Job Title: Agile Coach

Role/Job Summary:

The Agile Coach partners with Delivery Management leadership, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Release Train Engineers, Business Analysts, Engineering teams, and organizational leaders to strengthen delivery capability and advance Agile ways of working across Digital Solutions. This role serves as a trusted advisor, coach, mentor, trainer, and transformation leader, helping teams, programs, and portfolios adopt Lean-Agile principles, improve delivery predictability, and build sustainable Agile capabilities.

The Agile Coach will coach across portfolio, program, and team layers; support SAFe and Agile Release Train execution; facilitate planning and continuous improvement events; conduct maturity assessments; and partner with leadership to remove systemic impediments while maintaining alignment to organizational goals and governance.

Key Responsibilities:

• Partner with Delivery Management leadership to develop organizational delivery capability and advance Agile ways of working across teams, programs, and portfolios.
• Coach Scrum Masters, Release Train Engineers, Product Owners, Business Analysts, delivery teams, and leaders on Agile, Lean, Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, and modern delivery practices.
• Guide Agile transformation initiatives by adapting practices to the unique needs of individual portfolios while maintaining alignment with Lean-Agile principles.
• Conduct Agile maturity assessments across portfolio, program, and team layers to identify strengths, improvement opportunities, and coaching priorities.
• Facilitate and coach SAFe events, including PI Planning, ART Syncs, Scrum of Scrums, System Demos, Inspect & Adapt workshops, and other large-scale planning and coordination events.
• Step into delivery leadership roles, primarily Release Train Engineer or equivalent program-level Agile leadership roles, when needed to model practices, stabilize delivery, and mentor practitioners.
• Help establish operating models, governance practices, planning cadences, decision-making mechanisms, and cross-team coordination practices across portfolio, program, and team layers.
• Coach teams and leaders on effective facilitation, dependency management, risk management, stakeholder alignment, flow optimization, and value delivery.
• Design and deliver role-based Agile training, onboarding materials, playbooks, coaching guides, reusable capability assets, and communities of practice.
• Establish, leverage, and coach teams on meaningful Agile metrics that improve transparency, predictability, planning effectiveness, flow, dependency management, and delivery outcomes.
• Identify systemic impediments and partner with leadership to remove organizational barriers that limit team performance, delivery excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Communicate effectively with executives, portfolio leaders, Product Delivery Leaders, Technical Delivery Leaders, and delivery stakeholders on progress, risks, opportunities, and improvement recommendations.

Must-Have Skills:

• 10+ years of experience leading Agile delivery, Agile coaching, delivery leadership, or Agile transformation within complex organizations.
• Must have hands-on experience in at least 2 SAFe projects or SAFe implementations, including PI Planning and ART-level execution.
• Demonstrated experience as an Agile Coach and Release Train Engineer, or an equivalent program-level Agile leadership role.
• Experience coaching multiple teams, programs, organizational leaders, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, Business Analysts, and delivery stakeholders simultaneously.
• Strong understanding of Lean, Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, flow, systems thinking, value delivery, and organizational change management.
• Proven ability to lead or support Agile transformation initiatives and tailor Agile frameworks pragmatically to organizational context.
• Strong facilitation skills across executive, portfolio, program, and team levels, including workshops, planning events, retrospectives, and conflict-resolution discussions.
• Experience developing and delivering role-based Agile training, coaching plans, maturity assessments, playbooks, and continuous improvement roadmaps.
• Excellent communication, mentoring, servant leadership, stakeholder management, executive influence, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Experience working with Agile lifecycle management tools such as Azure DevOps, Jira, Rally, Confluence, or similar platforms.

Practical Agile Coaching Approach:

Should be able to provide practical, situation-based Agile solutions instead of only following standard templates or theoretical frameworks.

Strong Problem-Solving Capability:

Must be capable of assessing team maturity, project challenges, delivery constraints, and stakeholder expectations to recommend the most suitable Agile approach.

SAFe / PI Planning Experience:

Must have hands-on experience in SAFe environments and should be comfortable supporting or facilitating PI Planning activities.

Travel Readiness:

Should be open to travel as required for PI Planning sessions, Agile workshops, team alignment meetings, and stakeholder discussions.

US-Based Role / Location Alignment:

Candidate should be based in the US or available to work closely with US-based teams and stakeholders.

Enterprise / Consulting Background:

Must have experience working in large enterprise environments, preferably with Big 4 firms or similar consulting/professional services organizations.

Stakeholder Management:

Should be able to work closely with senior leadership, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, delivery teams, and business stakeholders to drive Agile adoption and continuous improvement.

Adaptive Coaching Style:

Should be flexible in coaching teams based on real project scenarios, team maturity, delivery model, and organizational challenges.

Training & Capability Development:

Design and deliver role-based training for Scrum Masters, Release Train Engineers, Product Owners, Business Analysts, and leaders. Develop onboarding materials, playbooks, coaching guides, role expectations, and reusable capability assets. Facilitate workshops covering Agile practices, Lean thinking, value stream optimization, flow, metrics, OKRs, and continuous improvement. Build Communities of Practice that encourage collaboration, knowledge sharing, and professional development.

Continuous Improvement & Delivery Excellence:

Assess organizational delivery maturity and recommend practical improvement opportunities. Help teams improve predictability, planning effectiveness, flow, dependency management, and delivery outcomes. Establish, leverage, and coach teams and leaders on meaningful metrics appropriate to each delivery layer to promote data-informed decision making, organizational transparency, and continuous improvement while avoiding metric-driven behaviors. Identify systemic impediments and partner with leadership to remove organizational barriers. Contribute to the evolution of Agile standards, delivery guidance, governance models, and maturity assessments.

Executive Partnership & Organizational Influence:

Partner closely with the Delivery Management Capability Leader to prioritize coaching engagements and capability development. Partner with executives, portfolio leaders, Product Delivery Leaders, Technical Delivery Leaders, and delivery leaders to shape transformation roadmaps. Influence without authority across multiple stakeholder groups and organizational boundaries. Communicate effectively with executive leadership regarding organizational progress, risks, opportunities, and improvement recommendations. Apply systems thinking to balance enterprise consistency with portfolio-specific flexibility and contextual adaptation.

Good-to-Have Skills:

• SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE), SAFe Agilist, SAFe Practitioner, or SAFe Scrum Master certification.
• Scrum Alliance, Scrum.org, ICAgile, PMI-ACP, ICP-ACC, ICP-ATF, or equivalent Agile coaching/facilitation certification.
• Experience supporting enterprise technology organizations with multiple portfolios, value streams, Agile Release Trains, or distributed delivery teams.
• Experience with Lean Portfolio Management, OKRs, value-stream optimization, Agile governance, operating models, and transformation roadmaps.
• Exposure to DevOps, CI/CD, test automation, release governance, engineering excellence, and modern product delivery practices.
• Ability to build Communities of Practice that encourage collaboration, knowledge sharing, capability development, and professional growth.

Education:

Bachelor's Degree in Business, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent practical experience may also be considered.

Experience Required:

10+ years of professional experience in Agile delivery, Agile coaching, Agile transformation, or delivery leadership within complex organizations. Must have completed or actively contributed to at least 3-4 SAFe projects or SAFe implementations, including hands-on involvement in PI Planning, ART execution, and program-level coordination. Experience coaching multiple teams, programs, and organizational leaders while improving Agile maturity, delivery predictability, flow, and continuous improvement practices. Experience serving as an Agile Coach, Release Train Engineer, or equivalent program-level Agile leadership role is required. SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) certification. SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) certification. Scrum Alliance or Scrum.org coaching certifications. Experience supporting enterprise technology organizations with multiple portfolios or value streams.