Job Description
Scrum Master
Fully Remote Remote Worker – N/A Software Engineering
Job Type
Full-time
Description
Are you listening, comprehending, repeating, summarizing, energizing, observing, writing, simplifying, critiquing, suggesting, asserting, chatting, and presenting – all in one? Are you a detail-oriented but when-to-switch-gears thinker, who can quickly tailor your approach to the situation? Do you have Scrum Master experience in publishing? Wayside Publishing is looking to add you to our growing Software Development team!
Who We Are
Wayside Publishing is a progressive developer of world language programs, resources, and materials for middle and high schools across the United States. We partner with educators to craft transformative texts and digital tools that engage students and foster successful communication and understanding across cultures.
Scrum Master
As the Scrum Master you are responsible for championing a project, providing guidance to the Product Development team and Product Owner, and ensuring all agile practices are followed by team members. The Scrum master not only addresses all facets of the agile development process but also serves Wayside Publishing, Product Owner, the team, and individuals and facilitates communication and collaboration between all these elements.
Job Responsibilities:
- Facilitates all scrum ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, grooming, planning, demos, and retrospectives.
- Helps build a productive environment where team members own’ the product and perform at the highest level.
- Maintains and updates active sprint board and backlog, ensuring that the team commits to valuable and achievable work each sprint.
- Coaches the team on Agile practices and tools that support productivity.
- Monitors progress of projects, including managing task dependencies between team members, identifying blockers, and collaborating with the product owner and project team to drive work forward.
- Responsible for tracking and sharing relevant metrics about team practice and velocity.
- Supports Product Owner to refine and manage the product backlog, ensuring that user stories and acceptance criteria are clear, and teams understand expected outcomes.
- Builds a safe environment where the emphasis of retrospectives is on problem-solving and not fear of blame.
- Helps increase the maturity of teams, so they are empowered to experiment safely with new methods.
- Works with team to define and maintain core development team processes and coach team members in best practices.
- Serves as liaison between departments to ensure effective & efficient communications and processes.
- Facilitates discussions, decision-making, and conflict resolution.
- Other duties as assigned.
Requirements
- 3-5 years of job-related experience in software development utilizing an Agile framework.
- 3+ years of experience as a Scrum Master with a real-world understanding of Agile and its application, supporting tools, and processes.
- Experience with Agile techniques including, but not limited to relative estimation and sizing, value/effort prioritization, the definition of done, user stories, automated testing, & backlog refinement.
- Expertise with Agile project management tools Atlassian Confluence & Jira.
- Experience in creating Agile training and workshop material.
- Able to effectively manage conflict, leveraging different techniques for resolution.
- Understand all elements of an application life cycle, including incremental planning, continuous elaboration, integration and deployment, and release management.
- Team-focused leadership abilities with effective relationship and team-building skills.
- Willingness to help the team as a servant leader.
- Proven ability to communicate effectively and interface with leadership and external departments to manage expectations and timelines.
- Strong presentation and facilitation skills.
- Must be organized, confident, analytical, self-motivated, and self-directing with a proven ability to identify priorities and propose solutions to achieve desired results with minimal supervision.
- Proven experience coaching and mentoring teams and individuals to help them adopt Agile practices with continuous improvement.
- Must have excellent situational awareness, the ability to remain calm under pressure, and be cognizant of how you are perceived.
- Understand the sometimes-conflicting needs of team members, leadership, and stakeholders, guiding the team to solutions that serve customers.
- Be curious, continue to learn, adapt to change, embrace different perspectives, and guide the team to embody Wayside Publishing’s values.
- Experience working in a small and dynamic company.
Required Skills, Knowledge & Attributes
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Information Systems, Computer Science, or related field.
- Holds a current Agile certification PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), Certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP), Certified Scrum. Master (CSM) equivalent, or higher.
- Maintains active membership in Agile organizations to enhance skills and learn new techniques.
- Experience working in the Education or EdTech industry.
What We Offer
- Competitive compensation: base salary plus achievement-based incentive program, uncapped potential.
- Health insurance with options for dental, vision, life insurance, and more.
- Retirement savings plan with employer contribution.
- Employer-paid STD and LTD policies
- Paid holidays.
- Work/life balance as a company value.
We believe that traditional hiring policies can hurt the most marginalized people in society, including people of color, people from working-class backgrounds, women, and LGBTQ people. Because we believe that these communities must be centered in the work we do, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.
Wayside Publishing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
When submitting your application, please include a concise cover letter that speaks to your experience, and why this role is the next best step in your career.
NO PHONE CALLS OR RECRUITERS PLEASE
Salary Description
$70,000 – $90,000