GENERAL FUNCTION:The Fifth Third Agilist People Leader will support the Bank's agility by leading and growing people in the Agilist role. This role is a key member of their engineering leadership team and partner to the Agility Organization. The Director, Agility will be expected to interact and influence leaders across the entire Fifth Third organization, drawing connections to all strategic priorities.
An Agilist People Leader will have the responsibility of people leadership, with all the responsibilities that people management and leadership entail. They are able to craft messages and leverage powerful questions to prompt creative problem identification and solving. The Agilist People Leader will contribute to initiatives which increase the adoption of agile practices and frameworks across the company. They observe and determine the needs/gaps that exist throughout the organization and intervene based on those specific needs/gaps to move the transformation forward. This is often done through active mentoring and coaching of the Agilist to whom they lead. An Agilist People Leader is adept at providing objective guidance, without personal or political consideration. They can effectively facilitate neutral discussions to allow for decisions, keeping the focus on delivering significant business value while supporting healthy teams and behaviors at the center. They coach their people and the organization in self-organization, continuous improvement, cross-functionality, risk identification, dependency management, conflict resolution, and software quality.
An Agilist People Leader possesses a learning mindset and drives their people and the organization to continuously improve their interactions, practices, and process through valuable inspect and adapt practices using data from feedback loops, metrics, and other information radiators. They can identify opportunities for improvement outside of the traditional inspect and adapt practice by leveraging a deep understanding of technologies and techniques in the DevOps, pipeline automation, testing frameworks, etc. spaces. They can leverage concepts from other Agile frameworks and working practices outside of Scrum to help their people and the Squads grow and succeed. They model collaborative, courageous, and open behavior, and a willingness to learn and grow continuously for the organization.
Responsible and accountable for the identification of risk by openly exchanging ideas and opinions, elevating concerns. They personally follow policies and procedures as defined and are accountable for always doing the right thing for customers and colleagues. Agilist People Leader ensure that their actions and behaviors drive a positive customer experience. While operating within the Bank's risk appetite, the Agilist People Leader achieves results by consistently identifying, assessing, managing, monitoring, and reporting risks of all types.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:- Embody the Agile principles, and lead by example.
- Present, teach, mentor, and facilitate at multiple levels of the organization, helping their people in highly ambiguous or tumultuous Squads and/ or areas of the organization succeed.
- Ensure Agilist participation in all Agilist Guild activities.
- Facilitate the design of squads that their Agilists will support.
- Ensure that the Agilists they support understand and follow Agile processes and guardrails.
- Ensure timely reporting of Agile-related metrics as defined by Agility Org.
- Consult and coach Agilists and those people supporting Squads as well as other leaders in innovative approaches to proactively manage the volume of change our technology solutions may provide to employees and the overall transformation.
- Collaborate with all areas of the Fifth Third organization helping them drive toward an agile mindset.
- Value team success over individual success.
- Seek continuous learning regarding Agile, Scrum, coaching, facilitating, emotional intelligence, team dynamics, active listening for self and team, etc.
- Guide Agilists and the organization on ways to connect strategic priorities and set and articulate goals that drive value-based outcomes. Empower decision making to those closest to the work while executing on achieving results.
- Apply and deploy multiple approaches to remove organizational impediments (e.g. cultural barriers, logistic challenges, mindset shifts, etc.).
- Embody agility using a servant leadership approach and lead by example while guiding others on the effective application of Agile values, principles and/or frameworks.
- Facilitate communication, cooperation, and collaboration across the organization, including continuous feedback loops.
- Work to improve the effectiveness of all roles of the organization, fostering self-organization, learning and growth but is specifically focused on and dedicated to the Agilist craft.
- Challenge current processes, identifying current opportunities for process improvement, efficiency/effectiveness, and consistency to drive continuous improvement in results.
- Demonstrate a solid understanding of a variety of practices that support agility (Continuous Integration, Lean, Continuous Deployment, Test Driven Development, Automated Test-Driven Development, etc.).
- Mentor and coach others and is seen as a trusted advisor by their peers.
- Foster a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised without fear.
- Other duties as assigned.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES: Duties include, but are not limited to performance management, focused investment in people growth and direction, feedback coaching and disciplinary activities (if needed), succession planning, recognition of employees, etc.
MINIMUM KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:- Ten+ years of combined people leadership and hands-on experience successfully implementing major process improvements in technical, project delivery and/or business process in a large enterprise corporate environment. Agile execution experiences a plus.
- A passion for guiding, teaching, mentoring, and facilitating at multiple levels of the organization, particularly with senior leadership.
- Position requires the ability to establish self as a leader, to not only perform in a leadership role, but to also be recognized by other divisions and business partners as a leader.
- Strong presence and credibility with excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills which are effective and impactful to a range of audiences. Demonstrated ability to communicate complex information in a simplified way and meet fast-paced deadlines.
- Deep understanding of the Scrum Framework.
- Experience communicating and removing impediments at both the team level and organizational level, fostering collaboration across organizational boundaries.
- Deep understanding of all software lifecycle development disciplines - Project Management, Requirements Management, Analysis & Design, Quality Assurance & Testing, Implementation, Deployment, Configuration & Change Management.
- Critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills.
- Deep coaching and mentoring skills with the ability to communicate complex messages and teach new concepts.
- Ability to lead self-organizing teams and drive change through influence.
- Brings high-energy and passion to the job with a focus on building strong teams and Agile organizations.
- Ability to build a sense of trust and rapport that creates a sustainable & effective workplace.
- Three+ years of advocating and implementing an Agile Operating Model for a large enterprise or division within financial services or a similarly regulated industry, strongly preferred.
- Previous experience as a Scrum Master or Product Owner along with experience of serving on Agile teams strongly preferred.
- Knowledge and/or experience with agile engineering practices and techniques such as Design Thinking, User Stories, Test Driven Development, Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, Automated Testing, and/or Agile Games strongly preferred.
- Bachelor's in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field or equivalent in work experience. Master's degree a plus.
Director, Agility
The base salary for this position is reflective of the range of salary levels for all roles within this pay grade across the U.S. Individual salaries within this range will vary based on factors such as role, relevant skillset, relevant experience, education and geographic location. In addition to the base salary, this role is eligible to participate in an incentive compensation plan, with any such payment based upon company, line of business and/or individual performance.
Our extensive benefits programs are designed to support the individual needs of our employees and their families, encompassing physical, financial, emotional and social well-being. You can learn more about those programs on our 53.com Careers page at: https://www.53.com/content/fifth-third/en/careers/benefits.html or by consulting with your talent acquisition partner.
LOCATION -- Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
Attention search firms and staffing agencies: do not submit unsolicited resumes for this posting. Fifth Third does not accept resumes from any agency that does not have an active agreement with Fifth Third. Any unsolicited resumes - no matter how they are submitted - will be considered the property of Fifth Third and Fifth Third will not be responsible for any associated fee.
