Senior Release Train Manager - IT Infrastructure

Position Overview

The Senior Release Train Manager (RTM) is a servant leader and coach that is responsible for driving end to end delivery of value in an Agile Release Train (ART) or Value Stream in a Lean-Agile enterprise. This resource facilitates clear communication to management and to the team(s) by helping to educate the team in following Agile Processes. This role is responsible for facilitating the planning and delivery efforts of the teams within the Enterprise IT Infrastructure ART. To be considered for this position, you must have at least 5 years of experience leading IT Infrastructure teams in an Agile environment and experience as a people leader in an IT Infrastructure organization.
The Senior RTM is open, approachable, collaborative, and enjoys working with passionate people. They are proactive in solving problems to help their ART teams succeed. They will drive an Agile framework that results in high quality product delivery and continuous improvements in a fast-paced environment by helping to remove impediments and fostering an environment for high-performing team-dynamics. They are responsible for coordinating, planning, leading, organizing, and motivating agile scrum and kanban teams to achieve a high level of performance and quality in delivering agile projects that provide exceptional business value to users.
The Senior RTM is responsible for leading a team of Scrum Masters & RTE's and may also serve as Scrum Master of one or more scrum teams when needed. The Sr RTM is responsible for managing and providing consolidated summaries on several concurrent high visibility projects using Agile methods in a fast-paced environment that may cross multiple business divisions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead, hire, mentor, and scale a high-performing team of Scrum Masters & RTE's to support the IT Infrastructure ART and the Enterprise Applications ART.

• Leading ART PI Planning, program execution, scrum, and ART synch events

• Coaching Scrum Teams in relentless improvement

• Creating transparency using metrics to drive positive change

• Facilitating resolution of dependencies, impediments, and risks amongst the scrum teams

• Building high-performing teams – Focus on ever-improving team dynamics and performance

• Enabling organizational effectiveness – Work with other stakeholders to help the team contribute towards improving the overall development Value Stream

• Exhibits Lean-Agile leadership – Exhibits the behaviors of a Lean-Agile Leader with a Lean-Agile Mindset. Helps the team embrace SAFe Core Values, adopt, and apply SAFe Principles, and implement SAFe practices.

• Facilitates the team’s progress toward team goals – Trained as a team facilitator and is continuously engaged in challenging the old norms of development to improve performance in the areas of quality, predictability, flow, and velocity. Assisting the product owner(s) in maintaining and prioritization of the product backlog.  Helps the team focus on daily and Sprint Goals in the context of the current Program Increment (PI) Objectives.

• Leads team efforts in relentless improvement – Helps the team improve and take responsibility for their actions; facilitates the team retrospective. Teaches problem-solving techniques and helps the team become better problem-solvers for themselves.

• Eliminates impediments – Many blocking issues will be beyond the team’s authority or may require support from other teams. The Sr RTM supports the team in addressing and eliminating these issues to improve the likelihood of achieving the objectives of the Sprint and PI.

• Builds a high-performing team – Focuses on ever-improving team dynamics and performance. Helps the team manage interpersonal conflicts, challenges, and opportunities for growth. Escalates people problems to management where necessary, but only after internal team processes have failed to resolve the issue; helps individuals and teams through personnel changes.

• Responsibilities on the train – The Sr RTM leads the train and helps coordinate inter-team cooperation and helps the team operate well on the train.

• Coordinates with other teams – The Sr RTM supports the team’s efforts to continuously improve communications and relationships with other teams. They frequently represent the team in the Scrum of Scrums (SoS), helping the team remain aware of opportunities to engage and improve program effectiveness.

• Supports estimating – Guides the team in establishing normalized estimates and helps the team understand how to estimate Features and Capabilities.

• Other duties as required.

 

Professional Experience and Qualifications

•  Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience required.

• Must have 8+ years of experience as a Senior Scrum Master or Release Train Engineer.

• Minimum 5+ years supporting IT Infrastructure teams and projects, such as cloud engineering, data center operations, database engineering, network engineering, ITSecOps, desktop engineering, EUC, SRE, etc.

• 5+ years of experience as a people manager is required.

• Agile Tools experience (i.e. Jira, Confluence, TFS, DevOps, etc.).

• Thorough knowledge of Scrum framework and application of core Agile values and principles in managing Product Development and Delivery, SAFe Agile preferred. 

• Experience in successfully delivering medium/large size projects with minimal direction.

• SAFe RTE and CSM certifications are strongly preferred.

• 5+ years of experience with Jira and/or Jira Align is strongly preferred.

 

Leadership requirements include:

• Dynamic people leader with a growth mindset and focus on execution.

• Strong operator mentality with a “get it done” attitude, capable of balancing high-level strategic thinking with hands-on execution.

• Proven ability to build scalable, high-impact processes to support fast-moving technical needs.

• Demonstrated ability to effectively influence and collaborate with diverse internal stakeholders.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.

• Demonstrated success delivering results, measuring performance, and ensuring accountability.

• A team player with strong partnership and collaborative style.

• Excellent verbal and written communications skills, including meeting facilitation and presentation.

• Agile mindset: A mindset that sees learning opportunities from issues and failures and a belief that our skills and ability evolve and improve with effort over time. 

• Strong time management skills and ability to prioritize workloads 

• Ability to transfer knowledge to staff with different backgrounds, educational experiences and learning styles 

• Excellent planning and organizational skills 

• Excellent and professional verbal and written communication skills.  Ability to interact and communicate with all resource levels. 

• Can work remotely; travel requirements to (primarily) domestic destinations 5-10%

• A standard work week exists but with the understanding that additional time/effort outside of the usual parameters can/will occur based upon the overall needs, where deadlines exist and when necessary. 

Base Salary Range

$139,000.00 - $186,000.00

At Zelis we are committed to providing fair and equitable compensation packages. The base salary range allows us to make an offer that considers multiple individualized factors, including experience, education, qualifications, as well as job-related and industry-related knowledge and skills, etc. Base pay is just one part of our Total Rewards package, which may also include discretionary bonus plans, commissions, or other incentives depending on the role.

Zelis’ full-time associates are eligible for a highly competitive benefits package as well, which demonstrates our commitment to our employees’ health, well-being, and financial protection. The US-based benefits include a 401k plan with employer match, flexible paid time off, holidays, parental leaves, life and disability insurance, and health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.

Equal Employment Opportunity  
Zelis is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. 
 
We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet 100% of the qualifications for the role. We believe in the value of diverse perspectives and experiences and are committed to building an inclusive workplace for all. 

Accessibility Support 
We are dedicated to ensuring our application process is accessible to all candidates. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require a reasonable accommodation with any part of the application and/or interview process, please email [email protected]. 

  

Disclaimer 

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities, duties, and skills from time to time.