Working with multiple cross-functional engineering teams, the Scrum Master leads by example rather than by dictate, knows how to bring out the best in people and is not afraid to deal with conflicts. An effective Scrum Master knows when it's good to defer requests and when to push for great results.  

  
The Financial technology space "Fintech" is booming and Guaranteed Rate is at the center of it. We are focused on automating the mortgage process for consumers. Imagine getting a mortgage with no email, no faxing, no stack of papers in 10 days or less instead of 30 or more! If you have been through the process of buying a home you know how amazing this will be. We are the #8 lender in the country and one of only 2 that is independent (not a bank) so we are in a good spot to win this race. We have already made tremendous strides and we are looking for someone who wants to help us finish the job and disrupt the entire industry.

Who is GR?

Guaranteed Rate is not your typical company and certainly not your typical mortgage company. We are young, technology driven, have tons of energy and we love what we do – get people and great priced mortgages alongside our impeccable customer service. We’re in a River North office with exposed brick and duct work, windows we can actually open during the summer and an open floor plan – no cubicle life here. The awesomeness doesn’t end there, we also have:

• Holiday parties? We got’em! Not just major holidays, any holiday….Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day, St. Paddy’s Day, Opening Day, Boxing Day (for our Canadian employee), Sweetest Day, Groundhog Day, etc..
• Game room, library and white board paint for collaboration – yeah, it’s awesome.
• Access to our free GR nurse practitioner. Psshh who needs a doctor’s appointment when our nurse can do it all? Did we mention the free part?
• 401k with some matching, Blue Cross health care coverage – yup, dental and vision too, short-term disability, life insurance – we got ya covered on this one, legal assistance – for a small monthly fee.

So what do we want from you?

• Be a team player. The best Scrum Masters are real team players, who receive as much satisfaction from facilitating others’ success as their own. They must also be comfortable surrendering control to the Product Owner and team.
• Remove impediments. First and foremost, the Scrum Master should do everything in his or her power to remove obstacles that are preventing the team from accomplishing its sprint goals. Basically, anything that distracts or inhibits the team from making progress is considered an impediment, so the challenges a Scrum Master might work to resolve are truly infinite. When a developer’s computer dies, it’s the Scrum Master’s job to get it back up and running—or replace it. If developers are complaining about the high temperature in the team room, the Scrum Master must find a way to cool it down.
• Radiate information. One of the Scrum Master’s primary responsibilities is to radiate information or ensure that a team’s progress and successes are highly visible to all stakeholders, including the team itself. These radiators may take the form of various Scrum artifacts, from backlogs to burndown charts.
• Support the Product Owner. Just as the Scrum Master removes impediments for the team, he or she also works to assist the Product Owner with activities such as communicating updates and impediments as well as assisting with backlog and release plan maintenance.
• Risk management.  Identify, mitigate and track risks that have the potential to jeopardize the on-time delivery of team commitments.
• Facilitate an autonomously functioning development team. The flipside of the Scrum Master’s mandate to remove impediments for the team is his or her charge to foster an environment where teams can manage themselves and their work.  The support and confidence of a scrum master allows a team to self-organizes so it can  meet sprint goals, perform up to its potential and really innovate. 
• Improve the team’s engineering practices and tools as needed. To fully facilitate productivity, the Scrum Master must make sure teams have the tools and know-how they need to succeed. This includes introducing new engineering practices to help the team improve efficiency or quality.
• Lead story grooming, sprint planning, daily stand-up meetings, sprint reviews and retrospectives
• Driving and challenging business units on their assumptions of how they will successfully execute their plans

The successful applicant will possess the following requirements:

• 3+ years of experience working in a technology organization
• 2+ years working directly with software engineering teams on new product development
• 2+ years of hands-on experience with Agile / Scrum Methodologies
• Hands on software or web development experience
• A bachelor’s degree

More about Guaranteed Rate…

Guaranteed Rate is one of the ten largest retail mortgage lenders in the U.S. The company has become The Home Purchase Experts® by offering industry-leading self-service tools and low rate, low fee mortgages through an easy-to-understand process and unparalleled customer service. Headquartered in Chicago with approximately 175 offices across the U.S. and licensed in all 50 states, Guaranteed Rate has helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners with more than $65 billion in home purchase loans and refinances since 2000. Guaranteed Rate was ranked No. 1 in Scotsman Guide’s “Top Mortgage Lenders 2013” honors, and was recognized by Inc. magazine as the No. 4 private company job creator in the U.S. in 2013. Visit www.guaranteedrate.com for more information.

Guaranteed Rate is an Equal Opportunity Employer that welcomes and encourages all applicants to apply regardless of age, race, sex, religion, color, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital or parental status, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy or other reason, as protected by law.