Scrum Master

Summary/Objective

The Scrum Master, who is an Agile SCRUM professional, leads initiatives within Solution Delivery Services.  This role is responsible for overseeing the execution of application development project work including the Agile ceremonies, Product Owner coaching, setting, and achieving team velocity, and delivering high quality software.  This is an important role, is hands-on, and requires managing one or more Agile teams.  A background in Agile Scrum with a focus on Insurance industry specific solutions is essential.  An additional key part of the role is to provide guidance and direction to the business community concerning Agile Scrum best practices including the policies and procedures that are used within IT to deliver high quality software that meets our business need.

Essential Functions

• Support the Department or Project Manager in defining a project-based approach to delivering the tangible outcomes a defined effort (project, release, sprint) is intended to achieve.

• Assess stakeholder requirements around project objectives to determine features, potential spikes, and provide support during the initiate and planning of a project.
• Execute the project work using an iterative process that requires managing the creation of and prioritization of stories by Analysts in the business, preparing for a Sprint by organizing Quality Assurance and Software Engineering pre-requisites, executing the Sprint, and closing the Sprint by completing all work.
• Support and encourage healthy communication across all levels by tracking, monitoring, and communicating progress across the project(s) using JIRA, reports, and activities such as Scrum of Scrums.
• Proactively recognize and resolve conflicts between roles and/or team members through collaboration and consensus.
• Ensure a high-quality outcome by coordinating release activities across the Project e.g., activities related to testing, user acceptance, and lessons learned.
• Support the training and adoption of tools by project team members to manage project information such as JIRA, Smartsheet, Excel, and Microsoft Office.
• Track and report project execution related metrics such as velocity, burndown, blockers, issues, and status.
• Effectively facilitate meetings to drive resolution of work, issues, risks, and decisions.

Competencies / KSA’s

A Scrum Master is expected to understand multiple disciplines and perform across phases of an effort with increasing competency.  They must have sufficient experience to operate with minimal guidance.  As a result, 6-10 years performing Agile Scrum in IT initiatives within a Property & Casualty Insurance carrier is preferred.

Key Performance Indicators

An individual’s success is determined by their performance of the following Company’s core values: Be a Champion with:

• Integrity and Trust:  The ability to skillfully interact from top to bottom and bottom to top requires integrity and trust, which starts at the top.

Value Everyone by:

• Having a Customer Focus: We collectively service customers every day.  Getting firsthand customer information and using it for improvements is essential.
• Focused on Peer Relationships: quickly find common ground and solve problems as a cooperative team player who can collaborate, be candid, and gain the trust and support of peers.

Be an Expert by:

• Priority Setting: Often priority setting occurs at the individual level but requires managerial guidance and vice versa.  Skilled priority setting establishes this collaborative norm.
• Being Functionally / Technically proficient: Has the functional and technical knowledge and skills to do the job at a high level of accomplishment.
• Problem Solving: Probes all sources for fruitful answers.

Rise to the Occasion by:

• Learning on the Fly: With the increasing pace of change, being quick to learn and apply first-time solutions is a crucial skill.

Required Education and Experience

• Required
  • Bachelor’s degree in a technical or non-technical area.
• Preferred
  • Project Management certification related to Agile and/or PMI preferred.
  • Master’s Degree or Certificate in Business, preferred.