Sr Scrum Master

Job Summary

Under minimal direction, the Senior Scrum Master facilitates the Agile process and ensures the successful delivery of projects across multiple Scrum teams. The Senior Scrum Master plans, coordinates, and drives on-time execution of multiple Agile projects, exhibiting positive leadership skills toward employees and vendors. This position requires exceptional interpersonal skills, a strong customer focus, a passion for mentoring and guiding others, and the ability to establish and maintain strong and effective working relationships with peers, stakeholders, and vendors. The Senior Scrum Master position is expected to acquire and leverage in-depth experience and knowledge regarding UFCU's business units and the software systems.

The Senior Scrum Master reports to the Manager, Member Systems.

About UFCU

Our Credit Union was founded in 1936 and has grown to serve members throughout Texas and beyond. At UFCU, we are more than just a financial institution, and our people are more than just employees. We are dedicated to our purpose of empowering our Members to achieve financial success and build brighter futures.

In pursuit of our aspiration that UFCU is loved by millions of Members and built to thrive for generations, we are guided by our values:

Purposefully Member-Obsessed

We are driven by a profound sense of empathy to deeply understand our Members' needs and

preferences, what brighter futures means to them, and the obstacles in their way. We act in our

Members' best interests, forever seeking to empower their financial success.

Possibilities Reimagined

We are inspired to courageously experiment, learn, and iterate in pursuit of positive impact for our Members, UFCU, and coworkers. We challenge assumptions, embrace diverse perspectives, and make use of data and insights.

Performance Excellence Rooted in Unwavering Integrity

We do the right thing, always. We champion teamwork, accountability, continuous improvement, and celebrate successful outcomes of others, fostering an inclusive environment of excellence and collaboration.

Essential Functions

Project Management Planning and Execution

• Extensive knowledge of Agile Scrum and SAFe methodologies.
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Utilize various Agile tools and methodologies to track and evaluate project performance.
• Motivate and direct task and project execution to achieve milestones and reach project targets.
• Coach and mentor other Scrum Masters and Agile team members.

Team Coordination and Scheduling

• Maintain and communicate the IT department master project calendar and schedule
• Provide regular, clear, professional communication of project and schedule changes to IT staff, leadership, and key stakeholders
• Update calendars, schedules, and tasks to reflect changing business and project priorities

Project Completion and Follow-up

• Perform project post-mortem analysis
• Execute project wrap-up tasks and extract improvement opportunities for future projects
• Ensure project documentation is completed before project closure
• Consistently acknowledges and shows appreciation for each team member's contributions
• Work with management to recognize and reward exceptional performance
• Evaluate completed sprints, releases, and features for overall performance, extracting recommendations to improve future work items; work with management and the team to implement improvements as directed

Scope and Change Control

• Coordinate large and small customer change requests professionally and courteously with the project team, customers and stakeholders; final project contains few or no unaddressed changes in project scope
• Manage project changes by mediating disputes about change requests and in-scope functionality; assist other Scrum Masters and PMs in evaluating change requests
• Mentor and coach other employees in directing and managing effective, respectful and professional communication; serve as an example for others in the organization
• Plan and manage project meetings professionally and efficiently

Other

• Adhere to all company policies, procedures, and business ethics codes
• Complete required regulatory training as assigned
• Maintain strict adherence to and compliance with all laws, rules, regulations, and internal controls specific to the role, including but not limited to Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering, USA Patriot Act, OFAC and Fair Lending regulations

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

Knowledge

• Advanced knowledge of project management frameworks including Scrum and Kanban, and SAFe
• Advanced knowledge of facilitating events including refinement meetings, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives
• Advanced knowledge of managing product backlogs, prioritization techniques and working closely with Product Owners and multiple agile teams
• Will be expected to acquire and leverage in-depth knowledge regarding UFCU's business units and software systems.
• Hands-on experience with tools like Azure DevOps, Slack, Microsoft Teams
• Solid understanding of the software development life cycle and DevOps practices to bridge technical and non-technical discussions
• Knowledge of utilizing insights into driving organizational change to scale Agile practices and improve team dynamics

Skills

• Expert in tracking Agile metrics and interpreting data to drive improvements in team performance
• Advanced skills in guiding teams, facilitating effective meetings and fostering collaborative environments
• Exceptional interpersonal skills to handle disagreements within teams or with stakeholders diplomatically
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills to ensure alignments among team members, stakeholders and leadership

Abilities

• Ability to build strong relationships, manage expectations and balance competing priorities
• Ability to anticipate and address challenges, resolve conflicts and remove obstacles
• Ability to handle ambiguity and to pivot as projects and priorities evolve
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Ability to inspire teams to embrace Agile principles and support their professional growth

Core Competencies

• Demonstrating Member Obsession

• Puts themselves in the Member's shoes
• Looks for friction points
• Makes it personalized and easy

• Demonstrating Performance Excellence

• Sets standards for elevating excellence
• Ensures elevated quality
• Takes responsibility
• Conducts continuous improvement

• Demonstrating Innovation

• Challenges current thinking
• Approaches change with a positive mindset

Experience

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum seven (7) years of project management and/or scrum master experience, including managing various projects simultaneously
• Minimum seven (7) years of systems analysis
• Experience working in a SAFe environment with at least 2 or more agile teams
• Must be bondable

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in relevant field, such as Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Administration or Engineering. Years of experience may substitute for degree requirement.
• Professional certifications such as PMP (Project Management Professional) or Agile certifications such as Certified ScrumMaster or PMI-ACP

• Experience working for a financial institution

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit; use hands to finger, handle or feel; reach with hands and arms; and talk or hear.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision and ability to adjust focus.
• Employee will make extensive use of the telephone and virtual communications requiring the ability to effectively and accurately explain complex information.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

• This position is available to work from home 50% of the time. This schedule may change at UFCU's discretion and as business needs dictate.
• This position may involve periodic stressful conditions.
• May occasionally require an adjusted work schedule, overtime, and evening/weekend hours.
• Frequent computer use at a workstation up to two hours at a time.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

INDUFCU

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
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