Scrum Master at Hollard Insurance

Role Purpose:

As a Scrum Master, you will work with a Feature team that focuses on a multi-tier solution for Hollard Insure. You will have a strong IT background and understand how the different technology components (Database, APIs, Front) fit together to make a working system. You will apply Agile methodologies and drive the successful delivery of IT projects by ensuring teams follow Agile best practices and foster a culture of continuous improvement and continuous delivery. You will also serve as a liaison between business, technical and non-technical departments, and communicate with various stakeholders on product issues, expectations, and deliverables. You will organize and facilitate Scrum events, track, and report on team progress, and maintain process documentation.

Key Responsibilities:

Stakeholder engagement & Communication

• Serve as liaison between Business, technical and non-technical departments.
• Communicate with other teams e.g., developers, product managers and technical support specialists on product issues.
• Engage with stakeholders at various levels to ensure expectations are met and deliverables are aligned with business goals.
• Ensure that there is regular and adequate reporting on the team’s activities:
  • Testing progress
  • Development progress
• Facilitating stakeholder collaboration and removing barriers between stakeholders and Scrum teams.
• Risk Management – logging and tracking of risks
• Ability to collate and present information in various forums and/or steering committees

Facilitate Scrum Events:

• Organize and facilitate project planning, daily stand-up meetings, reviews, retrospectives, sprint and release planning, demos, and other Scrum-related meetings.
• Track and communicate team velocity and sprint/release progress.
• Communicate with other teams e.g., developers, product managers and technical support specialists on product issues.
• Maintain process documentation.
• Ensure the development teams are practicing the core agile principles of collaboration, prioritization, team accountability, and visibility.
• Facilitate sprint planning and refinement sessions

Support Multiple Teams

• Assist as needed with backlog maintenance.
• Assist with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and radiating information.
• Assist with prioritization and resolution of defects / bugs.
• Work with teams to optimize their workflow and improve overall productivity and quality of deliverables.
• , architects, and other stakeholders.
• The ability to ensure adherence to quality standards and best practices for software development, testing, deployment, and maintenance.
• Managing the team’s capacity effectively, from business analysis, development, testing and deployment.
• Ensuring that the team delivers quality on time and on budget
• Removing any impediments to the team’s efficiency and progress.
• Coaching the team on the Scrum rules, self-management, and cross-functionality.
• Supporting the team with defining clear and concise backlog (product and sprint).
• Capacity management

People leadership

• Participate proactively in developing and maintaining team standards, tools, and best practices.
• The ability to resolve any technical or organizational impediments that may hinder the team's performance or delivery.
• Facilitate discussion and conflict resolution.
• Empower the team to self-organize.
• Ability to identify and diagnosis issues and direct to the SME’s
• Familiarity with contract management and resource transitions in projects

Required Knowledge and Experience

• Experience: Minimum of 3+ years of experience as a Scrum Master, preferably within the insurance or financial services industry
• Agile Expertise: Strong knowledge and experience with Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, Lean) and tools (Azure DevOps, JIRA, Confluence, etc.), values, procedures and SDLC
• Sound understanding of short-term insurance
• Strong leadership, conflict resolution, analytical and problem-solving skills
• Insurance Industry Experience: Familiarity with the insurance industry and related IT systems and processes.
• Advanced Agile Practices: Experience with scaling Agile practices (e.g., SAFe) and driving Agile transformations.
• Project Management: Knowledge of traditional project management practices and how they can integrate with Agile methodologies.
• Self-motivated and capable of managing multiple priorities and tasks as delegated.
• Team player with the ability to work within a collaborative environment.
• Excellent communication & interpersonal skills, ability to work with diverse personality types collaboratively
• Ability to coach the team to reach their highest potential.
• Creative and efficient in proposing solutions to complex, time-critical problems.
• Ability to deal with multiple projects and deadlines.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a high attention to detail.

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field.
• Certifications: Agile Practitioner, Certified Scrum Master (CSM) is required. Advanced certifications (e.g., CSP-SM, SAFe Scrum Master, Disciplined Agile Scrum Master) are a plus