Agile Project Lead

Role Title: Agile Project Lead/ Scrum Master

Location: Midrand

Duration: 12 month contract

Responsibilities:

Practices and Values

• Facilitating Scrum Events: Effectively plan and facilitate all Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily scrums, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives.
• Agile principles and Scrum practices: Guide the team on Agile principles and Scrum practices, fostering self-organization and continuous improvement.
• Promoting Agile Values: Champion and embed Agile values and principles within the team and the wider organization

Agile Technical Focus

• PI Planning Participation & Contribution: Actively participate in PI Planning, contributing to the definition of PI Objectives and the Program Increment plan from a technical perspective.
• Understanding the Product Vision: Align project activities with the overall product vision and roadmap.
• Contributing to Product Strategy: Provide technical insights and customer feedback to inform product strategy and prioritization.
• Iteration Planning & Execution: Develop and manage detailed iteration plans and execution within the Sprint, aligning with the overall PI plan.
• Initiative Planning and Definition: Define the scope, objectives, and deliverables in alignment with business goals and product strategy.
• Integration of Methodologies: Apply a hybrid approach, blending Agile and traditional project management methodologies as appropriate for the project and organizational context.
• Initiation: Participate in project initiation activities, including defining the business case and project charter.
• Execution: Oversee the execution of project tasks, ensuring adherence to the plan and managing any deviations. Develop and maintain detailed project schedules, track progress against milestones, and manage dependencies
• Release Management (Technical Aspects): Collaborate with product owners and development teams on release planning and execution.
• Post-Release Support (Technical Aspects): May be involved in providing technical support and addressing issues in post-release phases. Ensure proper project closure, including final deliverables, documentation, and necessary ceremonies like Inspect an adapt, sprint review and sprint retrospective
• Gathering Feedback for Product Improvement: Channel customer feedback and technical insights to inform future product development and improvements.
• Resource Coordination : Coordinate and manage technical resources within the team(s) to achieve iteration and PI objectives.
• Technical Dependencies Management : Identify and manage technical dependencies within the team and with other teams within the ART and other external stakeholders.
• Risk Management: Identify, assess, and mitigate potential project risks and issues Monitor risks and issues, and implement corrective actions as needed.
• Removing Impediments: Identify and remove obstacles and roadblocks that hinder the team's progress.
• Quality Assurance: Ensure that project deliverables meet quality standards and requirements.
• Budget Management: Monitor and control project budgets, ensuring adherence to financial constraints
• Budget Awareness (Technical Aspects within SAFe): Be aware of the budgetary constraints related to technical implementation within the PI.
• Documentation : Ensure the creation and maintenance of relevant team-level and technical documentation aligned with SAFe practices. Create and maintain comprehensive workstream documentation, including workstream plans, status reports, and lessons learned.
• Tracking and Reporting: Monitor and report on team progress, sprint burndown, and other relevant Agile metrics.
• Stakeholder Communication & Management: Maintain clear and consistent communication with stakeholders within the ART, providing regular updates on team progress and technical considerations. Facilitating Communication to Ensure clear and transparent communication within the team and with all other stakeholders.
• Protecting the Team: Shield the team from external distractions and ensure a focused and productive environment.

Technical Team Lead Responsibilities:

• Technical Guidance and Mentorship: Provide technical leadership, guidance, and mentorship to the development team.
• Technical Decision-Making: Participate in and contribute to key technical decisions and architectural design.
• Code Quality and Standards: Promote and enforce coding standards, best practices, and code quality.
• Performance Management (Technical Aspects): Provide input on the technical performance and development of team members.
• Knowledge Sharing: Foster a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration within the technical team.
• Staying Current: Keep abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends relevant to the project and product.

4End-to-End (ETE) Customer Relationship Management:

• Understanding Customer Needs: Act as a key point of contact for the customer throughout the project and product lifecycle, actively listening to and understanding their needs and expectations.
• Managing Customer Expectations: Clearly communicate workstream progress, potential challenges, and scope changes to the customer.
• Gathering Feedback: Proactively solicit and gather customer feedback on the project and the evolving product.
• Ensuring Customer Satisfaction: Drive initiatives and actions to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction.
• Building Strong Relationships: Cultivate and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with key customer stakeholders.

Stakeholder Management:

• Identifying Stakeholders: Identify all relevant internal and external stakeholders.
• Communication Planning: Develop and execute a communication plan to keep stakeholders informed about workstream progress, risks, and decisions.
• Managing Expectations: Proactively manage stakeholder expectations and address any concerns or issues.
• Building Consensus: Facilitate discussions and build consensus among stakeholders with diverse interests.
• Reporting and Transparency: Provide regular and transparent reports on workstream status to stakeholders.

Key Skills and Competencies:

• Strong understanding of Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban).
• Solid foundation in traditional project management principles and practices.
• Excellent technical acumen and understanding of software development processes.
• Proven ability to lead and motivate technical teams.
• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong problem-solving and conflict resolution abilities.
• Customer-centric mindset and a passion for understanding customer needs.
• Ability to navigate complex organizational structures.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Extensive experience (typically 7+ years) in software development or a related technical role with increasing responsibility.
• Proven experience (typically 5+ years) leading technical projects and teams, preferably within a scaled Agile environment.
• Strong experience (typically 3+ years) facilitating Agile teams using Scrum, ideally within SAFe.
• Deep understanding of Agile principles, Scrum framework, and the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
• Solid technical background with expertise in software development, system architecture, and relevant technologies.
• Excellent leadership, communication, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and decision-making abilities.
• Proven ability to manage complex technical projects and navigate challenging situations within a scaled Agile context.
• Experience with Agile project management tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence) and tools specific to SAFe (e.g., alignment dashboards).
• SAFe certification (e.g., SAFe Agilist, SASM, SSM) is highly preferred.
• Scrum Master certification (e.g., CSM, PSM) is a plus.
• Project Management certification (e.g., PMP, PRINCE2) is a plus.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in a relevant field.
• Experience in mentoring and coaching technical team members within a SAFe environment.
• Experience managing projects across multiple teams within an ART.
• Familiarity with various software development methodologies and their integration within SAFe.