Project Manager - Scrum Master

Scrum Master

Location: Orlando, FL (remote, with occasional in-person collaboration as needed) Duration: 06 Months (Possible Extension to 12 months) Orlando-based preferred (remote, with occasional in-person collaboration as needed) 1st Shift

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Actively serve and support the Product Owner and Delivery Team in their quest to consistently meet sprint goals.
• Facilitate getting the work done without coercion, assigning, or dictating the work
• Facilitate discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution as needed to make sure the team stays aligned and focused on the highest priority.
• Guide the Scrum Team on how to use Agile/Scrum practices and how to get the most out of self-organization
• Assess the scrum maturity of the team and coach the team to higher levels of maturity, at a pace that is welcome, sustainable and comfortable for the team.
• Remove impediments or guide the team to remove impediments by finding the right people help remove the blocker.
• Build a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised without fear of blame, retribution, or being judged, with an emphasis of healing and problem solving.
• Assist with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and cascading information
• Provide all support to the team using a servant leadership style and leading by example. This person should personify Scrum and Agile.
• Support and educate the Product Owner, especially with respect to refining (aka grooming) and managing the product backlog.
• Effective facilitator and coach to development teams with the ability to adjust to change and deliver on planned outcomes.
• Knowledge of budgeting approaches and ability to apply policies and practices to support the planning and administering of a budget.
• Implements the mission, vision and objectives of the IT governance function.

Competencies

Delivery

• Identifies project management tools and requirements within own function.
• Gives examples of critical paths in projects.
• Explains the concepts of phase, activity, task, and deliverable.
• Describes the key objectives, phases and deliverables of a current project.

Producing Results

• Explains the concept of adapting tactics to support changing needs.
• Explains the difference between effort and achievement.
• Explains the importance of producing results that matter to the business.
• Provides examples of using back-channel methods to get things done.

Budgeting

• Describes major budget items in own organization in general terms.
• Explains the various purposes and uses of budgets.
• Lists essential elements of a budget.
• Summarizes the budgeting process cycle, necessary inputs and reporting requirements.
• Supplies supporting information and justification for major line items.

Application Delivery Process

• Describes highlights of a specific application methodology and activities used in own area.
• Describes the roles and responsibilities of IT and business functions related to application delivery.
• Identifies major activities associated with delivering application functionality.
• Obtains and interprets high-level methodology documentation.

Financial Responsibilities

• Acts as a steward of the company in ensuring that program/project budgets are best utilized to achieve stated scope and so that anticipated benefits are realized.
• Accountable for delivery of projects or programs within budget, on schedule and of quality.
• Intermediate understanding of accounting rules for expense and capital activities.
• Ensures efficient utilization of staff and non-labor resources.
• Solid understanding of IT estimation activities May lead large/complex estimation activities..
• Accountable for financial implications and cost of systems and services.
• Responsible for defining optimization opportunities to manage expenses.

Qualifications

• At least 2 years of experience in software development delivery with at least 1 year of dedicated full-time Scrum Master experience in software development.
• Has a proven track record of successfully growing and maturing teams and/or experience leading Agile transformations.
• Is familiar with different agile methodologies including but not limited to Scrum, Kanban and Scaled Agile.
• Is able to coach and train team members and others on the Scrum framework and related artifacts (user stories, story point estimation, etc.) as well as other agile methodologies to help guide teams to more successful outcomes.
• Embody Scrum values and principles.
• Demonstrates and understands what specific Lean/Agile/Tools/Techniques/Principles to best apply, based on Team needs, environment and constraints.
• Displays a 'continuous learning' mindset; always seeking to expand lean/agile knowledge and experience.
• Capable of leading distributed and remote teams.
• Hold the Team accountable to the agreements they set and the commitments they make.
• Socialize and discuss team dashboards (burn ups, burn downs, etc.) always driving continuous improvement
• Good skills and knowledge of servant leadership, facilitation, situational awareness, conflict resolution, continual improvement, empowerment, and increasing transparency.
• Knowledge about tasks, backlog tracking, burndown metrics, velocity, user stories etc.
• Experience in applying Scrum patterns and techniques (like Burndown techniques, Retrospective formats, handling bugs, etc.)
• Master of JIRA, Confluence etc.
• Second or Third Level Scrum Master certification (PSM II, PSM III, CSP, CTC)

Knowledge and Skills

• Accountable for coordinating cross-team dependencies and removing impediments (blockers) so teams can deliver products predictably.
• Problem solve through delivery challenges, lead prioritization discussions and help keep teams focused on delivering highest priorities.
• Help the Product Manager/Owner manage their backlog effectively and maintain 3-sprints of dev ready features
• Facilitate getting the work done and setting work and reporting standards for delivery teams.
• Build a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised without fear of blame with an emphasis on problem solving.
• Help to establish a culture of collaboration where teams are willing to try new ideas without fear of failure.
• Support Delivery Lead with all aspects of PI Planning including making sure teams are ready for planning, story mapping, identifying cross-team dependencies, facilitating planning activities, creating a program board, etc.
• Drive teams to deliver on commitments and lead through delivery challenges
• Facilitate ongoing team planning activities and cross-team scrum ceremonies
• Hire, train, coach and mentor a team of scrum masters
• Partner closely with other leads (Product, Engineering, QA and Architect) to stay aligned on priorities, team health and tracking to program goals
• Provide regular program updates to ensure team, stakeholders and leadership stays connected to what's in progress, what's coming up and any risks or blockers
• First level Scrum Master certification (CSM)
• Experience working in scaled agile environment
• Experience playing the Scrum Master role for at least one year
• Embody servant leadership
• Strong skills in: Facilitation, situational awareness, conflict resolution, continual improvement, team- empowerment, and building a transparent culture
• Excellent communication and mentoring skills
• Experience with Atlassian or related software and tools

About US Tech Solutions:

US Tech Solutions is a global staff augmentation firm providing a wide range of talent on-demand and total workforce solutions. To know more about US Tech Solutions, please visit US Tech Solutions is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.