Scrum Master (Suitable for Project Managers, QA Leads, Tech Leads)

• Team Context

  At Aflac Northern Ireland the intention is for our teams to continually adapt and reinvent their skills and capabilities over time as technologies change and evolve. We provide the right challenges and opportunities to enable your success, you to bring your enthusiasm, the ability to learn quickly, and to take minimum-viable-product technology to produce industrialised solutions for the enterprise. Once you have successfully delivered robust and scalable solutions in one area, there will be a new technology waiting to be explored within our organisation. We’ll be keeping things pretty fresh. 

  Role Context

  As we evolve the company from “start-up” to “grow-up”, we are looking to further build out our Agile capabilities and have an opportunity for those that want to develop their career. This role would suit someone who is currently a Project Manager or playing a lead role in either a QA or Engineering team. We know that there are transferable skills that support this transition, and we want to support you with the right skills and training if this is an area that interests you.  So even if you do not have a lot of hands-on Scrum experience, but have relevant experience with technology projects, this could be the opportunity for you!  

  We will provide full training and support from our agile organisation and give you time to learn the Scrum Master role. For us to teach you, you’ll need to be open and willing to learn so we’ll be on the lookout for someone who can demonstrate the following:  

  • First and foremost, a desire to learn 
  • Someone who is capable of teaching, coaching and facilitating 
  • An understanding of servant leadership 
  • Strong communication skills 
  • An ability to demonstrate courage and empathy 
  • A desire to drive continuous improvement 
  • Curiosity to experiment

  What you’ll be doing 

  • Coaching the team members in self-management and cross-functionality
  • Helping the Scrum Team focus on creating high-value Increments that meet the Definition of Done
  • Causing the removal of impediments to the Scrum Team’s progress
  • Ensuring that all Scrum events take place and are positive, productive, and kept within the timebox
  • Help the Product Owner to find techniques for effective Product Backlog management 
  • Helping the Scrum Team understand the need for clear and concise Product Backlog items;
  • Facilitating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed.
  • Leading, training, and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption
  • Planning and advising Scrum implementations within the organization
  • Removing barriers between stakeholders and Scrum Teams

   
  Skills and experience

  Below is an overview of the skills and experience we are looking for, but remember, don’t rule yourself out if you don’t have everything on the list – it’s your intellect and your attitude we are really after. 

  Essential 

  • 5+ years working in software development, with 2+ years in a lead role 
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Ability to coach and train others effectively in Agile techniques
  • Strong influencing, conflict resolution, decision making and negotiation skills.
  • Ability to learn and quickly adapt to a dynamic environment 
  • Bachelor’s degree - preferably in a Computer Science, Engineering, or STEM subject. Comparable commercial experience may also be considered

  Desirable 

  • Experience working on Agile teams
  • Experience with different Agile frameworks e.g. Kanban, XP, Lean Software Development, Less 
  • Experience/ Knowledge of good engineering practices (e.g. Test Automation, CICD, TDD, paired programming) 
  • Experience of delivering Agile solutions for customers/clients located in a different time zones 
  • Scrum Master Certification

  So that’s us. Thanks for taking the time to read this far (pretty impressive in the era of the 280-character tweet). We look forward to hearing from you if you fancy joining a new tech innovation company with the agility of a start-up and the stability of a Fortune 500 U.S. company 

  Aflac Northern Ireland is an equal opportunities employer