teams. Utilizes intermediate to advanced experience using tools to create metrics that measure and report on team performance, backlog health and continuous improvement.

Essential Job Functions

Utilizes advanced coaching capabilities to influence teams and advise on practices and procedures, soft-skills and Lean Agile mind-set. With limited support from RTE and others, guides teams through the decision-making process and teach techniques on how to problem solve, improve communication, self-manage, and self-organize. With limited support from RTE and others, Scrum Master supports a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised. Helps manage interpersonal conflicts, challenges, and opportunities for growth within the team. Applies SAFe principles to facilitation, enablement, and coaching in a multi-team environment. Mentors and guides other scrum masters on SAFe principles and manifesto. Organizes and leads a Community of Practice and protects the team from uncontrolled expansion of work. Leads problem solving techniques and continuously challenges norms to improve performance in quality, predictability, flow, and velocity. Independently participates, facilitates, and manages the outputs of all agile ceremonies including Daily Stand-Up meetings, Sprint review, sprint retrospective, sprint planning, backlog refinement sessions, prepare for Program Increment Planning Sessions. Participates in the Scrum Master Communities of Practice, Scrum Mastery Sync Sessions and Agile Release Train Sync Sessions. Provides advanced mentorship to other scrum masters through Agile ceremonies. Provides back up support to RTE when needed. Trains and coaches’ Agile teams and stakeholders to embrace SAFe Core Values, adopt and apply SAFe Principles, and implement SAFe practices.

Essential Job Functions

Demonstrates ongoing thirst for knowledge and a desire for continuous improvement by creating an environment for continuous learning and builds improvement roadmaps for team(s). Pursues continuous education with regards to everything Agile (e.g., visit user groups, attend conferences, read books, write blogs, etc.). Continuously works with the Scrum Master Community of Practice to ensure standard procedures are in place and ultimately improve the organizations' product delivery capability. Seeks advice and works occasionally with the Release Train Engineer to establish best practices and resolve challenging issues, risks, conflicts, or impediments. Demonstrate intermediate to advanced experience with Behavior Driven Development and Test-Driven Development and support the adoption of engineering practices, DevOps, and Agile Architecture. Performs other duties as assigned. Effectively manage and deliver Features, User story breakdown, track them in Rally, deliver them with dependencies addressed following Safe Agile delivery.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree preferred. Certified Advanced SAFe Scrum Master certification (within 180 days of hire) required. Certified SAFe Scrum Master certification upon hire required. Certified SAFe Practitioner or Agilist certification (within 180 days of hire) preferred.

Experience Requirements

Minimum 3 - 4 years experience in Scrum Master role or minimum 1 year as a Scrum Master Level II or other related experience required. Leadership experience preferred.

Special Skill Requirement

Instills commitment to organizational goals. Fosters an environment for high-performing teams and relentless improvement. Helps team manage interpersonal conflicts, challenges, and overcome opportunities for team growth. Ability to influence internal and/or external constituents. Challenges existing norms of development to improve performance in the areas of quality, predictability, flow, and velocity. Strong verbal communication and listening skills. Explains ideas in a way that are engaging and geared toward the audience. Keeps messages concise and explains logically. Recognizes non-verbal cues and adjusts the conversation accordingly. Seeks to acquire knowledge in area of specialty. Excellent organizational skills. Develops and delivers effective presentations. Performs work independently with minimal supervision. Able and willing to seek out work and drive to accomplish goals. Effectively coaches and delivers constructive feedback. Ability to lead/manage others. Exhibit Strong verbal communication and listening skills. Demonstrates advanced level communication skills that include being able to adapt message effectively for the intended audience. Able to deliver meaningful feedback in an effective manner to all levels in the organization. Coaches’ others on improving their own communication. Excellent collaboration and team building skills. Actively motivates others to work together effectively as a team.

Additional Qualification

Must also have 4 years of experience with each of the following: working with mainframe and Web technologies; Working with Waterfall, Agile, Iterative, and onshore-offshore delivery models. Experience in SAFe environment and participated in multiple PI planning, SAFe Scrum Master certification is a plus15 plus years of domain experience in P&C insurance with policy processing systems including Guidewire PolicyCentre, Conversion of legacy to Guidewire PolicyCenter Knowledge and demonstrated ability with Java or GOSU programming. Knowledge of J2EE, Application Servers, XML/Web Services/ RDBMS, ETL. Experience with Devops CI/CD, test automation , API and performance testing frameworks Hands on experience with application development and testing for enterprise web applications Implementation Conversion , Data migration and infrastructure projects Well acquainted with SharePoint, Rally, ALM and MS Office tools. Minimum 2 years’ experience in Scrum Master role or 4 years’ experience in servant leader role required. Professional certifications - PMP, SAFe Scrum Master, PMI-ACP, CSM Preferred

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all functions, physical demands and skills required of personnel so classified.