Sr Scrum Master

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Company: TIAA
Location: Charlotte, NC 28262 (University City North area)

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COMPANY OVERVIEW:
TIAA is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields. We offer a wide range of financial solutions, including investing, banking, advice and education, and retirement services.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Sr. Scrum Master acts as servant-leader for the Scrum Team through facilitating Scrum activities, tracking and removing impediments for the team, and coaching team members in Agile practices. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team.

This role must sit onsite in our Charlotte, NC technology hub office.


KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES:
  • Guide team on Agile / Scrum practices, including:
    • How to use Agile/Scrum practices and values to delight customers
    • How to get the most of self-organization
    • Self-organizing to fill in the intentional gaps left in the Agile/Scrum frameworks
    • Assessing the Scrum Maturity of the team and organization and coaching the team to higher levels of maturity, at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable for the team and organization
  • Clearly understand the goals/outcomes of the team
  • Accountable for managing and tracking the performance/velocity of the team, identifying opportunities and driving adjustments to continually enhance the efficiency of their delivery
  • Responsible for managing the capacity and demand of the team (including defect management) to optimize the throughput of the team
  • Responsible for preparing, facilitating and documenting the key meeting routines within the team
  • Facilitating getting the work done without coercion, assigning, or dictating the work
  • Responsible for keeping release/product information consolidated, organized and up to date
  • Must be able to facilitate discussion and facilitate alternatives or different approaches
  • Must be the first to notice differences and issues as they arise, facilitate resolution and elevate them to management
  • Removing impediments or guiding the team to remove impediments by finding the right personnel to remove the impediment
  • Responsible for driving continuous improvement in the team by facilitating retrospectives and identifying and managing opportunities within and across release cycles.
  • Must be able to facilitate discussion and facilitate alternatives or different approaches to manage oneself and a team
  • Responsible for coaching team members and mediating conflicts to resolution
  • Building 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
  • Facilitating discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution
  • Assisting with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and radiating information
  • Supporting and educating the Product Owner, especially with respect to grooming and maintaining the product backlog
  • Providing all support to the team using a servant leadership style whenever possible, and leading by example; Must be able to garner respect from his/her team and be willing to get their hands dirty to get the job done
  • Must be high-energy
Qualifications:

Required Skills:

  • 5 or more years’ experience playing the Scrum Master role for a software development team that was diligently applying Scrum principles, practices, and theory
  • Scrum Master certification (CSM, CSP, PSM I or PSM II)
  • Experience with patterns and techniques for filling in the intentional gaps left in the Scrum approach (example: numerous Burndown techniques, numerous Retrospective formats, handling bugs, etc.)

Desired Skills:

  • Financial Services industry experience
  • Experience playing the Scrum Master role for at least 6 years for a software development team that was diligently applying Scrum principles, practices, and theory
  • Second level Scrum Master certification (CSP, PSM II)
  • Good skills and knowledge of servant leadership, facilitation, situational awareness, conflict resolution, continual improvement, empowerment, and increasing transparency
  • Knowledge of other Agile approaches: XP, Kanban, Crystal, FDD, etc
  • Experience implementing and executing Enterprise Agile and Scaled Agile Framework
  • Experience delivering in a multi-scrum with waterfall, hybrid variations
  • Knowledge and/or experience with widely successful Agile techniques: User Stories, ATDD, TDD,
  • Continuous Integration, Continuous Testing, Pairing, Automated Testing, Agile Games
  • Applicable knowledge of the technologies used by the team
  • Experience applying a wide variety of well documented patterns and techniques for filling in the intentional gaps left in the Scrum approach (example: numerous Burndown techniques, numerous Retrospective formats, handling bugs,etc)
  • Previous experience as a team lead