Job Description: Lead Agilist / Lead Scrum Master
Job Title: Lead Agilist
Contract: 6+ months
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Job Summary
Client is seeking an experienced Lead Agilist to support Agile squads by promoting Agile principles, facilitating Scrum practices, and fostering high-performing, self-organizing teams. The ideal candidate will have strong experience in Agile coaching, Scrum Master responsibilities, impediment removal, conflict resolution, and continuous improvement.
Key Responsibilities
- Coach Agile squads on Scrum principles, Agile values, and best practices.
- Facilitate Scrum ceremonies, including Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Retrospectives, and Backlog Refinement.
- Coach Product Owners and development teams on effective product backlog management, prioritization, and delivery of business value.
- Identify and remove team impediments, manage dependencies, and escalate organizational blockers when necessary.
- Promote self-organization, cross-functional collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Build a safe and collaborative team environment that encourages open communication and conflict resolution.
- Use Agile metrics, empirical data, feedback loops, and performance indicators to improve team effectiveness.
- Mentor team members and coach stakeholders on Agile practices and organizational agility.
- Support communication and coordination across multiple Agile squads and organizational teams.
- Apply practices such as Kanban, Scrumban, Extreme Programming (XP), Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, and test automation.
- Identify risks, facilitate problem-solving, and ensure alignment with organizational policies and business priorities.
Required Skills and Qualifications
- 5+ years of full-time business experience.
- 3+ years of hands-on Scrum Master or Agile coaching experience.
- Strong understanding of the Scrum Framework and Agile principles.
- Experience facilitating Scrum ceremonies and coaching Agile teams.
- Proven ability to identify and remove impediments and resolve conflicts.
- Strong communication, presentation, mentoring, and facilitation skills.
- Experience with Agile metrics, retrospectives, feedback loops, and continuous improvement.
- Knowledge of software development lifecycle (SDLC), including requirements, design, testing, deployment, and change management.
- Working knowledge of CI/CD, automated testing, Test-Driven Development (TDD), and DevOps practices.
- Familiarity with Kanban, Scrumban, XP, and other Agile methodologies.
- Strong servant leadership, emotional intelligence, mediation, and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to build trust, encourage self-organizing teams, and promote a continuous learning culture.
Education
Bachelor’s degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
Preferred Candidate Profile
Candidates with experience as a Lead Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Senior Scrum Master, or Lead Agilist who have supported multiple Agile squads, coached Product Owners and development teams, and driven measurable improvements in Agile delivery will be a strong fit. Experience in banking or financial services is beneficial but is not explicitly required in the provided job description.
