Senior Agilist [Senior Scrum Master]

Jellyvision’s headquarters is in Chicago, and, post-COVID, many of us will be returning to the Chicago offices (by choice, not requirement -- our philosophy is “Flexible First”).  But this position is also eligible for work by a remote employee out of CA, FL, GA, IL, KY, MA, MI, MN, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, TX, UT, WA, or WI.

Who we are

We’re the proud parents of ALEX®, an interactive employee communications platform that makes choosing (and using) employee benefits easier and more enjoyable. Our credo is a simple one: be helpful. And we think the best way to achieve that is with a staff that reflects the vast range of ideas, perspectives, and experiences of the millions of people who use our products.

How you’ll help

As a Senior Agilist, you’ll be responsible for optimizing the flow of value delivery horizontally across multiple teams and vertically within the delivery teams through the enablement of lean practices and an agile environment. To get there, you will collaborate with other colleagues across the various functions to create an environment built on collaboration, communication, visibility and engagement. Depending on the situation, you understand when to be a facilitator, coach, teacher, or mentor. 

You know that newer teams will need more high-touch applications, and as you empower teams to mature, your focus shifts to a broader scope. To get there, you’ll develop and optimize multiple delivery teams’ current ways of working, structures, and tools and create an environment built on collaboration, communication, visibility, and engagement. 

What you’ll do

• Coach and grow other roles, colleagues, and leaders in becoming better agilists, team members, and leaders
• Handle and appropriately address delivery impediments, risks, issues, and changes tied to the product development initiatives
• Seek opportunities to adopt innovative technologies
• Be a “rebel with a cause” and look beyond the obvious for continuous improvement opportunities and provide tactical and strategic solutions
• Serve across different stages of teams’ and departments’ agile journey, from introductory training and coaching to continuously improving high-performing teams
• Assist at varying levels of scale, from embedding within delivery teams to creating cohesion and alignment across stakeholders in the organization
• Focus on and coach across programs how to best collaborate, communicate, provide transparency from the start of an idea to product delivery and eventual sunset
• Utilize various approaches and techniques that enable agility across teams (e.g. Scrum, XP, Lean thinking, Kanban)
• Identify, utilize, and educate around appropriate metrics that enable continuous improvement
• Proactively mitigate risks, recommend improvements, and lead improvement activities internal to the team and external to stakeholders
• Proactively addresses systemic impediments to team agility and guides the team(s) on methods to escalate when needed to prevent challenges from becoming blockers
• Provide strategies for how to decentralize decision making when needed and lessen dependencies
• Create an environment that energizes and empowers teams and stakeholders to innovate, focus, and get value delivered with a focus on accountability, adaptability, and collaboration

Experience & skills you’ll need

• 5+ years of demonstrated experience as a Scrum Master
• Has seen or been part of a transformation and knows how to incorporate change management techniques
• Experience leading change management efforts
• A relentless drive for continuous improvement and self-learning which shows through involvement in industry meetups, knowledge sharing, attending conferences,   
• Exceptional leadership skills; knows how to co-create a vision, reinforce it, and align teams, stakeholders, and an organization around it
• Strong decision-making skills that allow teams to take action that is consistent with available facts, constraints, and probable consequences
• Demonstrated experience with standard software development practices and concepts
• Demonstrated experience facilitating meetings at multiple levels of an organization and a deep understanding of facilitation techniques
• Demonstrated advanced ability to operate using analytical, critical thinking, organizational, and project management skills
• Experience with tools that aid teams (e.g. Jira, Confluence, Drive, collaboration tools), including knowing how to streamline or optimize tools to encourage collaboration and transparency
• Experience applying various agile frameworks, philosophies, and techniques (e.g. Scrum, Kanban, XP, Lean, LeSS, etc.)
• Works effectively in ambiguous situations and environments, and can work with others to reach clarity
• Experience in creating Agile training and workshop material
• Supports other Agilists and delivery team members through training, mentoring, and sharing of leading practices

Required Competencies

• Balances stakeholders
• Drives results
• Global perspective
• Manages ambiguity
• Manages complexity
• Plans and aligns
• Strategic mindset

Anything else?

Jellyvision is committed to fostering a more inclusive workplace where people across all dimensions of diversity and intersectionality, including, but not limited to race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, neuro-diversity, gender identity, gender expression, sex, or country of origin are welcomed, valued, and celebrated! We have an opportunity to increase representation at all levels and need your unique talents, background and perspectives. We look forward to your contributions to our team.

Thanks for your interest in Jellyvision!