Scrum Master / Product Owner

ICF Olson; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 89,261 - 183,610; Full time

Job summary

ICF Olson seeks a Scrum Master / Product Owner to manage the delivery lifecycle of digital IT capabilities for a federal technology program. Reporting to engineering leadership, this role owns sprint execution, backlog management, and release governance across the product delivery team.

The ideal candidate has run Agile delivery in a federal IT environment and understands government approval workflows without losing delivery momentum.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
• 5+ years of experience in product management, Scrum delivery, or Agile program management in IT environments.
• 3+ years supporting federal IT programs, including navigating government approval workflows.
• Active CSM/CSPO or equivalent Agile certification.
• 2+ years in DevSecOps delivery environments with CI/CD and secure coding practices.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate all Agile/Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Own the product backlog with story creation, refinement, prioritization, and acceptance criteria.
• Ensure backlog reflects client priorities and is ready for sprint intake at all times.
• Govern CIO and COR approval workflow and governance before development work begins on new capabilities.
• Govern the release process with deployments, release notes, and go-live readiness.
• Track and report sprint delivery metrics and defect KPIs to identify risks and improvements.
• Collaborate with cybersecurity, data, and enterprise architecture teams to meet security standards.
• Support planning and execution of unit, integration, regression, and UAT testing.
• Identify and elevate technical debt and process gaps and incorporate remediation into planning.
• Prepare and deliver sprint reports, demos, and stakeholder updates.

Skills

Agile delivery

Scrum facilitation

Backlog management

Product ownership

Stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Jira

ServiceNow

Azure DevOps

Job description

This role is contingent upon a contract award. ICF is seeking a Scrum Master / Product Owner to manage the delivery lifecycle of digital IT capabilities for a federal technology program. Reporting to engineering leadership, this role owns sprint execution, backlog management, and release governance across the product delivery team. It is the connective tissue between engineering, security, enterprise architecture, and client stakeholders, ensuring that work is properly scoped, approved, and shipped on schedule. The ideal candidate has run Agile delivery in a federal IT environment and understands how to operate within government approval workflows without losing delivery momentum. This role requires equal comfort with Scrum facilitation and product ownership. The right candidate keeps the team moving, holds quality standards, and manages client-facing governance without adding bureaucratic drag. Job Location: This is a remote-friendly position with occasional onsite requirements in the Washington, DC Metro area. This position requires that the job be performed in the United States. If you accept this position, you should note that ICF does monitor employee work locations and blocks access from foreign locations/foreign IP addresses and also prohibits personal VPN connections.

What You'll Be Doing

• Facilitate all Agile/Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, keeping the team focused, accountable, and continuously improving.
• Own the product backlog, including story creation, refinement, prioritization, and acceptance criteria definition.
• Ensure the backlog reflects current client priorities and is ready for sprint intake at all times.
• Manage the CIO and COR approval workflow, ensuring that business cases, project plans, governance mechanisms, and stakeholder commitments are in place before development work begins on any new capability.
• Govern the release process, including coordinating deployments, drafting release notes, preparing release notifications, and ensuring that all parties have the information needed to support go-live activities.
• Track and report on sprint delivery metrics and defect KPIs, using performance data to identify delivery risks, quality trends, and opportunities for process improvement.
• Coordinate with cybersecurity, data, and enterprise architecture teams to ensure that application designs, integrations, and workflows meet security and architecture standards before development begins.
• Support planning and execution of unit, integration, regression, and user acceptance testing, working with engineers to ensure adequate test coverage before release.
• Identify and elevate technical debt, performance issues, and process gaps.
• Work with engineering leads to incorporate remediation into the backlog and delivery planning.
• Prepare and deliver sprint reports, demo presentations, and stakeholder updates that communicate progress, risks, and decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Develop and maintain user-facing guides, training materials, and product documentation to support onboarding and ongoing operations.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent
• 5+ years of experience in product management, Scrum delivery, or Agile program management in IT environments
• 3+ years supporting federal IT programs, including experience navigating government approval and governance workflows
• Active Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), or equivalent Agile certification
• 2+ years working within DevSecOps delivery environments, including CI/CD pipelines and secure coding practices
• U.S. Citizenship required due to federal contract requirements
• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust background investigation
• Candidate must reside in the US, be authorized to work in the US, and work must be performed in the US

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting federal IT programs in HHS, NIH, FDA, or other health-focused agencies
• Familiarity with federal IT governance requirements, including CIO and COR approval workflows for digital product development
• Experience with ITSM platforms and Agile tooling such as Jira, ServiceNow, or Azure DevOps
• SAFe certification or experience delivering within a scaled Agile framework
• Familiarity with NIST 800-53, FedRAMP, or Zero Trust architecture requirements as they relate to product delivery

Working at ICF

ICF is a global advisory and technology services provider, but we’re not your typical consultants. We combine unmatched expertise with cutting-edge technology to help clients solve their most complex challenges, navigate change, and shape the future. We can only solve the world’s toughest challenges by building a workplace that allows everyone to thrive. We are an equal opportunity employer. Together, our employees are empowered to share their expertise and collaborate with others to achieve personal and professional goals. For more information, please read our EEO policy. We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Reasonable Accommodations are available, including, but not limited to, for disabled veterans, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with sincerely held religious beliefs, in all phases of the application and employment process. To request an accommodation, please email [e-mail] and we will be happy to assist. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations. Read more about workplace discrimination rights or our benefit offerings which are included in the Transparency in (Benefits) Coverage Act.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

At ICF, we are committed to ensuring a fair interview process for all candidates based on their own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate or assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is not permitted. This policy is in place to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the interview process. However, we understand that some candidates may require accommodation that involves the use of AI. If such an accommodation is needed, candidates are instructed to contact us in advance at [e-mail]. We are dedicated to providing the necessary support to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Pay Range

There are multiple factors that are considered in determining final pay for a position, including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications and competencies that align to the specified role, geographic location, education and certifications as well as contract provisions regarding labor categories that are specific to the position. The pay range for this position based on full-time employment is: $89,261.00 - $183,610.00 DC Remote Office (DC99) Need help? We're here: [e-mail]

About ICF

ICF is a global consulting and technology services company with approximately 9,000 employees, but we are not your typical consultants. At ICF, business analysts and policy specialists work together with digital strategists, data scientists and creatives. We combine unmatched industry expertise with cutting-edge engagement capabilities to help organizations solve their most complex challenges. Since 1969, public and private sector clients have worked with ICF to navigate change and shape the future. Learn more at icf.com.