Director, Finance & Supply Chain

A ScrumMaster is a key role within an Agile Scrum team, responsible for ensuring that the team follows Scrum principles, practices, and values. The Scrum Master acts as a facilitator, helping the team to stay focused, remove obstacles, and improve collaboration. They also serve as a bridge between the team and stakeholders, ensuring the team delivers value and continuously improves its processes. Here’s a detailed breakdown of the key skills and competencies required for a ScrumMaster:

1. Agile and Scrum Knowledge

• Deep Understanding of Scrum Framework: Strong grasp of the Scrum framework, including its roles, events, and artifacts:

Roles: Product Owner, Scrum Team, and Scrum Master.

• Events: Sprint Planning, Daily Standup (Daily Scrum), Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.
• Artifacts: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment.
• Agile Methodologies: Familiarity with other Agile frameworks, such as Kanban, Lean, or Extreme Programming (XP), to understand different ways of managing work and improving team dynamics.
• Agile Values and Principles: Knowledge of the Agile Manifesto and its principles, such as delivering customer value, fostering collaboration, and embracing change.

2. Facilitation Skills

• Facilitating Scrum Events: Ability to facilitate key Scrum events, ensuring they are productive and time-boxed. This includes leading:

Sprint Planning: Helping the team define the goals and tasks for the upcoming sprint.

• Daily Scrum: Ensuring that the team communicates effectively and focuses on progress and obstacles.
• Sprint Review: Leading the team in presenting the increment to stakeholders, gathering feedback, and aligning on next steps.
• Sprint Retrospective: Guiding the team through reflecting on their processes and identifying areas for improvement.
• Conflict Resolution: Mediating conflicts within the team or between team members and stakeholders, ensuring productive collaboration and mutual respect.
• Decision Making: Helping the team make decisions during Scrum events, fostering a self-organizing culture.

3. Coaching and Mentorship

• Coaching the Team: Supporting the team in adopting Agile practices and Scrum principles, helping them continuously improve their processes.
• Mentoring Individuals: Helping team members develop their skills, whether it's improving their technical abilities or enhancing their collaboration and communication within the team.
• Empowering the Team: Encouraging the team to be self-organizing and responsible for their work, providing guidance on how to make decisions collectively.
• Servant Leadership: Adopting a servant-leader mindset, where the Scrum Master focuses on the growth and well-being of the team, ensuring that obstacles are removed and the team has what they need to succeed.

4. Communication Skills

• Clear Communication: Ensuring that the Scrum process is clearly communicated to the team and stakeholders, and that any issues or blockers are identified and addressed in a timely manner.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Actively communicating with the Product Owner, development team, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment and transparency.
• Conflict Management: Handling disagreements between team members or stakeholders, facilitating resolution through constructive discussions.
• Presentation Skills: Communicating Scrum progress, team performance, and project health to stakeholders through reports or presentations.

Desired Candidate Profile

• Facilitate daily standups (or the daily scrum) as needed.
• Protect the team from over-committing and scope creep during iteration/sprint planning meetings. Aid in estimation and sub-task creation.
• Participate in sprint reviews and capture feedback.
• Note areas for improvement and action items for future sprints during retrospectives.
• Work as the administrator of the scrum board, ensuring that cards are up to date in Jira.
• Meet individually with team members and stakeholders as needed to iron out team disagreements about process and work styles.
• Regularly analyze burndown charts and other portfolio planning tools to understand what gets built and at what cadence.
• Eliminate external blockers and manage internal roadblocks through process or workflow improvements.
• Be proactive in addressing team needs, whether that means fixing broken computers, moving desks around, or providing snacks.
• Monitor the team’s efficiency and introduce improvements to enhance delivery.

Key Skills

Employment Type: Full-time