Scrum Master - Contract

Progressive IT Resourcing; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 480,000 - 650,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading IT services provider in Cape Town seeks a Scrum Master to enable cross-functional teams' success within an Agile framework. You will support the Release Train Engineer and facilitate Scrum ceremonies, driving continuous improvement in your teams. The ideal candidate has 4+ years of experience as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach, an IT degree or relevant Agile certifications, and strong facilitation and coaching skills. Proficiency in tools like Jira and Confluence is required.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach.
• Strong understanding of Agile frameworks and their practical application.
• Proven ability to facilitate scrum ceremonies and coaching sessions.

Responsibilities

• Support cross‑functional teams in Agile practices and methodologies.
• Coach teams to improve delivery flow and reduce bottlenecks.
• Provide updates and insights to the Release Train Engineer.

Skills

Agile Coaching

Facilitation Skills

Team Collaboration

Conflict Resolution

Education

IT Degree or Diploma

Agile Certifications

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Miro

Job description

If you’re someone who loves enabling teams to reach their potential and want to build a long‑term career in an evolving Agile Organisation, this is the opportunity for you!

What will you do?

Reporting directly to the Release Train Engineer (RTE), you’ll be supporting two or more cross‑functional teams within a larger value stream or product ecosystem, working alongside other experienced Scrum Masters.

The Scrum Master is co‑located with their teams and work closely with Product Owners, Developers, Testers, Business Stakeholders, and other Scrum Masters to drive alignment, flow, and continuous improvement.

Beyond the team, you’ll contribute to the broader Agile Community of practice and help strengthen delivery maturity, coach new team members and shape the culture of agility across the organisation.

You will also collaborate with the RTE to:

• Ensure alignment with Agile Release Train objectives.
• Escalate systemic impediments and risks.
• Support program‑level ceremonies such as PI Planning, ART Syncs, and System Demos.
• Provide visibility into team progress, dependencies, and delivery outcomes.

What will make you successful in this role?

• Coach and enable cross‑functional teams to operate as empowered, self‑managing units
• Foster a culture of trust, accountability and psychological safety
• Facilitate Scrum and flow‑based cadences with clarity and purpose
• Partner with Product Owners to maintain a healthy, outcome‑focused backlog
• Improve delivery flow by reducing bottlenecks and making work visible
• Surface systemic constraints and collaborate to resolve them
• Support cross‑team planning, coordination and alignment forums
• Help teams deliver usable increments on a consistent, sustainable cadence
• Promote empirical learning through transparency, inspection and adaptation
• Contribute to continuous improvement beyond the team — at value stream or portfolio level
• Actively participate in PI Planning, ART Syncs, and Inspect & Adapt workshops, ensuring team alignment with program‑level priorities under the guidance of the RTE
• Provide regular updates and insights to the RTE, ensuring program‑level visibility and alignment.

Qualifications

• Relevant IT Qualification (IT Degree or Diploma)
• Relevant Agile Certifications (CSM, A‑CSM, CSP‑SM, PSM I, PSM II, SSM, SASM, SA, ICP)

Experience

• 4+ years of experience as a Scrum Master, Agile Coach or delivery leader.
• Strong understanding of Agile Frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, Lean and product‑oriented delivery) and the ability to apply them pragmatically.
• Exceptional facilitation and coaching skills, able to create safe spaces for honest conversations, learning and accountability.
• Proven ability to influence and build relationships across teams and leadership layers.
• Experience supporting quarterly planning (including PI Planning and ART‑level collaboration with the RTE) and working within a larger value stream or similar scaled structure.
• A passion for servant leadership and helping others succeed. Integrity
• Knowledge of:
  • The release process, SDLC
  • Jira and Confluence, Miro

Knowledge and Skills

• Deep understanding of Agile Principles, frameworks and practices (Scrum, Kanban, Lean)
• Understanding of Agile Metrics (Flow, predictability) and how to use them to drive improvement rather than control.
• Empirical process control and how to foster a culture of transparency, inspection and adaptation.
• Product delivery lifecycle and how Agile interfaces with design, architecture, testing and release management.
• Agile Principles and various frameworks.
• Reporting and Administration.

Role Specific Competencies (Collaboration, Care, Innovation and Integrity)

• Servant Leadership: Leads by enabling others and being an example. Creates conditions for the team to self‑organise and take ownership of delivery outcomes.
• Agile Mindset: Embodies and promotes Agile Values – focusing on outcomes, adaptability and openness to new ways of working and thinking.
• Facilitation Mastery: Skilled at leading ceremonies, workshops and discussions that are focused, inclusive and outcomes‑driven.
• Dependency and Risk Management: Proactively identifies cross‑team dependencies and works collaboratively to reduce friction across the product ecosystem / value stream.
• Flow Optimisation: Understands delivery flow, throughput and bottlenecks; uses data and feedback to enhance predictability and team performance.
• Continuous Improvement: Builds a culture of inspection, adaptation and learning by leading retrospectives and translating insights into action.
• Effective Communication: Communicates with clarity, empathy and purpose, adjusting tone and style for different audiences (technical, business, leadership).
• Stakeholder Alignment: Facilitates alignment between Product Owners, developers, and business stakeholders to ensure shared understanding of goals and priorities.
• Influencing Without Authority: Builds trust and credibility across teams, guiding behaviour through collaboration and evidence rather than command.
• Holistic Perspective: Understands how people, processes, and technology interact across the value stream.
• Root Cause Analysis: Uses analytical thinking to identify underlying issues rather than surface symptoms.
• Organisational Agility: Balances local optimisation (team) with system‑level improvement (train/portfolio).
• Emotional Intelligence: Demonstrates empathy, active listening and awareness of team dynamics.
• Conflict Resolution: Handles tension constructively, helping teams move from disagreement to understanding.
• Empowerment and Accountability: Encourages ownership while maintaining support, ensuring decisions are made where the knowledge resides.
• Agile Tool Proficiency: Skilled in using collaboration and tracking tools such as Jira, Confluence, AWS, Miro.
• Collaboration Across Teams: Works effectively with other Scrum Masters, Release Train Engineers, Product Owners and Product Managers to maintain alignment and cohesion.
• Dependency and Risk Management: Proactively identifies cross‑team dependencies and works collaboratively with the RTE to reduce friction across the product ecosystem / value stream.
• Organisational Agility: Balances local optimisation (team) with system‑level improvement (train/portfolio), in partnership with the RTE.