Scrum Master 3

Are you looking to make an impactful difference in your work, yourself, and your community? Why settle for just a job when you can land a career? At ICW Group, we are hiring team members who are ready to use their skills, curiosity, and drive to be part of our  journey as we strive to transform the insurance  carrier space. We're proud to be in business for over 50 years, and its change agents like yourself that will help us continue to deliver our mission to create the best insurance experience possible.

Headquartered in San Diego with regional offices located throughout the United States, ICW Group has been named for ten consecutive years as a Top 50 performing P&C organization offering the stability of a large, profitable and growing company combined with a focus on all things people. It's our team members who make us an employer of choice and the vibrant company we are today. We strive to make both our  internal and external communities better everyday!

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Scrum Master facilitates and guides the agile practice within the product development teams. This position plays a crucial role in ensuring that the Scrum framework is effectively implemented, fostering collaboration, removing obstacles, and promoting continuous improvement between cross-functional teams. This position will be instrumental in shaping our Agile transformation journey and ensuring the successful delivery of our products.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Manages the development projects and drives sprint execution to ensure quality and timeliness.

• Facilitates Scrum ceremonies, including daily stand-up, sprint and release planning, sprint review, and retrospectives for two or more product teams to ensure alignment, accountability, and progress tracking.
• Collaborates with Product Owners, Product Managers, and stakeholders to define product vision, roadmap, and priorities, and ensure alignment with business objectives.
• Guides team in time estimating practices utilizing techniques like Planning Poker and facilitates team estimates and conversations around any differences that may crop up.
• Manages sprint execution through effective management of Scrum board and ensures that Jiras are up to date with acceptance criteria, estimates etc.
• Removes impediments and obstacles that hinder the team's progress, proactively identifies and addresses risks, and escalates issues as needed to ensure timely delivery of high-quality products.
• Performs regular analysis of burndown charts and other portfolio planning tools to track velocity, team capacity, scope changes, escaped defects etc.

Manages program level risks and challenges to foster transparency and collaboration.

• Facilitates internal communication and keeps project stakeholders up to date on progress of projects and works collaboratively to resolve people problems and project roadblocks.
• Represents the team at broader planning and coordination sessions (e.g., Scrum of Scrums), and protects the team from uncontrolled injection of work.
• Presents high level Sprint and Program Increment execution report for product managers. Supports product owner(s) with intra-team dynamics with respect to priorities and scope.
• Identifies organizational impediments and systemic issues that hinder Agile adoption and team performance, and leverages influence and leadership skills to drive resolutions. Escalates to management, as necessary.
• Works with multiple development vendor partners to build scalable products and development lifecycle processes.

Mentors and supports scrum teams to adopt and follow agile values, principles, and practices.

• Serves as a change agent and advocates for Agile values, principles, and practices within the organization.
• Stays updated on industry trends, emerging Agile practices, and Scrum frameworks to continuously enhance self and contribute to the maturity and evolution of Agile practices within the organization.
• Facilitates Agile training, workshops, and communities of practice to enhance Agile capabilities and knowledge across the organization.
• Implements Agile metrics and dashboards to track team performance, measure outcomes, and identify areas for improvement.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

This position has no supervisory responsibility.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Bachelor's degree from four-year college or university preferred with a major or emphasis in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field. Minimum 8 years of experience as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach or similar role required. Leadership experience required. Experience in agile practices, patterns, and techniques.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS

Certified Scrum Master required, SAFe preferred.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Strong knowledge of scrum theory, rules, and practices. Working knowledge of agile methodology, techniques, and frameworks, such as Scrum or Kanban, to deliver solutions. Deep understanding of the fundamentals of iterative and incremental development. Ability to thrive in a highly collaborative, fast paced environment. Excellent people and project management skills. Exhibits leadership qualities without being authoritative. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, organizational skills, experience working with cross-functional teams, and presenting to leadership. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills and conflict resolution. Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications including Word, Visio, Excel, and PowerPoint. Ability to apply principles of logic to a wide range of intellectual and practical problems. Ability to coordinate people and projects with a mind set on deliverables.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS 

Office environment – no specific or unusual physical or environmental demands and employees are regularly required to sit, walk, stand, talk, and hear.

WORK ENVIRONMENT 

This position operates in an office environment and requires the frequent use of a computer, telephone, copier, and other standard office equipment.

The current range for this position is

ICW Group is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. ICW Group will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex/gender, age, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.