Agile Program Manager

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Tracking & ensuring the delivery of key milestones such as high level design artifacts and high quality code deliverables for a module.
• Leading validation for all types of testing and support activities related to implementation, transition, and warranty as per project commitments.
• Coaching Scrum Masters within an Agile Release Train (ART) in framing the ART level Working Agreement, Definition-of-Done and Definition-of-Ready.
• Facilitating program events (PI Planning event, scrum-of-scrum, PO Sync, System Demo and Inspect and Adapt workshop) with globally distributed agile teams.
• Ensuring healthy product backlog depth at an ART level by working with Product Managers, Product Owners, System Architects, and stakeholders.
• Tracking, handling, and resolving escalated issues at a program level by working with client stakeholders.
• Tracking and handling feature dependencies within an ART.
• Consolidating and publishing program level metrics to provide transparency on the status of epics and features.
• Facilitating workshops to identify and implement ART level process improvements.
• Acting as the single-point-of-contact in periodically communicating an epic's status to client stakeholders.

Requirements

• Candidate must be located within Charlotte, NC or be willing to relocate to the location. This position may require travel in the US.
• Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent required from an accredited institution, or three years of progressive experience in the specialty in lieu of every year of education.
• Min 11+ years of experience in the IT industry in roles such as Business Analyst, Developer, Lead Developer, IT Project Manager, or IT Program Manager.
• Demonstrate technical IT orientation and awareness of IT landscape in delivering program increments.
• Progression of agile experience from a Scrum Master to a Release Train Engineer.
• At least 3 years of hands-on experience as a Release Train Engineer in an organization leveraging SAFe and other agile scaling frameworks.
• Experience in coaching Scrum Masters and facilitating program events with globally distributed teams.
• Hands-on experience in using tools like CA Agile Center (Rally), JIRA, VersionOne or HP ALM.
• Possess current and active certifications such as SAFe - SPC or SAFe-RTE (latest version only!).
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and interact with various IT stakeholders including Infrastructure, DBA, Architects, Release Management, SFT, etc.
• Ability to facilitate agile maturity assessment workshops and identify opportunities for improvement.

Nice to Have

• Possess excellent written and verbal communication skills to communicate seamlessly with agile teams, peers, and senior client stakeholders.
• Creating content and presenting to client leadership stakeholders with minimal oversight.
• Experience in implementing TDD/BDD, Kanban, XP in addition to other scaling frameworks like Spotify, LeSS, Nexus.
• Demonstration of continuous learning through external certifications, participation in forums, or publishing thought papers.
• Strong leadership and managerial skills to guide and motivate teams.
• Experience in managing multiple projects and teams.
• Ability to delegate tasks and responsibilities effectively.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly and concisely.
• Strong interpersonal and organizational skills.
• Experience in developing and implementing program plans.
• Understanding of program architecture and design principles.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent from an accredited institution.
• Three years of progressive experience in the specialty in lieu of every year of education.