Position: Scrum Master

Location: Niles, IL (Hybrid)

Duration: 6 Months Contract

Job Description:

• Educate team members and stakeholders on effective collaboration with scrum teams.
• Act as a change leader, embodying and promoting agile values within the organization.
• Identify and remove blockers that hinder team progress.
• Facilitate discussions to resolve issues and development impediments.
• Foster an environment of teamwork and open communication.
• Conduct daily stand-up meetings to discuss blockers, plans, and progress.
• Hold sprint reviews to assess performance and capture feedback.
• Guide sprint planning sessions to elaborate on user stories, acceptance criteria, and effort estimation.
• Schedule and conduct retrospectives to identify opportunities for improvement and implement action items.
• Partner with the Product Owner, Product Manager, scrum team, and stakeholders to ensure alignment.
• Promote the use of product tools, including Azure DevOps, ensuring consistency and transparency.
• Navigate IT processes across the organization while guiding teams.
• Maintain open communication with leadership, operational teams, product leaders, and project stakeholders.
• Follow up on action items to ensure accountability.
• Administer the scrum board, ensuring cards are updated and tools are utilized effectively.
• Create and maintain necessary artifacts for scrum, agile, and product models.
• Encourage the maintenance of the product backlog and protect the sprint backlog and product increment.
• Guide multiple medium to large-scale projects through sprints, iterations, and phases.
• Manage dependencies with external partners and remote project teams.
• Initiate and facilitate project kick-off and inception activities.
• Oversee communication and dependencies between Scrum Teams and cross-functional teams.
• Provide oversight of programs to meet business financial objectives.
• Stay current with new tools, techniques, and methodologies in the agile community.
• Be available during normal working hours, regardless of work location.

Required Qualifications:

• 2+ years as a Scrum Master with a valid Scrum Master certification (CSM).
• 2+ years working with outsource partners.
• Proven experience in running projects using Scrum and Kanban methodologies, managing multiple dependencies and remote team members.
• Learning mindset with a solid understanding of product models.
• Excellent communication and relationship management skills.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and a proactive approach to identifying and addressing challenges.
• Bachelor's degree with 3-5 years of IT Project Management experience, or HS Diploma/GED with 7+ years of IT Project Management experience.