Agile Coach / Release Train Engineer

Position:

Agile Coach/Release Train Engineer

Reports to:

Director, Agile & Business Transformation

Position Term:

Full Time Permanent

Primary Location:

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Workplace Type:

Hybrid

Job Purpose

This position plays an essential servant leadership role in the delivery of enterprise business agility that in turn will support business growth and innovation at World Vision Canada (WVC).

The Agile Coach/RTE will focus on supporting, mentoring, and coaching the organization and its Agile leaders (Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, Product Managers, Product Owners, Team members) to relentlessly improve in both our agile mindset and adoption of agile methodologies.

The Agile Coach/RTE plays a critical leadership role in the delivery of successful digital and technology solutions that support business growth and innovation at WVC.

They will lead and manage the PI Release Planning (Agile Release Train) ceremonies, artifacts, and related activities required to deliver shared business value. Embrace, promote, model, mentor and evolve the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Agile Methodologies, Innovation, LEAN and Agile principles throughout the entire Digital Division and also within the rest of the organization.

This role works with Senior Executives, Directors, Managers, Leaders, Enterprise Portfolio, Initiative and Capability Owners, Business Stakeholders, Project Managers, Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters and various staff and teams to deliver on program or organizational objectives and key results (OKRs). This may also include being the direct / single point of contact for vendor relationships.

Responsibilities

Build and Support Enterprise Agile Operations

• Supporting various Ministry Functions within the organization like Enterprise Technology & Transformation, Product, People, Culture & Connection, Shared Services and Finance, Brand & Marketing, Philanthropy & Partnerships, Programs &Policy to scale up and achieve business agility.
• Educate the organization with scaling and business agility concepts and provide orientation, overview training and coaching to executives, leadership team members and senior stakeholders.

Mentoring, Coaching and Training our Lean Agile Leaders and Agile Teams

• Build and Coach in-house (and vendor) Scrum Master/Team Coaches & Agile Coaches. Training and Coaching on Agile mindset and principles.
• Support in defining enterprise-wide Agile standards & guidelines (e.g., DoD, SM/TC, Team and PO qualifications and responsibilities).
• Coordinate between and among Value Streams, Agile Release Trains, team of teams for progress, impediment resolution, and project management oversight.
• Coach ARTs to facilitate Scrum of Scrums, Integrated System Demos, I&A and follow up on improvement items.
• Collaborate with Agile Coaches, Scrum Master/Team Coache, other RTEs and guide them to establish scaling practices within their programs and portfolios.
• Collaborate with release management, environment management and DevOps and support establishing a continuous delivery pipeline.
• Support in fostering SAFe Communities of Practice (CoPs).
• Support critical planning events including, but not limited to, Quarterly Planning and Inspect and Adapt (I&A).

Quarterly Planning & Management

• Prepare, lead, and communicate PI Planning Sessions, pre-planning, planning tools, and any related training (includes assisting in preparing the Business Perspective, writing Business Epics, preparing demos, and other PI Planning Session content)
• Proactively prepare, lead, and communicate all Program-Level SAFe Ceremonies including Program-Level Retrospectives, Scrum of Scrum Sessions, and Portfolio-Level Refinement sessions
• Proactively manage the SAFe Program-Level Artifacts including Program Backlog and PI Release Plan / Program Board
• Prepare, deliver, and communicate Program-Level reporting including quarterly Team Performance, Program Predictability, Program Performance, and PI Burndown / Up
• Play a key role in Deployment Planning and System / Business Demos Prepare, lead, and report on Project / Business Epic Retrospectives as required

Modelling Agile / LEAN / SAFe Principles

Embrace, promote, model, mentor, and evolve Agile/Scrum/Kanban/ SAFe/LEAN principles including:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over excessive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan
• Focus on business and customer value
• Transparency of Execution
• Expect and anticipate change
• Relentless improvement
• Decentralized decision making through multi-function self-managing teams
• Continuous iterative solution design and architecture

Qualifications

• University or college undergraduate degree in a related field
• Certification(s) in Scrum or Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) (i.e. Advanced Scrum Master, Scrum Master, RTE, Product Owner, etc.)
• 5+ years of experience working in Agile frameworks such as Scrum / Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
• 5+ years of experience as a people leader with experience coaching, developing, and leading through organizational transformation with a strong attention to organizational strategic planning and business agility
• 5+ years of experience in identifying, defining, and establishing Agile teams
• Strong leadership skills with a proven ability to coach, train and develop talent at multiple levels through both direct and indirect influence
• Strong financial acumen coupled with strong critical thinking and analytical skills
• Proven ability to provide strategic counsel to executives and senior management, influence key stakeholders and collaborate with various teams to manage complex bodies of work.
• Proven ability to think strategically, be creative and willingness to take calculated risks
• Highly developed verbal and written communication skills with a demonstrated ability to present information in an organized, logical, and effective manner to a wide variety of audiences including executives
• Exceptional skills at building relationships, collaborating with others, and providing a supportive environment where challenging opinions and questions are welcome
• Experience with leading and coaching teams through Agile ceremonies such as Sprint planning, Sprint Demos, System Demos, Program Increment planning (PI Planning), Inspect and Adapt
• Deep knowledge of best practices, processes, and opportunities in the relevant Agile practices
• Proven ability to guide business owners through program / project strategy, requirements gathering, planning, design, development, testing, and support phases
• Proven ability of effectively working in dynamic (constantly evolving) results-driven environments with competing stakeholder requirements and delivery timelines
• Proven high level of personal ownership, collaborative teamwork, holistic value-centric perspective, work adaptability, and innovation
• Proven history of continuous learning, relentless improvement, openness to new ideas, healthy attitude to failures, and personal drive to grow
• Proven collaboration, organizational, interpersonal, communication, conflict management, problem solving, change management, attention to detail, decision making, and analytical skills

Why Consider Us?

Our competitive compensation & benefits include:

• Health Spending Account
• Up to 6% matched pension contributions
• Parental leave top-up
• Generous paid vacation, sick days, wellness and personal days
• Office closed extra days before long weekends (6x/year)
• World Vision Canada has consistently been awarded Canada and GTA top employer awards.
• We are Canada’s largest development, relief, and advocacy non-profit organization.

This is a current vacancy that we are actively recruiting for. The salary range represents the expected compensation for this role and is provided in accordance with Ontario’s pay transparency requirements under the Employment Standards Act.

Placement within the range will be determined based on relevant skills, experience, qualifications, and internal equity. The final offer will reflect the successful candidate’s background and demonstrated capabilities.

#LI-Hybrid

Job Family

Strategy, Collaboration, & Innovation

Job Function

Manager/Supervisor

Pay Type

Salary

Employment Indicator

Hybrid

Hiring Min Rate

89600

Hiring Max Rate

106400