Challenging convention. Trying new things. Reshaping an industry.  

The team at Duck Creek helps insurance companies bring amazing ideas to life quickly and easily with software that thinks and works like they do. We're fueled by sharing ideas openly, challenging conventions, trying new things, and valuing "Why not?" over "Why?" Our certainty that there is always a better way to do things keeps carriers ahead of their competition and is helping to reshape an industry.  

If having a hand in transforming one of the world’s oldest and largest industries into a standard for innovation, open exchange, and peerless user experience sounds exciting, let us know. We may be looking for you.

Sr. Scrum Master

The Sr. Scrum Master is responsible for managing one complex project or multiple complexity projects, and at least three (3) or more Scrum Teams as the facilitator for the engineering team that allows a team to self-organize and make changes quickly. The Scrum Master manages the process for how information is exchanged. The Scrum Master provides Agile thought leadership and methodology support, differentiating our competitive position while ensuring ongoing alignment with a client’s requirements.

Responsibilities:

Product Scope

• Responsible for managing one complex project or multiple medium complexity projects.
• Manages at least three (3) or more Scrum Teams aligned with the assigned projects
• May oversee other Scrum Masters

Agile Ceremonies and Principles

• Assesses the Scrum Maturity of the team and coaches the team to higher levels of maturity, at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable for the team
• Guides the team on how to implement Agile/Scrum practices
• Leads and coaches the team and organization in its Scrum adoption
• Facilitates process activities of Agile software development/scrum by encouraging and supporting the teams to self-manage their iterations using a servant-leader management style
• Assists with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and radiating information
• Schedules and facilitates regular team retrospective meetings per the scrum framework
• Schedules, plans, and facilitates collaboration per the Scrum framework, daily stand-up meetings, regular iteration reviews and planning meetings between the team, Product Owner, and stakeholders
• Facilitates sprint planning sessions and ensures that teams understand their ability (velocity) to meet sprint commitments. Ensures team’s sense of accountability to their commitments and to other team members.
• Ensures that through impediment removal and identification, adherence to agile process, and that an agile streamlined escalation process is in place for changes that impact iteration completion or that introduces a significant scope/schedule increase.
• Ensures teams embrace the engineering standards, best practices, tools and reusable assets as defined for the overall engineering department.
• Manages complex issue and risk management for the team. Raises items appropriately to team and leadership with appropriate mitigations
• Facilitates Scrum of Scrum calls for complex projects or programs

Agile Teams

• Serves multiple project teams as well as occasional program level initiatives
• Builds successful teams by creating each team with members who can merge their individualized talents to be energized and creative to improve performance and engagement.
• Builds a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised without negative responses, with an emphasis of growing and problem solving
• Develops team members through coaching and by fostering a positive work environment
• Provides all support to the team using a servant leadership style whenever possible, and leading by example
• Ensures the team delivers software within the accepted quality standards by facilitating a working “definition of done” (DoD) for Agile stories within each team
• Removes impediments or guides the team to remove impediments by finding the right solution to remove the impediment.
• Facilitates the completion of the tasks and/or projects without pressuring, assigning, or dictating work assignments.
• Facilitates discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution
• Removes barriers to team effectiveness
• Guards the team from external tasks, scope growth or distractions during the sprint in order for the team to remain focused on delivering their commitments.
• Challenges the self-organized team to implement team operational improvements, encourage and instills process improvements - monitor, leads and coach
• Supports team members to grow and deliver individual commitments to their team. Assists team members who are struggling to meet commitments through honest communication and feedback, aligning them with appropriate support or transitioning them off of the team.
• Detects and resolves conflicts
• Provides support to the teams and encourages continuous improvements within the teams.

Product Owner Collaboration

• Serves as communication liaison between the team, Product Owner, Program Manager, and Stakeholders
• Works with the Product Owner to identify that the product backlog is in place and ranked/ groomed to the appropriate level to start and continue development iterations
• Facilitates and supports Product Owner to find techniques for effective Product Backlog management
• Supports and educates the Product Owner, especially with respect to grooming and maintaining the product backlog.
• Assists the Product Owner in maintaining a product strategy/roadmap, including competitive and market positioning
• Partners with the Product Owner to plan software product releases

Metrics

• Ensures that identified agile software progress metrics (burndown charts, velocity, defect metrics) are in place and that the team and Product Owner are enabled to input data for said metrics. Responsible for collating and preparing metric data on a regular basis using repeatable methods.
• Tracks team capacity and velocity metrics for planning purposes
• Be active in the Agile Office and consult with other Scrum Masters and teams
• Optimizes the ways and means of tracking the metrics to better suit the organization and teams.

Agile Champion

• Influences changes in cases and practices to become more conducive for building and developing Agile teams
• Leads initiatives/practices that enables Agile transformation.
• Responsible to mentor the other Scrum Masters and act as an Agile coach for new teams or teams struggling with Agile transformation.

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Requirements:

Education and Work Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree, or higher education level, or its foreign equivalent, in Software Engineering or related discipline
• Total Work Experience: 15 Years
  • and/or Master’s degree plus minimum of 13 year’s related professional experience.
• SM Experience: 15 - 20 Years
• Domain Experience: Preferred 10 Years

Specialized Knowledge, Skills, and/or Abilities:

• SM Certification
• CSM (preferred)
• Must have a strong knowledge of different agile estimating techniques
• Must have a strong knowledge of different platform technologies
• Awareness of test driven development techniques
• Must understand continuous integration and how to implement this in a team and project
• Effective communication and mentoring skills

Other Requirements:

• Travel: 0-10%
• Work Authorization: Legally authorized to work in the country of the job location.
• Physical: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.