Scrum Master III

$98,860 - $176,961/Yr

I C W Group - San Diego, CA

Full-time - Mid Level

San Diego, CA

About the position

The Scrum Master III at ICW Group plays a pivotal role in facilitating and guiding the agile practice within product development teams. This position is essential for ensuring that the Scrum framework is effectively implemented, fostering collaboration, removing obstacles, and promoting continuous improvement among cross-functional teams. The Scrum Master will be instrumental in shaping the Agile transformation journey and ensuring the successful delivery of products in the Claims domain. The role requires managing development projects and driving sprint execution to ensure quality and timeliness. In this position, the Scrum Master will facilitate Scrum ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, sprint and release planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives for two or more product teams. This ensures alignment, accountability, and progress tracking. The Scrum Master will collaborate with Product Owners, Product Managers, and stakeholders to define product vision, roadmap, and priorities, ensuring alignment with business objectives. Additionally, the Scrum Master will guide the team in time estimating practices and manage sprint execution through effective management of the Scrum board, ensuring that JIRA tasks are up to date with acceptance criteria and estimates. The Scrum Master will also be responsible for removing impediments and obstacles that hinder the team's progress, proactively identifying and addressing risks, and escalating issues as needed to ensure timely delivery of high-quality products. Regular analysis of burndown charts and other portfolio planning tools will be performed to track velocity, team capacity, scope changes, and escaped defects. The Scrum Master will manage program-level risks and challenges to foster transparency and collaboration, facilitate internal communication, and keep project stakeholders updated on project progress. Moreover, the Scrum Master will represent the team at broader planning and coordination sessions, protect the team from uncontrolled injection of work, and present high-level Sprint and Program Increment execution reports for product managers. They will also support product owners with intra-team dynamics regarding priorities and scope, identify organizational impediments and systemic issues that hinder Agile adoption, and leverage influence and leadership skills to drive resolutions. The Scrum Master will mentor and support scrum teams to adopt and follow agile values, principles, and practices, serving as a change agent and advocate for Agile values within the organization. Staying updated on industry trends and emerging Agile practices is crucial for continuously enhancing self and contributing to the maturity and evolution of Agile practices within the organization. The Scrum Master will also facilitate Agile training, workshops, and communities of practice to enhance Agile capabilities and knowledge across the organization, implementing Agile metrics and dashboards to track team performance and identify areas for improvement.

Responsibilities

• Manages the development projects and drives sprint execution to ensure quality and timeliness.
• Facilitates Scrum ceremonies, including daily stand-up, sprint and release planning, sprint review, and retrospectives for two or more product teams.
• Collaborates with Product Owners, Product Managers, and stakeholders to define product vision, roadmap, and priorities, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
• Guides team in time estimating practices utilizing techniques like Planning Poker and facilitates team estimates and conversations around differences.
• Manages sprint execution through effective management of Scrum board and ensures that Jiras are up to date with acceptance criteria and estimates.
• Removes impediments and obstacles that hinder the team's progress, proactively identifies and addresses risks, and escalates issues as needed.
• Performs regular analysis of burndown charts and other portfolio planning tools to track velocity, team capacity, scope changes, and escaped defects.
• Manages program level risks and challenges to foster transparency and collaboration.
• Facilitates internal communication and keeps project stakeholders up to date on progress of projects.
• Represents the team at broader planning and coordination sessions (e.g., Scrum of Scrums) and protects the team from uncontrolled injection of work.
• Presents high level Sprint and Program Increment execution report for product managers.
• Supports product owner(s) with intra-team dynamics with respect to priorities and scope.
• Identifies organizational impediments and systemic issues that hinder Agile adoption and team performance, leveraging influence and leadership skills to drive resolutions.
• Works with multiple development vendor partners to build scalable products and development lifecycle processes.
• Mentors and supports scrum teams to adopt and follow agile values, principles, and practices.
• Serves as a change agent and advocates for Agile values, principles, and practices within the organization.
• Stays updated on industry trends, emerging Agile practices, and Scrum frameworks to enhance self and contribute to the maturity and evolution of Agile practices.
• Facilitates Agile training, workshops, and communities of practice to enhance Agile capabilities and knowledge across the organization.
• Implements Agile metrics and dashboards to track team performance, measure outcomes, and identify areas for improvement.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree from a four-year college or university preferred with a major or emphasis in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• Minimum 8 years of experience as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach or similar role required.
• Leadership experience required.
• Experience in agile practices, patterns, and techniques required.
• Certified Scrum Master required; SAFe preferred.
• Strong knowledge of scrum theory, rules, and practices.
• Working knowledge of agile methodology, techniques, and frameworks, such as Scrum or Kanban, to deliver solutions.
• Deep understanding of the fundamentals of iterative and incremental development.
• Ability to thrive in a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment.
• Excellent people and project management skills.
• Exhibits leadership qualities without being authoritative.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, organizational skills, experience working with cross-functional teams, and presenting to leadership.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and conflict resolution.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications including Word, Visio, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Nice-to-haves

• SAFe certification
• Experience with JIRA or similar project management tools
• Knowledge of additional Agile frameworks such as Kanban or Lean

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package with generous medical, dental, and vision plans
• 401K retirement plans with company match
• Bonus potential for all positions
• Paid Time Off with an accrual rate of 5.23 hours per pay period (equal to 17 days per year)
• 10 paid holidays throughout the calendar year
• Support for continued learning and development