Scrum Master

About Convene Inc.

Convene, Inc. is a Tampa based, award-winning technology services organization with offices and resources throughout the US, Mexico, and India. We have successful, referenceable customers, competitive benefits, and high-growth opportunities.

Job Title: Scrum Master
Location: Kansas City, MO
Job Type: 6 month contract with right to hire

Role Overview:
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Scrum Master with 5+ years of relevant experience to lead and guide our development teams through successful Agile transformations and continuous improvement. The ideal candidate will possess a strong understanding of Agile methodologies, specifically Scrum, and be able to foster a collaborative and high-performing team environment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Guide teams through sprint planning, execution, and retrospectives, ensuring alignment with Scrum principles and best practices.
• Facilitate key Scrum events, including daily standups, sprint reviews, planning, retrospectives, and pre-planning sessions.
• Support the Product Owner in backlog creation, refinement, and prioritization, while contributing to release planning.
• Identify, raise, and remove impediments proactively to ensure timely delivery of sprint goals.
• Drive continuous improvement in team processes, encouraging higher quality, faster delivery, and more frequent value release.
• Coach the team on self-organization and the effective application of Agile/Scrum practices.
• Actively participate in Scrum-of-Scrums to discuss dependencies and progress.
• Tailor Agile processes based on empirical learning to improve team efficiency.
• Manage and prioritize the team's workload, ensuring appropriate sizing and standardization of user stories.
• Provide ongoing coaching to improve team maturity at a sustainable pace.
• Spend 10-20% of time on project administration, including reporting on delivery status, maintaining cost and financial plans, and ensuring alignment of scope, schedule, and resources.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Proven experience facilitating Scrum ceremonies such as daily standups, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Strong ability to help the Product Owner manage the product backlog and prioritize tasks effectively.
• Experience in removing blockers and shielding teams from external distractions.
• Exceptional people management, leadership, and coaching skills.
• Deep understanding of Agile principles and techniques, including Scrum, Kanban, XP, and other Agile frameworks.
• Proficiency in Agile tools such as Jira, MS Azure, or similar.
• Experience in software development and working within a technical team.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and conflict resolution skills.
• Strong problem-solving aptitude and ability to foster a collaborative team environment.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field.
• At least 5 years of Scrum Master experience in a software development environment.
• Agile Certification (CSM/PSM/SAFe Agilist) strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with techniques like TDD, DevOps/Continuous Integration, and User Stories.
• Knowledge of business or application domain (e.g., Marketing, Sales) is a plus.