Scrum Master/Team Coach III

GCI's Scrum Master/Team Coach III will coordinate the work of an Agile development team and oversee the software development lifecycle. Plan and facilitate scrum activities, including sprint planning, daily stand up, demos, board reviews, and retrospectives. Collaborate with clients or end users to understand business requirements. Act as a liaison between development teams and product management, ensuring that appropriate project process is made. Identify and resolve impediments that slow development or prevent the team from meeting established goals or milestones.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES AT ALL LEVELS:

The Scrum Master will be a servant leader and team coach dedicated to one or more Agile Teams. This position's mission includes but is not limited to:

• Help educate the team to ensure LEAN-Agile process is being followed.

• Remove impediments and roadblocks that inhibit production and flow.

• Foster high performing team dynamics.

• Dedicated to relentless improvement.

• Assist the team(s) to self-organize and self-manage to achieve maximum results.

• Assure all dependencies and integration is properly communicated and coordinated between teams on an enterprise level.

Coordinate and Facilitate

• Schedule and facilitate scrum events: including Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.

• Conduct daily standup, end-of-sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospectives, Inspect & Adapt sessions, and all other activities to help the team achieve value, be customer centric, and practice agility.

• Assist in managing the daily triage processes for any defects and operational tickets that are filtered into the team.

• Work with the Service Line Owner / Product Owner to remove impediments for the team.

• Identify and manage dependencies, risks, critical bottlenecks / blockers to forward progress and radiate the information appropriately.

Communicate and Collaborate

• Collaborate on aligning priorities, backlog refinement, and defining acceptance criteria with Service Line Owner / Product Owner.

• Communicate with other scum masters in the organization to ensure consistency of delivery.

• Establish and communicate team level metrics in alignment with the Agile Release Train.

• Plan and problem solve with product management and delivery teams.

• Ensure the proper use of collaborative processes and remove impediments for the scrum team.

Guide and Coach the Scrum Team

• How to use Lean-Agile practices and principles to deliver high quality products and services to our customers.

• Self-organization, cross-functional skillset, domain knowledge.

COMPETENCIES:

• ACCOUNTABILITY- Takes ownership for actions, decisions, and results; openly accepts feedback and demonstrates a willingness to improve.

• Take ownership and accountability of problems and facilitate finding a solution, involving other groups as necessary.

• Own and manage priorities and individual tasks without direct supervision.

• Take initiative and seek out opportunities.

• Assess and accept risks and learn from mistakes.

• BASIC PRINCIPLES - Interacts with people in a way that builds mutual trust, confidence, and respect; adheres to GCI's Code of Conduct for Employees - the Basic Principles.

• COLLABORATION - Works effectively with others to accomplish common goals and objectives; maintains positive relationships even under difficult circumstances.

• Outstanding communication, facilitation, negotiation, and coaching skills.

• Build and maintain effective working relationships with leadership, peers, customers, and vendors.

• Work to resolve problem relationships directly.

• COMMUNICATION- Conveys thoughts and expresses ideas appropriately and professionally.

• Communicate effectively, both internally and externally, working within the Scrum teams.

• Create clear and concise written documentation for a variety of audiences, including developers, business analysts and business users.

• Use a blend of written communication techniques, including detailed documentation, diagramming, and slide presentations.

• Take initiative to initiate communication among teams, including remote team members.

• Initiate and deliver presentations to internal groups on domain topics.

• COMPLIANCE - Follows internal controls; protects confidential information; abides by GCI's Code of Business Conduct & Ethics.

• CUSTOMER FOCUS - Demonstrates commitment to service excellence; gives high priority to customer satisfaction.

• Good skills and knowledge of servant leadership, facilitation, situational awareness, conflict resolution, continual improvement, empowerment, and increasing transparency.

• Provide a professional level of service to both external and internal customers.

• RELIABILITY - Consistently follows through on assigned tasks as expected; demonstrates timely attendance at meetings, training, and other work obligations.

• RESULTS - Uses a combination of job knowledge, initiative, sound decision making, innovation, adaptability, and problem solving.

• Strong knowledge of the agile framework and methods (i.e., Scrum, Kanban, Lean, etc.), or understanding of software development life cycle models as well as in-depth knowledge of traditional project management principles and practices.

• Knowledge of collaboration and workflow tooling, particularly iObeya.

• Adept at refinement, story splitting, estimation, velocity, retrospection, capacity/load and other scrum techniques.

• Contribute to the advancement and improvement of Lean-Agile practices within the organization.

• Create flow metrics as defined with leadership.

• Ability to prioritize effectively, preferably using Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF); ability to stick to timelines and measure progress during development.

• Excellent knowledge of customer centric design principles.

• SAFETY & SECURITY - Supports a safe work environment by following all workplace safety rules and guidelines; complies with applicable Security policies and procedures.

• Team Leadership: Lead by example on all fronts.

• Guide development teams in a manner that creates success and allows for future self-sufficiency. Foster innovation and promote teamwork.

• Acts as a leader who coaches and supports Agile teams assigned to mainly Business as Usual (BAU) work and to a lesser degree, important department initiatives and applicable portions of corporate projects and initiatives.

• Proficient computer skills and MS Office knowledge (e.g., Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel) to complete job duties effectively, such as using the company intranet and to accurately retrieve and input information into database or equivalent.

Additional Job Requirements:

This is an intermediate level position requiring the ability to work independently while performing complex and diverse duties under deadlines and operating constraints. Performs the role of Scrum Master for one or more teams and complex multi-team projects. Works closely with the Release Train Engineer (RTE) and is responsible for agile coaching to more junior Scrum Masters. Requires ability to perform development and implementation of projects, programs, and procedures of general organizational impact. Must have the experience to provide functional/technical guidance to lower-level staff while fostering teamwork within area of responsibility. Performs work under minimal supervision. Handles complex issues and problems and refers only the most complex issues to higher-level staff. Possesses comprehensive knowledge of subject matter. Provides leadership, coaching, and/or mentoring to a subordinate group. May act as a lead or first-level supervisor.

Minimum Qualifications:

Required: *A combination of relevant work experience and/or education sufficient to perform the duties of the job may substitute to meet the total years required on a year-for-year basis

• High School diploma or equivalent.

• Minimum of six (6) years of experience in a Scrum Master, Project Management, Product Management, or Product Engineering role, with knowledge of scaled agile frameworks, or relevant field. *

• Bachelor's degree in IT, Management, Business, Telecommunications, or a related field. *

• Certification in an agile or scrum master practice is required within six months of accepting this position.

Preferred:

• Certifications: Scaled Agile Certified Scrum Master (Basic and/or Advanced), Certified Scum Master (CSM), Agile Scrum Master (ASM), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Agile Certified Professional (ACP), IC Agile, LEAN Six Sigma, ITIL Certification (V3 or 4), Foundation, Practitioner, Intermediate, Expert, Managing Professional, Strategic Leader, or Master.

• Telecommunications experience.

• Other relevant telecom industry or job specific certifications.

DRIVING REQUIREMENTS:

• This position may require access to reliable transportation for occasional travel between retail store locations, offices, worksites, or other locations as needed.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS and WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Work is primarily sedentary, requiring daily routine computer usage.

• Ability to work shifts as assigned, work in standard office/home office setting, and operate standard office equipment.

• Ability to accurately communicate information and ideas to others effectively.

• Physical agility and effort sufficient to perform job duties safely and effectively.

• Ability to make valid judgments and decisions.

• Available to work additional time on weekends, holidays, before or after normal work hours when necessary.

• Must work well in a team environment and be able to work with a diverse group of people and customers.

• Virtual workers must comply with remote work policies and agreements.

The company and its subsidiaries operate in a 24/7 environment providing critical services to Alaskans and may need to respond to public health and safety matters or other business emergencies. Due to business needs employees may be contacted outside of the core business hours to respond to the immediate emergency. As such, you will be requested to provide emergency after hours contact numbers, to include your home and cell phone numbers if you have those services.

Culture, Engagement, and Connection: At GCI, we foster an environment where the unique perspectives of our employees, customers, and fellow Alaskans are celebrated. We add value to our community by nurturing and empowering each member of our workforce, ensuring equal opportunities for every Trailblazer.

EEO: GCI is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, veteran status, or any other status or classification protected under applicable state or federal law.

DISCLAIMER: The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.