Job ID: 733600

Agile Coach

Client: State of Indiana - Department of Workforce Development

Location: REMOTE

Duration: 12 Months

About the Job:

• The Agile Coach works in the agency information technology division under general direction to ensure the adoption of agile ways of working in the agency. You will be responsible for developing and implementing recommendations for agency policies to support Agile ways for working. This hands-on role will involve guiding and helping all stakeholders understand their role in the Agile process. You will provide training and coaching to build team maturity in agile approaches, measure progress to overcome obstacles and drive continuous improvement.

A Day in the Life:

The essential functions of this role are as follows:

• Lead the agency's Agile transformation by assessing current practices, identifying areas of improvement, and developing an adoption strategy.
• Facilitate coaching sessions to Agile teams, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Product Management, and stakeholders at all levels of the agency.
• Provide senior managers agile best practices to ensure adoption from top down.
• Coach and guide ART leadership on prioritization and managing the backlog.
• Identify and address impediments that delay team progress.
• Guide stakeholders on adoption and implementation of Agile principles and practices.
• Champion cultural change and agile mindsets.
• Assess team maturity and conduct maturity assessments.
• Promote DevOps and the continuous delivery pipeline.
• Identify relevant metrics and define measurement.
• Use system thinking to help uncover bottlenecks.
• Help improve engagement between teams and stakeholders.
• Assist Scrum Masters with planning and scheduling of required meetings.
• Assist Product Owners in creating user stories.
• Assist Product Management in creating features.
• Assist teams in breaking down complex tasks into smaller more manageable user stories.
• Support teams in estimating effort, understanding capacity and planning iterations.
• The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice.

What You'll Need for Success:

• At least one of the following certifications: Certified SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Coaching (ICP-ACC), or Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP).
• Extensive knowledge in Lean-Agile principles and SAFe methodologies.
• At least 8 years' experience working as an Agile Coach, Product Owner, or Scrum Master.
• Experience in setting up a Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE).
• Strong coaching and mentoring skills with the ability to inspire and influence individuals and teams.
• Extensive knowledge with JIRA, Confluence, and Azure DevOps for project management, collaboration, and tracking.
• Extensive knowledge of policies, standards, procedures, and techniques used for application development.
• You must be adaptable in your approach, adjusting techniques based on the needs of different teams.
• Possess analytical skills to interpret data and metrics to identify areas for improvement.
• Effectively communicate both orally and in writing.
• Good empathy skills to relate to the perspectives of team members, helping build trust, resolve conflicts, and promote collaboration.
• This role may serve as a team lead for an assigned work group.