Agile Coach / Program Manager

Job Title: Agile Coach / Program Manager Position: Agile Coach Location: 2 Broadway New York, NY Contract Duration: 9 Months Start Date: September 8, 2026 End Date: June 7, 2027 Work Arrangement: Onsite/Hybrid as required Pay Rate: $$70 to $80 per hour Experience Level: Tier 4 – Senior/Expert Level Job Summary We are is seeking an experienced Agile Coach to support Agile adoption, transformation, and continuous improvement initiatives across MTA-IT. The Agile Coach will work closely with product teams, technology leaders, project/program stakeholders, and business partners to promote Agile principles, improve delivery practices, strengthen cross-functional collaboration, and advance the organization's overall Agile maturity. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience supporting Agile transformation initiatives within large, complex enterprise environments, with the ability to coach teams and leaders, facilitate workshops, introduce Agile best practices, and use performance metrics to drive continuous improvement. This is a consultative and transformational role without direct people-management responsibilities. The Agile Coach will influence organizational change, facilitate collaboration, and help teams adopt sustainable Agile practices aligned with MTA-IT's strategic objectives. Key Responsibilities Coach and mentor Agile teams, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, project managers, leaders, and stakeholders on Agile principles, practices, and ways of working. Support enterprise-wide Agile adoption and transformation initiatives across MTA-IT. Assess current team processes, identify improvement opportunities, and develop practical recommendations to increase delivery effectiveness. Coach teams in Agile frameworks and methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban . Facilitate Agile ceremonies, workshops, training sessions, retrospectives, planning sessions, and other collaborative activities. Help teams improve sprint planning, backlog management, prioritization, estimation, dependency management, and delivery predictability. Promote cross-functional collaboration among technology, product, business, infrastructure, security, and other stakeholder groups. Partner with leadership to identify organizational impediments and recommend strategies to address them. Establish and promote Agile standards, practices, tools, templates, and governance models. Use Agile metrics and performance data to identify trends, measure team effectiveness, and support data-driven decision-making. Help teams establish meaningful metrics such as velocity, throughput, cycle time, lead time, sprint predictability, and defect trends. Identify systemic barriers affecting delivery and facilitate solutions across teams and organizational functions. Support continuous improvement initiatives and help teams develop sustainable improvement plans. Encourage a culture of transparency, accountability, collaboration, experimentation, and continuous learning. Assist teams and leadership in transitioning from traditional delivery approaches to Agile and/or hybrid Agile methodologies. Provide guidance on Agile maturity assessments and organizational readiness. Develop and deliver Agile training and educational materials for technical and nontechnical stakeholders. Facilitate communication between product teams, leadership, and business stakeholders to ensure alignment between delivery activities and business objectives. Support enterprise transformation programs by helping teams align Agile practices with broader organizational strategies. Provide executive-level recommendations and status updates related to Agile transformation, organizational maturity, and delivery performance. Document Agile processes, recommendations, lessons learned, and continuous improvement initiatives. Promote consistent Agile practices while recognizing that different teams may require different approaches based on their products, technologies, and organizational needs. Required Qualifications 10+ years of professional experience in Agile delivery, project/program management, Agile coaching, transformation, or a related discipline. Demonstrated experience serving as an Agile Coach or in a comparable Agile transformation role. Proven experience supporting Agile adoption or enterprise transformation initiatives within large, complex organizations. Strong hands-on knowledge of Scrum and Kanban methodologies. Experience coaching multiple Agile teams and working with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, project managers, technical teams, and executive stakeholders. Demonstrated ability to facilitate Agile ceremonies, workshops, training sessions, and organizational change initiatives. Strong understanding of Agile principles, Lean practices, continuous improvement, and organizational change management. Experience using Agile metrics and reporting to evaluate team performance and delivery effectiveness. Strong stakeholder management, facilitation, communication, and conflict-resolution skills. Ability to influence teams and leaders without direct managerial authority. Experience identifying organizational impediments and developing practical solutions. Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Experience working in large enterprise IT environments with multiple teams, dependencies, and stakeholders. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Preferred Qualifications Experience leading or supporting enterprise Agile transformation programs . Experience working with large public-sector, transportation, financial services, healthcare, or similarly complex enterprise organizations. Experience with Agile maturity assessments and transformation roadmaps. Experience with SAFe, Lean, DevOps, or other enterprise Agile frameworks . Experience with Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps, or similar Agile delivery platforms. Experience developing Agile governance models, standards, and operating practices. Experience coaching senior leadership and executive stakeholders. Experience working with distributed or geographically dispersed teams. Agile coaching or transformation certifications such as ICAgile, ICP-ACC, ICP-ATF, SAFe, CSM, CSP-SM, PMI-ACP , or equivalent. Technical & Professional Skills Agile Methodologies Scrum Kanban Lean Agile Agile Transformation Agile Maturity Continuous Improvement DevOps Coaching & Facilitation Agile Coaching Team Coaching Leadership Coaching Workshop Facilitation Training & Mentoring Conflict Resolution Organizational Change Delivery & Metrics Sprint Planning Backlog Management Release Planning Dependency Management Velocity Throughput Cycle Time Lead Time Delivery Predictability Performance Metrics Tools Jira Confluence Azure DevOps Microsoft Teams Other Agile Project Management and Collaboration Tools Key Competencies Enterprise Agile Transformation Agile Coaching & Mentoring Organizational Change Management Strategic Program Support Stakeholder Management Cross-Functional Collaboration Continuous Improvement Facilitation & Communication Metrics & Performance Analysis Problem Solving Leadership Influence Agile Governance #J-18808-Ljbffr Gilder Search Group