Scrum Master

Job Description :

Role:Scrum Master

Position Type:Contract

Location: Chicago, IL

Duration: 8 months

 

Job Description

SUMMARY 

We're looking for an outstanding candidate to join the team as an Agile Delivery Lead. In this  role you will help define, execute, and evangelize our client’s Agile methodology. Your experience working with  Agile teams consisting of product owners, scrum masters, engineers, and QA analysts will help drive the  delivery of Digital products in a fast-moving Agile environment. You will be responsible for ensuring teams embrace Agile principles and development practices throughout the product lifecycle including planning,  execution, release, and support. The candidate we’re looking for is skilled in making things happen, with a  strong bias for action, ensuring their teams have everything they need to succeed. 

In this position you will: 

• Manage multiple concurrent work streams across multiple Agile teams. 

• Ensure expectations are aligned across teams with regards to goals, scope and timelines. • Ensure delivery teams follow ABC’s agile methodology. 

• Foster quality communication across teams and roles. 

• Collaborate with stakeholders on the digital roadmap. 

• Recommend resource and planning needs. 

• Facilitate program/release level planning across multiple teams. 

• Facilitate iteration planning, retrospective and demos. 

• Facilitate story mapping as needed to ensure cross-team initiatives are understood end to end. • Ensure all risks and issues are identified and appropriately managed. 

• Facilitate impediment resolution in a timely manner. 

• Champion the use of metrics, work with your teams to develop KPIs for assessing Agile effectiveness. • Track key metrics (e.g., burndown, burnup, cumulative flow, velocity, etc.); work with teams to analyze  metrics and translate findings into improvement opportunities. 

• Advise and guide teams to understand the best Agile practices (e.g. Scrum vs. Kanban) • Coach and mentor Agile products teams, partnering with Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Engineering  Leads and QA to ensure our ways of working are consistent across teams. 

• Instill a balance between Agile coaching/facilitating while maintaining a focus on execution and delivery. • With other Agile Delivery Leads, own ABC’s Agile tooling best practices within such tools as Jira,  Confluence, and Miro. 

• Take responsibility for managing product releases and dependencies across teams. • Serve as an interface to external teams and lines of business that may follow Waterfall or other non Agile methodologies. 

• Be prepared to represent your teams at program planning meetings to report on progress, risks (including ideas for mitigation), and impediments (including ideas for remediation). • Assist/coach Scrum Masters and Product Owners as needed in daily stand-ups, planning,  retrospectives, grooming & review/demo as needed. 

• Facilitate and guide cross-team coordination via scrum of scrum and similar forums. • Participate in the development and maintenance of standards for agile training, work with other leaders  to implement.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS 

• Agile experience/knowledge of key agile techniques including SAFe, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, and XP • Strong focus on process excellence and continuous improvement. 

• Experience in driving Agile maturity models. 

• Strong analytical and organizational skills, as well as accuracy and attention to detail. • Proven ability to manage multiple tasks, stay organized, and effectively handle shifting priorities in a  dynamic work environment. 

• Demonstrated deep understanding of Lean-Agile methods and experience in applying them at scale. • Ability to explain Agile principles to all levels, from individual contributor to Senior Leaders. • Ability to lead Agile teams in creating release plans spanning several teams, incorporating multiple  features, with accurate dependency management. 

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Bachelor’s degree in a business, information technology or related discipline. 

• 8+ years leading Agile Scrum teams/serving as a Scrum Master. 

• 4+ years leading teams with the SAFe methodology. 

• Hands-on expertise with tools such as JIRA and Confluence 

• Proven ability to coach and mentor others (Agile coaching experience a plus).

• Scrum master certification from ScrumAlliance, Scrum.org, or similar accreditation.

• Understanding of all elements of the software development life cycle, including planning, development,  requirements management, quality assurance, and release management. 

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.