SCRUM Master

Aquent is partnering with a leading financial services organization dedicated to empowering individuals and institutions to achieve their financial goals. This organization is at the forefront of technological innovation, constantly evolving its platforms and services to deliver exceptional value to its clients. Joining this dynamic team means contributing to a mission that impacts millions, driving forward-thinking solutions in a collaborative and supportive environment. Your work will directly shape the future of financial technology, ensuring seamless, efficient, and innovative experiences for all users.

Unleash Your Agile Leadership as a Scrum Master

Are you a passionate servant leader ready to drive innovation and empower high-performing engineering teams? We are seeking an exceptional Scrum Master to guide our AI-native development teams, fostering an environment where creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement thrive. In this pivotal role, you will be instrumental in elevating our software development processes, ensuring our teams deliver impactful business value efficiently and effectively. You will directly influence the success of critical projects, coaching teams to adopt and master Agile principles, and removing obstacles that stand between them and their goals. Your expertise will not only optimize workflows but also cultivate a culture of excellence and autonomy within our cutting-edge AI development landscape.

What You'll Do:

• Act as a dedicated servant leader, prioritizing the success and growth of your teams.
• Proactively identify and remove impediments, ensuring smooth progress toward Sprint goals.
• Ensure transparency and radiate critical information (e.g., backlogs, burndown/up charts) to all stakeholders, keeping everyone informed of team progress and successes.
• Provide comprehensive support to Product Owners, assisting with backlog refinement, release planning, and communication of updates.
• Cultivate an environment that empowers development teams, fostering creativity and self-organization.
• Champion continuous improvement in engineering practices and tools, ensuring teams have the resources and knowledge needed to excel.
• Facilitate clear and consistent communication across the team, Product Owners, and various stakeholders.
• Lead and coach 2+ Agile teams simultaneously, guiding them to adopt and mature strong Scrum processes in alignment with the Scrum Guide.
• Organize and facilitate all key Scrum ceremonies, including backlog grooming, Sprint planning, daily Scrum, Sprint review, and Sprint retrospective.
• Encourage teams to regularly inspect their processes and adapt for optimal performance.
• Assist teams in establishing a consistent and predictable cadence, leading to reliable velocity.
• Collaborate with Product Owners to develop, manage, and continuously refine the product backlog.
• Partner with Product Owners to track and communicate vital information to stakeholders, such as team velocity, Sprint/release progress, and team achievements.
• Coordinate with Project Managers to facilitate seamless cross-team collaboration for complex projects.

What You'll Bring:

Must-Have Qualifications:

• Demonstrated servant leadership capabilities, earning respect and willing to actively support teams.
• Exceptional communication and social skills, fostering strong team relationships.
• High enthusiasm and energy, inspiring and motivating teams.
• Proven success in scaling AI-assisted software development across multiple teams.
• A commitment to continual improvement, constantly learning and growing your craft and your teams.
• A strong attitude of transparency, building trust between business and development.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Full understanding and practical application of the Scrum process as defined by the Scrum Guide.
• A deep appreciation and understanding of the Agile values and principles.
• Thorough understanding of:
  
  
  
  • Backlog grooming and relative estimating techniques.
  • Release planning strategies.
  • Effective Sprint planning.
  • Scrum metrics such as Sprint burndown, release burnup, and velocity.
  • Best practices and techniques for Sprint reviews.
  • A variety of retrospective techniques.
  
  
  
  
• 5+ years of experience in a software development environment, with a preference for roles involving cross-team dependencies.
• **Must have significant experience working in an environment with AI-led teams.**
• 3+ years of experience in managing customer expectations, project schedules, status reporting, and change management.
• 5+ years of experience as a Scrum Master.
• Experience leading teams within a large, complex enterprise setting where projects often involve multiple Scrum teams.
• Ability to apply a diverse range of patterns and techniques to ensure team success.
• Solid knowledge of project management fundamentals.
• Strong conflict resolution skills, adept at facilitating discussions and resolving issues effectively.
• Proven facilitation skills, capable of leading and demonstrating value-add principles.
• Assertive in ensuring adherence to Agile and Scrum concepts, acting as a voice of reason and authority.
• Situationally aware, quick to notice and address issues as they arise.
• An attitude of empowerment, guiding teams toward self-organization.
• A strong grasp of software development methodologies and technology.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications:

• Scrum Master certification.
• Experience with one or more scaled Agile frameworks (e.g., SAFe, LeSS, DAD, Nexus).
• Previous experience as a traditional project and/or program manager.
• DevOps experience, including continuous integration, continuous build, and continuous delivery tools and techniques.