Scrum Master

Hiring an energetic, motivated, innovative individual to be a part of our team supporting Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in Baltimore, MD. The Scrum Master works closely with the Program team, CMS Partners, and CMS Stakeholders to manage, maintain, and optimize project and service delivery to best support CMS and the general public. The Scrum Master will deliver solutions that ultimately ensure that the functions of Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace are carried out for the US citizen and contribute to efforts to reduce healthcare costs.

Key Responsibilities:

Agile Ceremony Facilitation:

• Lead and facilitate daily stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and other team and intra-team meetings.
• Participate actively in sprint demonstrations and scrum-of-scrums to ensure alignment across teams.
• Maintain and generate information radiators to provide transparency on team progress.
• Collect, analyze, and share team metrics to drive continuous improvement and suggest new metrics when necessary.

Planning:

• Ensure that goals, scope, and product domain are clearly understood by all team members.
• Confirm that the technical team fully understands the Definition of Done.
• Drive user stories to a Ready state in preparation for upcoming sprints and quarters.
• Collaborate with the Product Owner and the team to prepare for sprint planning.
• Assist the team and Product Owner/Manager in maintaining a healthy backlog, planning releases, and drafting clear acceptance criteria.

Team Support:

• Foster a collaborative and communicative team environment.
• Encourage the team to be proactive and engaged throughout all sprint phases.
• Support the team in adapting to changes that improve outcomes.
• Promote a fail-fast, experimental mindset to encourage innovation.
• Remove impediments that hinder the team’s performance by coordinating with product owners, management, and external teams.
• Collaborate with the team to create and update working agreements, Definition of Ready, and Definition of Done.
• Communicate progress, risks, and impediments to internal and external stakeholders.
• Facilitate cross-team coordination and manage external dependencies.
• Act as a buffer to shield the team from external distractions and minimize disruptions.
• Coordinate with the configuration management analyst on environment setup, maintenance, code deployments, and production releases.
• Build high-performing teams by managing conflicts, fostering trust, and encouraging professional growth.
• Promote brainstorming and creative problem-solving, empowering the team to think outside the box.
• Capture and analyze agile metrics to assess and improve team performance.

Advice and Guidance:

• Coach the team on agile and scrum principles to promote continuous improvement.
• Observe team dynamics, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and provide tailored coaching.
• Create a fun, collaborative learning environment by encouraging experimentation and knowledge sharing, including pair programming and cross-functional training.
• Promote teamwork and collaboration to achieve sprint goals effectively.
• Lead the team toward agile maturity by fostering an agile mindset and refining processes.
• Adapt quickly to a fast-paced environment while navigating diverse systems and stakeholder groups.

Basic Requirements:

• Requires BS and 4+ years of prior relevant experience or Masters with 2+ years of prior relevant experience, additional years of experience will be accepted in lieu of a degree.
• Experience-affecting change in organizations working towards agile adoption
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or similar agile project management certification (PMI-ACP)
• Experience using agile project management tools, preferably JIRA and Confluence
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills
• Manages time extremely well, can quickly sense when an issue needs to be discussed or triaged
• Strong attention to detail and focus on task completion is critical
• Must have an active Secret Clearance.

Preferred:

• Technology experience software development
• Experience working in with multi-disciplinary development teams
• Relevant understanding of CMMI Level 4 Concepts
• SAFe experience is a plus
• Experience as a Scrum Master at an organization that is committed to using agile as a core methodology to deliver business value
• Experience in any part of the software development lifecycle is a plus – as the developer, tester, analyst, product manager, project/program manager, etc.
• Experience with applying test automation, test-driven development, continuous integration, and continuous deployment to achieve built-in quality by the teams
• Ability to obtain a public trust clearance
• All candidates supporting the CMS programs must have lived in the United States at least three (3) out of the last five (5) years prior in order to be considered.

Pay Range:

Pay Range $85,150.00 – $153,925.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.