Scrum Master

Job content

Scrum Master / Agile Delivery Manager, St Helens, Hybrid role (home and office).

This is a rare opportunity for an experienced Scrum Master / Agile Delivery Manager to play a significant role in the adoption of agile methodologies within the organisation, contributing to my client’s "Agile journey" and the development of individuals’ understanding of "thinking agile".

The Role

Scrum Master / Agile Delivery Lead - taking responsibility for the releases of all in-house developed applications and acting as Scrum Master to the department’s Scrum teams. Take ownership for the processes that make up the software development lifecycle and report on the performance of the SDLC to senior management. Also actsing as Agile coach and support the department’s learning and development with regards to the agile delivery of software projects.

Job Responsibilities

Release/Delivery

• Lead and plan software releases for all in-house applications.
• Communicate software updates to all key stakeholders throughout the release cycle.
• Lead and coordinate all phases of pre-release and go-live testing.
• Lead release retrospective meetings and track the progress of action points.
• Report on the performance of the release process to the senior management team.
• Remove impediments to the release process, ensuring any release blockers are actioned in a timely manner.
• Work closely with the development team to understand the challenges of branches and code merges.
• Research new software development and configuration management methodologies to suggest improvements to the release process.
• Lead the deployment of patch updates and ensure due process takes place prior to patch releases.
• Challenge the technical teams to automate and improve deployment, to continuously improve the speed and quality of deployment.
  

Scrum Master/Delivery Manager

• Facilitates and supports all scrum events: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.
• Guides and coaches the Scrum team and wider department on agile frameworks and best practices.
• Responsible for ensuring Scrum is understood and the team adheres to Scrum theory, practice, and guidelines.
• Act as the point of contact for all communications regarding the Scrum team.
• Work closely with the Business Applications team to handle backlogs and new requests.
• Resolve cross-team conflicts and remove impediments to the Scrum team meeting targets.
• Report on the sprint performance to the senior management team.
• Work closely with the Business Applications team to negotiate urgent requests and challenge the team to adapt and deliver in difficult situations.
• Facilitate internal communication and effective collaboration.
• Escalate key impediments to senior management where supporting teams are causing delays to the Scrum team meeting sprint goals.
  

Experience/Background

• 3+ years experience working in a role within Agile Delivery (e.g. Scrum Master, Agile Delivery Manager, Software Delivery Manager, Product Owner, etc.).
• Certified Scrum Master qualification is preferred.
• Exemplifies and promotes Agile values and principles.
• In-depth knowledge of software development lifecycle.
• Expert in the Scrum methodology, capable of explaining Scrum ceremonies in detail.
• Possesses a range of techniques to aid efficiency in Scrum.
• Demonstrable experience facilitating meetings at multiple levels of an organisation and an understanding of facilitation techniques.
• Demonstrable experience dealing with difficult stakeholders and managing stakeholder expectations.
• Experience using tools such as Asana, Redmine, Git and Google Apps (desirable).
  

Qualifications/Education

• Educated to degree level (high grade) or above.
  

Person Specification

• Servant leadership style, willing to be hands on and support, empowering members of the team.
• Of high integrity and professionalism, leads by example.
• Excellent problem solving skills, with the ability to solve challenges within the team with creative solutions.
• Ability to think outside the box, to bring fresh ideas to the table.
• Outstanding communication, facilitation, negotiation, and coaching skills.
• Proactive, seeks to tackle problems immediately and does not like to leave issues to dwell.
• Curious, keen to discover unknowns and challenge the status quo.
  

This is a brilliant opportunity for an experienced Scrum Master / Agile Delivery Manager to join a company that will value the importance of your Agile expertise and will reward you with a great salary and career opportunity.

The role is a mix of office and home working and easy to commute to from Prescot, St Helens, Liverpool, Warrington, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire, Manchester.

Ascent People is acting as an employment agency for this vacancy and applicants of all ages and backgrounds will be considered.

Please send your CV today if you are interested in this role.