The Senior Delivery Manager is responsible for managing the full lifecycle of technical product and program delivery, from business case creation and approval, requirements definition, implementation, testing, deployment, and ongoing value stream management, working with a cross-functional team of business and technical resources. The ideal candidate will have previous experience functioning leading both Agile/Scrum-based work as well as traditional technology project management. This person will have strong people, communication/presentation, and leadership skills. The incumbent will be a detail- oriented self-starter able to independently take on challenges and drive reliable implementation of application development, infrastructure, and related technology solutions. The Senior Delivery Manager will be accountable for the success of the initiative and work closely with business, product, and IT sponsors to ensure that measurable outcomes are delivered as expected.

Essential Functions/Responsibilities

• Organize and facilitate project planning, daily stand-up meetings, reviews, retrospectives, sprint and release planning, backlog refinement, demos, Scrum of Scrums (SOS) and other Scrum- related activities.
• Assist with and help lead PI Planning
• Coach agile teams and communicate agile concepts and benefits to the team and stakeholders while taking a pragmatic/flexible Agile approach when required.
• Facilitate Agile SAFe and Scrum Trainings
• Tracks and communicates progress metrics and performance to leadership and stakeholders
• Responsible for removing impediments and guiding the team to remove impediments
• Support the Product Owner, with respect to grooming and managing the product backlog
• Experience leading organizations through Agile transformations
• Mentors junior Scrum Masters
• Experience serving Scrum teams in a variety of different contexts (different team sizes, different organizations, different cultures, co-located and distributed)
• Thoroughly understand initiatives in order to facilitate the definition of project scope, goals, deliverables and ultimately create work plans
• Consult with management and support development of initiative business case, stage gate documentation, resource plans, and budgets
• Develop delivery plans based on a clearly articulated approach and strategy, specifying required tasks and resources and their required skill sets, specific deliverables, milestones, dependencies, identification of risks, and mitigation plans
• Effectively drive the requirements definition and testing process, working closely with the business analyst(s), quality engineers and business stakeholders
• Provide leadership and direction to project team members; driving accountability and engagement; coordinate activities of project resources to ensure project progresses on schedule and within budget
• Monitor, report and follow-up on the status and next steps of delivery
• Effectively identify, analyze, and communicate downstream impacts of changes, navigating changes effectively by removing barriers
• Coordinate across engineering, finance, contractors, and other partners to ensure a clear view of current and forecasted budget expenditures while supporting validation and approval of external invoices
• Effectively apply IT delivery methodology and enforce project standards
• Prepare for engagement reviews, stage gates, and quality assurance procedures
• Risk and Issue Management: Proactively identify, document, mitigate and report on Risk, Action, Issue and Decision (RAID) items for of all project components
• Facilitate team, vendor and steering committee meetings with finesse and clear communications. Adjust communication strategy and approach to match the needs of specific business groups, individuals and partners and ensure that all materials created for communicating and facilitating discussion of intended approach are carefully tailored to the intended audience to ensure that business owners can give complete and accurate feedback
• Lead weekly status meetings with delivery team leads and sponsors
• Effectively communicate relevant delivery information to senior leadership
• Develop and present engaging, informative, well-organized presentations that are effectively tailored to the intended audience
• Ensure that feedback from key business owners is fully acknowledged and incorporated into functional specifications, process flow diagrams and project plans to give business leaders the confidence that they are being heard and that their needs will be met
• Serve as a communication bridge between business leaders and developers to facilitate understanding of initial requirements, questions, and changes across these groups.
• Resolve and/or escalate issues in a timely fashion
• Understand how to communicate difficult/sensitive information tactfully
• Be a champion for the initiative and the delivery team
• Motivate team to work together effectively and respectfully
• Effectively utilize each team member to his/her fullest potential
• Acknowledge and appreciate each team member's contributions
• Facilitate retrospective reviews to ensure that course correction is possible in a proactive manner or that learnings can be applied to future projects
• Mitigate team conflict with transparency to mitigate any risks to project success

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Technology, Business, or related field - Required
• 7 years Experience as a scrum master and project manager total - Required
• 5 years of IT experience - Required

Preferred skills:

• 5-10 years of IT project planning and management experience, preferably within a technology department or organization with experience in the following areas:
• Full project lifecycle in both traditional and agile modes from conception to production, managing all aspects of solution delivery including inception, scope definition, business case development and approval, resource planning, requirements gathering through development and deployment, budget management, status reporting, and risk management. Ability to lead the organization’s most complex projects with minimal direction.
• Leadership - Leading, motivating and directing a cross-functional workgroup while being flexible in a fast- paced, changing environment, prioritizing, and executing tasks while reacting to project adjustments and alterations promptly and efficiently
• Methodology and Tools - Structured delivery management methodologies with formal tools/approaches. Experience with recognized Agile Delivery management tools including Microsoft Azure Development Ops (ADO), Microsoft Project, Jira, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft SharePoint: possess technical competency with various software programs including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio
• Communication - Excellent facilitation, verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate effectively at all levels and to all functional groups, translating technical requirements and issues into appropriate business context.
• Vendor Management - Apply best practices for management key business partnerships licit cooperation from a wide variety of sources including team members, other internal departments, and external parties (such as 3rd party partners)
• Self-Direction - Self-starter with the ability to work independently with minimal supervision in a dynamic environment with rapid development cycles, multifunctional teams, and tight project timeframes.
• Certifications Desired - Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified SAFe Scrum Master (SSM and or Project Management Professional (PMP)