Release Train Engineer

8+ years of IT experience

3+ years of experience as a Scrum Master, Product Owner or Agile Coach

3+ years Project Management experience

2+ years of leading people from an HR perspective

2+ years of experience working on large scale, multiple scrum team projects

2+ years of experience working on mixed methodology program (Scrum interfacing with Waterfall from a dependency perspective)

Experience acting as a Scrum Master for multiple scrum teams

Experience with Agile Management tools (e.g. Rally, JIRA, VersionOne)

Familiarity with common Agile practices, service-oriented environments, and better development practices

Knowledge of SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) structure and theories

Understanding of basic fundamentals of iterative development

Understanding of fundamentals of software development processes and procedures

Understanding of backlog tracking, burndown metrics, velocity, and task definition

Understanding of incremental delivery and the value of metrics

Excellent English communication skills in written and spoken form

Bachelor’s Degree in an IT related field

Preferred:

Agile / Scrum Industry Certification(s)

SAFe Certification(s)

Project Management Industry Certification(s)

Lean Methodology Certification(s)

Experience with Rally

Experience with SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) implementation and delivery

Healthcare experience

Experience with various Testing techniques such as Test Driven Development and Behavior driven testing.

Experience and understanding of Service Oriented Architecture and Frameworks (service layer isolation)

Experience and understanding of Front End User Experience and Front End Development technologies such as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript

Understanding of other processes and methodologies and ability to speak intelligently about them and leverage other techniques to provide value to the program/enterprise

Understanding of the value of commitments to delivery made by a development team

Participation in industry Agile communities of practice

Release Train Engineer (RTE)

The Release Train Engineer will be responsible for leading the agile transformation and for the successful execution of one or more value streams (Release Trains) to support the delivery of strategic technology products. The RTE is a hybrid role that properly balances agile leadership and program management to help software development teams build and deliver solutions more efficiently. This role will heavily leverage the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to drive agile delivery within the release train.

This position requires individuals who have previously been successful Scrum Masters and/or Agile Coaches on highly distributed teams, have led Agile/Scrum adoption in the past, and have experience in software delivery as well as those who can drive and influence change and effectively communicate with all levels of the organization. Applicants should have experience leading teams and people from a human resources and career development perspective as this position has potential for direct reports.

Release Train Engineer Competencies:

Assertive: Must be able to ensure Agile/Scrum concepts and principles are adhered to, must be able to be a voice of reason and authority, make the tough calls.

Attitude of empowerment: Must be able to lead a release train and multiple teams to self-organization

Attitude of transparency: Must desire to bring disclosure and transparency to both business and IT and grow to grow trust amongst partners

Collaborative: Ability to partner with others to achieve goals at various levels throughout the organization and lead others to do so by example

Communicative and social: Must be able to communicate well with all levels of the organization from Scrum team members to executives

Conflict resolution: Must be able to facilitate discussion at the release train level and facilitate alternatives or different approaches

Continual improvement: Must continually be growing ones craft learning new tools and techniques to manage oneself and a team

Enthusiastic: Must be impassioned and high-energy

Facilitative: Must be able to lead by example and demonstrate value-add principles to agile release trains

Flexible: Ability to shift to the role or tasks needed for each situational transformation. Ability to “get the job done” regardless of role definition.

Quick learner: Must be able to quickly gain a high level understanding of the technical and business domains of the scrum teams

Servant Leader: Must be able to garner respect from team and stakeholders and be willing to get their hands dirty to get the job done

Situational Awareness: Must be the first to notice differences and issues as they arise and elevate them to management

System Thinker: Must be able to analyze the entire software development environment

Key Responsibilities:

Act as a Execution lead closely partnering with the Product Manager & IT Delivery Owner to guide one agile release train

Establish program level cadence and drive program level ceremonies (e.g. PI Planning, Product Management Council, Scrum of Scrums, release train retrospectives, HIP Sprint)

Work with other program leaders to drive the definition and refinement of the program backlog

Provide leadership, direction, and coaching to scrum teams and Scrum Masters

Ensure cross-value stream coordination and collaboration

Serve as an escalation for impediment removal for the Scrum Masters and scrum teams

Maintain metrics that provide visibility to stakeholders on program-level plans, progress and quality

Facilitate alignment dependencies between the program team and third parties, release managers, or between the team and other Scrum Teams

Foster a team collaborative environment that tears down silos between groups – act in a single voice

Actively contribute to the company’s Agile and Lean Community through participation in the internal Agile Community of Practice and Scrum Master Forums

Develop, coach, and mentor team members to advance their skills and career

Provide real time feedback to the methodology team based on experiences with software delivery teams

Work cross functionally to align strategy, methodology and execution