Senior Project Manager

Ontrac Solutions LLC.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Ontrac Solutions LLC. seeks an experienced Scrum Master to coach and lead Scrum teams in a fully remote US environment. You will guide self-organization, facilitate ceremonies, and remove impediments while coaching the Product Owner and stakeholders on Agile practices.

You will promote Agile adoption, track progress and velocity, and support scaling Agile across multiple teams. A strong background in IT deployments and cloud-related work is required for success.

Qualifications

• SAFe certification with hands-on application across projects.
• Solid understanding of Agile principles and Scrum framework.
• Proven ability to facilitate Scrum ceremonies and manage backlog.
• Experience identifying and removing impediments.
• Strong coaching and mentoring skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, and conflict resolution.
• Experience with cross-functional teams and distributed work.
• Familiarity with Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps and Smartsheet.
• Minimum three years of IT deployment project experience.
• Seven+ years in a technical/engineering/software environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead and coach Scrum teams on self-organization and cross-functionality.
• Facilitate sprint planning, daily standups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Identify and remove impediments hindering progress.
• Coach Product Owner and stakeholders on Agile roles and practices.
• Foster clear collaboration within and between teams and stakeholders.
• Support backlog refinement and ensure team clarity on work.
• Promote Agile adoption across the organization as a change agent.
• Track velocity and key metrics; report trends to stakeholders.
• Mediates conflicts within teams and with external parties.
• Contribute to scaling Agile practices across multiple teams.
• Drive continuous improvement through retrospectives and actions.
• Provide Scrum/Agile training to new members and stakeholders.
• Communicate delivery status to executives and teams; manage expectations.
• Collaborate with PMO on status, risks, and change requests.
• Lead engineers and architects across disciplines like cloud, data, and apps.

Skills

SAFe experience

Agile and Scrum

Facilitate Scrum ceremonies

Coaching and mentoring

Excellent communication

Cross-functional teams

Jira/Confluence/Azure DevOps

Impediment removal

IT deployment project management

Cloud computing interest

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Azure DevOps

Smartsheet

Job description

ENGAGEMENT

• Location: United States, fully remote

PRIMARY DUTIES

These duties are representative rather than exhaustive.

• Servant Leadership: Lead and coach the Scrum team(s) on self-organization, cross-functionality, and achieving their goals.
• Facilitation: Facilitate all Scrum ceremonies (sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, sprint retrospective), keeping them time-boxed, focused on clear objectives, and valuable.
• Impediment Removal: Identify impediments early and work actively to remove anything that hinders the team's progress.
• Coaching and Mentoring: Coach the development team, the Product Owner, and stakeholders on Agile principles and practices, helping each understand and carry out their role.
• Collaboration and Communication: Foster strong communication and collaboration within and between Scrum teams and with stakeholders.
• Product Owner Support: Support the Product Owner in managing the product backlog, refining user stories, and making sure the development team has clarity on the work.
• Agile Advocacy: Promote and support Agile adoption across the organization as a change agent and champion for continuous improvement.
• Metrics and Reporting: Track and communicate team progress, velocity, and other relevant metrics to stakeholders, identifying trends and areas for improvement.
• Conflict Resolution: Mediate and resolve conflicts within the Scrum team(s) and with external stakeholders.
• Scaling Agile: Contribute to scaling Agile practices across multiple teams, working alongside other Scrum Masters and Agile coaches.
• Continuous Improvement: Drive improvement through effective retrospectives and by seeing agreed actions through.
• Training and Guidance: Provide training and guidance on Scrum and Agile methods to new team members and stakeholders.
• Stakeholder Communication: Communicate in writing and verbally with stakeholders on both the delivery and customer sides, at every organizational level from executives through to working teams.
• PMO Collaboration: Work with peers and leadership in the PMO on status updates, issues, risks, decisions, and change requests.
• Team Leadership: Lead and motivate project teams and oversee engineers and architects across disciplines such as infrastructure modernization, data engineering, and application development.
• Change Leadership: Help the PMO Center of Excellence evolve and make lasting, effective change across the delivery organization.

REQUIRED CREDENTIALS

• Bachelor's degree in a related field.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• SAFe experience, including certification and application across at least two or three projects.
• A thorough understanding of Agile principles and values and of the Scrum framework.
• Proven ability to facilitate effective Scrum ceremonies and to manage a product backlog.
• Experience identifying and removing impediments.
• Strong coaching and mentoring skills.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams.
• Familiarity with Agile tools such as Jira, Confluence, and Azure DevOps, and adept with work-management tools such as Jira and Smartsheet.
• At least three years of experience managing IT deployment projects.
• At least seven years of related experience in a technical, engineering, or software development environment.
• Experience managing a team of engineers.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical reasoning skills.
• Iron-clad organizational skills.
• A positive attitude toward change and the ability to adapt.
• A love for cloud computing.

USEFUL QUALIFICATIONS

• Project management certification, such as PMP.
• Experience delivering and managing projects on Google Cloud or another public cloud.
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and/or Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO).
• Business systems analysis certification or experience.
• Experience with other Agile frameworks, such as Kanban or Lean.
• Experience scaling Agile with frameworks such as SAFe, LeSS, or Nexus.
• Experience working in the government sector.
• Experience working with distributed teams.
• Experience training and facilitating workshops.

PATHWAY TO SUCCESS

Be prepared, work with intentional effort, and offer no surprises for our clients and teammates. Your success starts with the direction you set for a fast-growing delivery practice. You will be measured each quarter on the breadth, magnitude, and quality of your contributions, the accuracy of your estimates, customer feedback at the close of engagements, how well you work with your peers, and the consultative polish you bring to customer interactions. As you build a track record, we will put together a development plan with you that follows either the individual contributor or the management track.

EXPECTATIONS

Customer Facing: You will work with customers regularly, sometimes daily and other times weekly or bi-weekly. The common touch points are qualifying opportunities, project kickoff, progress updates through the engagement, and project close. Expect to work with a range of customer stakeholders, from engineers and technical project managers through to executives.