Agile Lead Practitioner

Hourly Rate: $62 W2; $72 CTC/1099 Job Description: NC DHHS requires the services of an experienced Agile Lead Practitioner with good experience in managing Scrum and Kanban efforts to assist with teams in development, trainings and implementation of IT applications We're looking for an experienced Agile Lead Practitioner with extensive experience supporting Scrum and Kanban efforts and assisting IT teams in development and implementation of IT applications to adopt and practice agile methodologies. Leading the planning and execution of development and delivery of each release of one or more products based on DHHS and industry standards. Should be able to work with multiple functions, including Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Flow Masters, Developers, and Stakeholders. Should be able to execute, based on the Agile transformation strategies laid out by DHHS. Should be able to work as a team player in enabling people to understand and drive customer and business value while creating a healthy, agile team culture. Support the adoption of DHHS Agile Transformation effort and ensure alignment with team efforts. Responsibilities: Coaches, mentors and guides agile teams on their journey from ground zero to becoming self-sustaining, high performing agile teams. Drives adoption of Agile practices, techniques, and frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban, reducing the gap between agile theory and practice. Assist and help in training materials creation for DHHS ITD Provide Training to teams using DHHS approved training materials Drives adoption of DevOps practices and frameworks to improve automation and team autonomy. Drives continuous improvement initiatives, which encourage the adoption of agile practices and result in improved project execution Builds expertise in the Agile and DevOps disciplines by coaching multiple Scrum teams Provides guidance on creating Agile artifacts and lead by examples Partners with other Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters across the organization to align and drive consistency and transparency throughout the organization. Fosters an environment of mutual respect and cooperation, transparency, autonomy, agility, learning, innovation, quality and speed of execution. Builds solid working relationships and utilizes effective negotiation and persuasion skills in working across the organizations. Manage and Deliver application development and enhancement efforts using the appropriate agile methodology Work with the Product Manager/business owner to define the roadmap for any given effort and build release plans Collaborate with the functional managers or team leads and coordinate day-to-day operation of the Kanban Facilitate Kanban/Scrum Meetings as needed Facilitate agile ceremonies as needed Coach Scrum Master's, Product Owner's, Development Team member's, and be coachable Work with appropriate technical team to create and manage Kanban/Scrum boards in Jira Develops and communicate reporting metrics and/or program dashboards to stakeholders and leadership Required Skills and Experience: Strong organization and analytical thinking skills, with a track record of turning complex business needs into user scenarios, flows, and diagrams. Deep understanding of Agile values, principles, and practices (Scrum and Kanban). Hands on experience in Scrum & Kanban. Strong facilitation and communication skills. Strong Interpersonal and conflict resolution skills. Effective leadership and negotiation skills. Adaptive coaching style and the ability to work hands-on with teams in an advisor role with the ability to adapt based on the agile readiness of the team. Enthusiastic and maintains a positive, high-energy attitude. Drive for continuous learning. Highly efficient in coaching Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Team Members. 3+ years' experience executing Agile projects in large, complex environments. 2+ years' experience in coaching, mentoring and training new Agile/Scrum teams. 5+ years in a project delivery role (technical role preferred) Preferred Certification, Skills and Experience: Coaching experience in a complex, large agile environment Agile transformation or other organizational change experience Knowledgeable in DevOps practices Ability to coach technical practices (TDD, Pair programming, BDD, ATDD) Certifications: Certified Scrum Master/Certified Product Owner/Certified Team Coach Required Skills:

• Experience Agile Coaching and Transformation (8 years)
• Excellent experience in Agile (Jira/VersionOne/Jira Align) and DevOps tools(8 years)
• Experience in coaching Agile technical practices (TDD, BDD, ATDD etc.) (8 years)
• Hands on working experience in Scrum/Kanban and knowledge of other structured PM methodologies (Waterfall/PMI) (8 years)
• Demonstrated skills in the software development process (version control, use case, requirements, design, coding, and unit test). (8 years)
• Demonstrated experience using analytical and creative problem-solving skills; ability to multi-task and handle a large amount of detail. (8 years)
• Deep understanding of methods of automated software testing and appreciation for rigor in quality assurance (8 years)
• Candidate to provide 3-4 professional references (Yes)

• Develops and communicate Agile metrics and/or program dashboards to stakeholders and leadership (5 years)
• Ability to work on multiple priorities and/or projects simultaneously without impact to quality of work. (5 years)
• Experience with software end user change management strategy and execution. (5 years)
• Strong risks and business impact analysis and reporting skills. (5 years)
• Demonstrated strength in problem definition and resolution. (5 years)
• Certification as Scrum Master (5 years)
• Strong Interpersonal and Communication skills with the ability to work with both technical and business work teams. (5 years)