Scrum Master at IQVIA in Durham, NC

JOB DESCRIPTION

SCRUM MASTER JOB DESCRIPTION

Objective

The Agile Scrum Master is a champion of Agile values and principles with proven expertise in Scrum practices. This servant-host leader collaborates with other Agilists, technologists, business leaders and customers to discover, design, develop and deliver value-added, machine learning-based products and services in IQVIA’s Applied Data Science & Analytics Center of Excellence (ACOE).

Roles & Responsibilities

The Scrum Master is responsible for Agile Product and Project Management: “Each Sprint may be considered a project” consisting of “a goal of what is to be built, a design and flexible plan that will guide building it, the work, and the resultant product increment” (Scrum Guide).

The Scrum Master works across the ACOE organization:

• Coach managers on Agile culture, theory, values, principles, and practices at scale – including Scrum product and project management – and continuous improvement
• Collaborate with all stakeholders, including other Agile leaders, to ensure the success of Agile practices at scale and, thereby, the success of the ACOE
• Facilitate Agile guilds, training sessions, and events as needed

The Scrum Master works closely with Product Owners:

• Collaborate with Product Owners to ensure backlogs and roadmaps are well managed, schedule and budget forecasts are reliable, business commitments are met, and value delivery is maximized
• Collaborate with Product Owners to ensure Product Development Teams understand the business, product vision, and sprint goals
• Coach Product Owners to develop effective user stories, acceptance criteria, and definition of done

The Scrum Master works closely with Tech Leaders and Product Development Teams:

• Coach Tech Leaders and Product Development Teams in self-organization/management, cross-functional collaboration, team dynamics and interpersonal skills – communication, collaboration, conflict, motivation, etc. – that characterize high-performing teams
• Ensure Tech Leaders and Product Development Teams understand the business, product vision, stories, and sprint goals
• Coach Tech Leaders and Product Development Teams to ensure sprint backlogs are well managed, commitments are reasonable, stories are swarmed, sprint goals are predictably delivered, quality and performance expectations are met
• Protect Sprints from interruptions, managing risks and removing impediments
• Ensure Product Development Teams are continuously learning, growing, improving

Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Professional Scrum Master or Certified Scrum Master credential required; SAFe and additional Agile or Project Management certifications preferred.
• Five (5) years of experience in software and/or product development and/or project management required; understanding of machine learning and data science technologies preferred.
• Two (2) years of experience collaborating with business stakeholders to deliver quantifiable business value required; experience in life sciences, pharmaceuticals, or clinical research preferred.
• Two (2) years of experience leading-training-facilitating-coaching Scrum teams required; experience with Kanban, Bet-Based Planning and hypothesis-driven development preferred.
• Two (2) years of experience with Agile processes and tools required; experience with Aha!, Jira, and Confluence preferred.
• Proven skills in verbal and written communication required; experience leading-training-facilitating-coaching teamwork, negotiation and conflict resolution preferred.
• Evidence of living ACOE organizational values required: obsessed with customer-user engagement, outcomes, value, satisfaction; demonstrates initiative, ownership, accountability, results; committed to continuous learning, improvement, growth, innovation.