Senior Scrum Master

Standtogether; Arlington (VA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

6% 401(k) match

Health plan

Dental plan

Peloton wellness program

Talkspace mental health support

Competitive compensation

Job summary

Stand Together is seeking a Senior Scrum Master to lead the most complex delivery teams, mentor other Scrum Masters, and contribute to the growth of StandTogether’s Agile practice. You will refine playbooks, maintain Jira data integrity, and ensure high standards across ceremonies and reporting.

You will work within a structured Agile environment, partnering with platform and enterprise teams to navigate cross-team dependencies and deliver measurable improvements for our partners and community

Qualifications

• Substantial Scrum Master experience across multiple teams and delivery environments.
• The interpersonal depth to build trust quickly on difficult teams.
• Expert-level Jira skills: backlog management, workflow configuration, dashboard and reporting development.
• Strong diagnostic instincts: distinguish between team, process, and organizational problems.
• Ability to adapt approach to teams at different maturity levels.
• Experience operating within a structured Agile practice.
• Background supporting platform, data, or enterprise technology teams.
• Experience building or scaling Agile practices, not inheriting mature ones.
• Demonstrated ability to create templates, guides, and operating standards used by teams.
• Experience mentoring and developing other Agile practitioners.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate Agile ceremonies—standups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospectives, and reviews with preparation and time-boxing.
• Take primary Scrum Master responsibility for the most complex or highest-stakes delivery teams.
• Build trust and psychological safety to make retrospectives honest and actionable.
• Maintain backlog health in Jira with properly categorized, sized, and ready work.
• Apply standardized ticket structures to improve definition of ready and reporting integrity.
• Track sprint metrics including velocity and estimated vs actual effort.
• Facilitate root-cause analysis of blockers and carryover with actionable outcomes.
• Maintain Jira workflow integrity across teams for reliable data.
• Identify impediments crossing team boundaries and escalate as needed.
• Mentor less experienced Scrum Masters through coaching and feedback.
• Contribute to SM playbooks, templates, and operating standards.
• Participate in practice-level discussions representing the practitioner perspective.

Skills

Scrum Master

Jira

Facilitation

Mentoring

Stakeholder management

Agile metrics

Cross-team coordination

Template development

Coaching

Tools

Jira

Job description

Stand Together is a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of our country’s biggest problems, from education to the economy, broken communities, and toxic division, among dozens of other pressing issues. We provide our partners with access to resources including funding, thought leadership, a network of peers, and a playbook for applying proven principles to transform lives and society.

StandTogether’s Agile practice is newly established and actively growing. As Senior Scrum Master, you will carry primary SM responsibility for StandTogether’s most complex delivery teams, where cross-team dependencies, technical depth, and stakeholder visibility demand the highest level of proficiency. Alongside that team-level work, you will contribute meaningfully to the health and development of the broader SM practice by mentoring less experienced Scrum Masters, helping shape the standards and playbooks the practice runs on, and serving as a senior resource the Agile Practice Lead can rely on as the team grows.

• Facilitate Agile ceremonies—standups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospectives, and reviews with preparation, clean time-boxing, and a consistent bias toward outcomes over process.

• Take primary SM responsibility for the most complex or highest-stakes delivery teams, where the combination of technical complexity, cross-team dependencies, and stakeholder visibility demands the deepest level of Agile experience.

• Build the trust and psychological safety that makes retrospectives honest and improvement actions real; on difficult teams, this relational work is as important as any ceremony you run.

• Maintain backlog health in Jira: ensure work is properly categorized, sized, structured, and ready for commitment before it enters a sprint.

• Apply and reinforce standardized ticket structures (e.g., user story and acceptance criteria formats, spike success criteria and bug reproduction steps) to improve definition of ready and reporting integrity.

• Track, analyze, and communicate sprint metrics including velocity, rollover trends, and estimated versus actual effort; surface patterns that improve planning accuracy over time.

• Facilitate root-cause analysis of blockers and rollover; ensure carryover discussions happen live and result in specific, owned corrective actions.

• Maintain Jira workflow integrity on your teams: consistent issue types, field usage, and sprint structure that produce reliable data for team and leadership reporting.

• Identify and actively pursue impediments that cross team boundaries, escalating to the Agile Practice Lead when resolution requires broader organizational action.

• Mentor less experienced Scrum Masters through observation, feedback, and regular one-on-one coaching; serve as a practitioner resource they can bring real problems to.

• Contribute to the development and refinement of SM playbooks, ceremony templates, and operating standards; your experience in the field is a primary input to how the practice defines excellence.

• Participate in practice-level discussions with the Agile Practice Lead, representing the practitioner perspective and helping translate standards into approaches that work at the team level.

• Model the behaviors and standards the practice expects of all SMs; your work on your own teams is as much a demonstration of what good looks like as it is delivery support.

• Substantial Scrum Master experience across multiple teams and delivery environments, with a track record of improving outcomes on teams that were genuinely struggling.

• The interpersonal depth to build trust quickly on difficult teams. You understand that facilitation is only as effective as the relationships underneath it, and you invest in those relationships deliberately.

• Expert-level Jira skills: backlog management, workflow configuration, dashboard and reporting development, and the discipline to maintain data quality that teams and leaders can rely on.

• Strong diagnostic instincts: you distinguish between a team problem, a process problem, and an organizational problem before deciding how to respond.

• The ability to adapt your approach to teams at different maturity levels without losing consistency in your standards or your expectations.

• Experience operating within a structured Agile practice. You are comfortable working within frameworks set above the team level and contributing to their improvement.

• Background supporting platform, data, or enterprise technology teams where delivery involves significant cross-team dependencies and technical complexity.

• Experience in organizations that were actively building or scaling their Agile practices, not inheriting mature ones.

• Demonstrated ability to create durable templates, guides, and operating standards that teams actually use after you stop reminding them to.

• Experience mentoring and developing other Agile practitioners.

• Competitive benefits: Enjoy a 6% 401(k) match with immediate vesting, flexible time off, comprehensive health and dental plans, plus wellness and mental health support through Peloton and Talkspace.
• A meaningful career: Join a passionate community of over 1,300 employees dedicated to improving lives and driving innovative solutions to complex social challenges.
• Commitment to growth: Thrive in a non-hierarchical environment that empowers employees to discover, develop and apply their unique talents.
• Competitive compensation: Our approach rewards the value you create through competitive salaries and bonus opportunities, allowing you to share in the success you help drive.

Our Values: Working for an organization within the Stand Together philanthropic community is different from many other places. The culture is deeply rooted in Principle Based Management® (PBM®), a framework guided by the principles that drive human progress, such as dignity, openness, and bottom‑up empowerment. PBM® empowers employees to be entrepreneurial, to innovate, and to continually drive transformation.

We believe diversity fuels creativity, broadens knowledge, and helps drive success. That is why we’re proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and strive to treat all employees and applicants with honesty, dignity, and respect.