Scrum Lead

Ministry of Social Development; Wellington; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

Ministry of Social Development in New Zealand is seeking a Scrum Lead to support one or more cross-functional teams, delivering high-quality outcomes and maximizing value for customers.

You will foster an agile culture, coach teams, and collaborate with Programme Managers, Product Owners, and stakeholders to align goals and roadmaps in a fast-paced, data-driven environment.

Qualifications

• Strong experience with Agile methodologies and the software development lifecycle; previous Scrum Lead/Scrum Master experience.
• Experience in data delivery environments, including data warehouse or data asset development, ETL.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Proven ability to build stakeholder relationships and manage priorities.
• Ability to influence and support self‑organising teams.
• Strong organisational skills and adaptability to changing priorities.
• Collaborative leadership focused on wellbeing and success.

Responsibilities

• Support cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Foster an agile culture and continuous improvement.
• Empower teams to self‑organise and focus on customer value.
• Collaborate with Programme Managers and Product Owners to align roadmaps.
• Coach teams in agile practices and remove barriers.

Skills

Agile methodologies

Scrum Lead

Scrum Master

Data delivery

ETL processes

DataOps

Communication

Stakeholder management

Collaboration

Leadership

Job description

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24monthfixed term/Secondment opportunity

Bring your Agileexpertise, leadership skills, and passion for supporting people to a role where you can make a real impact across MSD.

MSD – services for the future is a multi-year programme to transform how weoperateso we can deliver for New Zealanders and focus our resources and investment on the people who need it. The programme will make significant changes to our underlying systems, processes, and introduce redesigned services that put people first.

The Information, Data, and Analytics team is leading an ambitious work programme to uplift our data and information capabilities to support the Transformation initiatives, while alsoestablishingEnterprise level standards for BAU. MSDoperateswithina highly complexdata environment, and our focus is on creatingthe foundationsthat allow data to be managed deliberately and consistently over time. This includes developing an enterprise data model, strengthening stewardship and governance, embedding astandardiseddata quality framework, andestablishingmaster data management practices.

About the role | Mō te tūnga

As a Scrum Lead, you will support one or more cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality outcomes andmaximisethe value they create. You will play a key role in fostering an agile culture, helping teams work effectively together, continuously improve, andstayfocused on delivering value for customers.

You will empower teams to become self-organising and provide leadership that supports team wellbeing, collaboration, and performance. Working closely with Programme Managers, Product Owners, and team members, you will help ensure goals, priorities, and product roadmaps are clearly understood and aligned.

This roleis responsible forcoaching and supporting teams in agile practices and ways of working, removing barriers to progress, and creating an environment where teams can succeed. You will help build strong relationships across the organisation, encourage continuous improvement, and support the delivery of customer-focused solutions that contribute to MSD's wider goals and priorities.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys enabling others to perform at their best, leading through influence, and helping teams deliver meaningful outcomes in a fast-paced and collaborative environment.

To be successful in this role, you will bring strong experience working in Agile environments and supporting teams to deliver high-quality outcomes. You will be a confident coach and facilitator, with the ability to build strong relationships, support continuous improvement, and help teams achieve their goals in a complex and fast-paced environment.

You will also bring:

• Strong experience with Agile methodologies and the software development lifecycle, includingpreviousexperience as a Scrum Lead, Scrum Master, or in a similar role supporting cross-functional teams.
• Experience working in data delivery environments, including data warehouse or data asset development, ETL processes, and knowledge ofDataOpsor DevOps practices.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to engage effectively with both technical and business audiences.
• Proven experience building strong stakeholder relationships, managing competing priorities, and negotiating positive outcomes in complex environments.
• The ability to influence, motivate, and support teams to become self-organising, whilemaintaininga focus on customer outcomes and continuous improvement.
• Strong organisational skills, sound judgement, and the ability to balance multiple demands while adapting to changing priorities and ambiguity.
• A collaborative and approachable leadership style, with a genuine commitment to supporting team wellbeing, development, and success.

We are looking for someone who values teamwork, open communication, and continuous improvement, and who takes pride in helping teams deliver meaningful outcomes for customers and the organisation.

Salary | Utu-ā-tau: $119,586.00 - $145,235.00

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is a people-centred organisation. We’re in communities across the motu, working with partners to help New Zealanders be safe, strong and independent.

We provide social policy advice to government, and assistance including income, employment and housing support to people of all ages, families, whānau and communities.

As a Te Tiriti o Waitangi partner, we are committed to supporting and enabling Māori, whānau, hapū, Iwi and communities to realise their own potential and aspirations.

Our people are as diverse as the communities we serve. We care about the wellbeing and success of our people and provide a supportive and inclusive working environment where people can thrive and be who they are.

Joining MSD means being part of a whānau that celebrates the diversity each individual represents.

We show manaaki, we care about the wellbeing and success of people and want everyone to thrive and be who they are in a supportive and inclusive working environment. We work together to make a difference for communities while doing the right thing with integrity. You can find out more about our values here.