Senior Scrum Master

Job Description

A leading organization is seeking a Senior Scrum Master to guide Agile delivery teams, improve execution consistency, and support complex initiatives across business and technology functions. This position focuses on facilitating Agile practices, managing delivery risks and dependencies, coordinating stakeholders, and helping teams achieve predictable outcomes in dynamic enterprise environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily standups, backlog refinement sessions, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Remove obstacles that may impact delivery timelines and team productivity.
• Coordinate work across business, product, technology, and external partner teams.
• Track action items, decisions, and commitments to ensure accountability and execution.
• Partner with Product Owners and stakeholders to align priorities with business objectives.
• Monitor sprint performance, delivery progress, dependencies, and potential risks.
• Manage issues and risks proactively and escalate concerns when necessary.
• Support teams in maintaining delivery momentum while responding to changing business priorities.
• Prepare and communicate project status updates for stakeholders and leadership.
• Encourage collaboration across multiple teams and workstreams.
• Promote Agile principles and delivery best practices while maintaining a practical, results-oriented approach.
• Identify opportunities to improve team processes, delivery effectiveness, and overall quality.
• Establish measurable team objectives and monitor progress against key milestones.
• Support planning activities, roadmap execution, and release coordination efforts.

Required Experience and Skills

• 7+ years of experience in Scrum Master, Project Manager, Program Manager, Delivery Manager, or similar leadership positions.
• 5+ years of experience supporting Agile teams within large and complex organizations.
• 5+ years of experience facilitating Agile ceremonies and implementing Agile delivery practices.
• 5+ years of experience managing risks, dependencies, and cross-functional coordination activities.
• 5+ years of experience collaborating with business stakeholders, product teams, and technology organizations.
• Experience managing multiple initiatives and competing priorities simultaneously.
• Strong knowledge of Agile methodologies, Scrum frameworks, and iterative delivery approaches.
• Demonstrated success identifying and resolving delivery impediments.
• Excellent organizational, communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience using Agile delivery tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, Confluence, or similar platforms.
• Ability to influence outcomes and build trusted relationships without direct authority.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities in complex and evolving environments.

Preferred Experience and Skills

• Experience supporting enterprise transformation, modernization, or strategic change programs.
• Background working in financial services, insurance, healthcare, or other regulated industries.
• Experience coordinating delivery across distributed teams and multiple business units.
• Scrum Master certification such as CSM, PSM, SAFe Scrum Master, or equivalent.
• Experience supporting product, technology, data, or digital transformation initiatives.
• Familiarity with portfolio planning, roadmap management, and release management practices.
• Experience engaging with senior leadership and executive stakeholders.
• Proven success improving delivery predictability, team performance, and operational effectiveness.
• Experience coaching teams on Agile values, continuous improvement, and accountability.

FAQ

1. What does a Senior Scrum Master do?

A Senior Scrum Master facilitates Agile delivery for one or more teams and helps improve how teams plan, collaborate, and deliver work. The role focuses on removing impediments, strengthening Scrum practices, managing cross-team dependencies, and supporting continuous improvement.

2. How does a Senior Scrum Master differ from a Scrum Master?

A Senior Scrum Master typically works with more complex teams, multiple dependencies, or larger delivery environments. Beyond facilitating Scrum events, the role often includes coaching teams and stakeholders, addressing systemic delivery issues, and helping improve Agile practices across the organization.

3. How does a Senior Scrum Master support sprint delivery?

The Scrum Master facilitates sprint planning, daily Scrum, reviews, and retrospectives while helping the team maintain focus on the sprint goal. They monitor impediments, dependencies, and delivery risks so issues can be addressed without unnecessarily disrupting the team’s workflow.

4. What role does the Senior Scrum Master play in backlog refinement?

The Senior Scrum Master helps create effective conditions for backlog refinement by facilitating collaboration between the Product Owner and development team. They support clear requirements, appropriate sizing, manageable work items, and sufficient backlog readiness for upcoming sprints.

5. How does a Senior Scrum Master handle cross-team dependencies?

The role identifies dependencies between teams, products, vendors, or technical workstreams and coordinates with the relevant stakeholders to resolve them. Dependency tracking and proactive communication help reduce delivery delays and improve predictability across larger initiatives.

6. What metrics are useful for monitoring Agile delivery?

Useful measures can include throughput, cycle time, sprint completion trends, work in progress, escaped defects, and recurring impediments. Senior Scrum Masters use these metrics to identify delivery patterns and improvement opportunities rather than to measure individual productivity.

7. How does a Senior Scrum Master coach teams and stakeholders?

The Senior Scrum Master helps teams become more self-managing and encourages healthy collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. They may also coach Product Owners, managers, and stakeholders on Scrum responsibilities, realistic planning, and effective engagement with Agile teams.