Senior Scrum MasterWe are seeking a Senior Scrum Master with proven experience coaching platform administration and platform operations teams within a Scaled Agile environment. This role is not intended for a Scrum Master whose experience is limited to traditional software development teams. We need someone who understands how to guide teams whose work includes a blend of planned and unplanned work - operational support, incidents, maintenance, service requests, platform reliability, compliance, and continuous improvement.
The ideal candidate has experience coaching teams that support one or more of the following: Cloud data and analytics platforms, Business intelligence platforms, API and interoperability platforms, Data services platforms.Within our D&A organization, multiple administration and operations teams are responsible for supporting critical enterprise data and interoperability platforms. These teams do not always conform to the standard Scrum patterns typically employed by feature delivery teams. As such, there is a need for a senior-level coach who can assist both teams and leaders in adopting fit-for-purpose ways of working.
The goal is to enhance flow, transparency, prioritization, predictability, and responsiveness, all while avoiding the imposition of a rigid agile framework that may not align with the unique requirements of operational platform work.Key Responsibilities:Coach platform administration and operations teams on agile ways of working appropriate for platform support and operations environmentsHelp teams balance planned work and unplanned work, including incidents, production support, service requests, defects, upgrades, maintenance, and improvement initiativesGuide teams in establishing healthy practices for: backlog management, work intake, triage, prioritization, capacity allocation, dependency management, flow optimization, service-level transparencyCoach Scrum Masters, Product/Service leaders, people managers, and teams on when to apply Scrum, Kanban, or hybrid patterns based on work typeSupport Scaled Agile events and practices as appropriate, including PI Planning, iteration planning, team retrospectives, ART synchronization, Inspect & Adapt, and cross-team coordinationHelp define and improve metrics that are meaningful for platform/admin/ops teams, such as throughput, aging work, response time, resolution time, unplanned work ratio, flow efficiency, predictability and forecasting, WIP managementPartner with RTEs, product/service leaders, engineering leaders, and Agile Coaches to improve team and ART-level ways of workingCoach leaders away from treating all work as feature delivery when operational work requires different policies, classes of service, and governanceHelp build sustainable operating models for shared services, enabling work, and platform support patterns consistent with Scaled Agile principlesRequired Qualifications:SAFe Scrum Master certification or comparable certification required7 years of Scrum Master or Agile coaching experience3 years coaching platform administration, platform operations, infrastructure, cloud operations, SRE, service operations, or technical operations teamsDemonstrated success coaching teams whose work includes a mix of: Operational Support, Interrupt-Driven Demand, Platform Maintenance, Reliability/Stability Work, Enhancement WorkStrong understanding of Kanban, flow-based practices, work intake management, and handling unplanned workExperience working in complex enterprise environments with multiple teams and dependenciesStrong facilitation, coaching, and stakeholder management skillsAbility to challenge unhelpful agile habits and tailor practices to the actual workPreferred Qualifications:Experience coaching data platform administration teams, DataOps teams, or data operations teamsExperience in cloud data/analytics environments such as Snowflake, Databricks, Azure, AWS, GCP, BI platforms, API platforms, or enterprise data servicesExperience supporting teams in regulated or highly governed environmentsFamiliarity with platform reliability, observability, service management, and operational excellence practicesExperience working with Jira and/or Jira AlignSAFe Advanced Scrum Master, SPC, or relevant agile coaching credentials preferred but not requiredWhat Success Looks Like:Establish more effective ways of working for platform admin and ops teamsImprove visibility into planned vs unplanned workReduce confusion caused by forcing feature-team agile patterns onto operational teamsImprove flow, prioritization, and predictabilityStrengthen team and leadership understanding of how to operate platform and DataOps teams effectively in a safe environmentIdeal Candidate Profile:This person is not a ceremony manager. They are a senior agile practitioner who understands the realities of platform operations and knows how to coach teams toward practical, sustainable operating models. They know that admin/ops teams cannot be coached the same way as clean-sheet product development teams, and they can translate agile at scale principles into something that actually works in the real world.EEO:"Mindlance is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of – Minority/Gender/Disability/Religion/LGBTQI/Age/Veterans."