Agile Release Train Engineer - Project Manager
Position Description: Summary
The Release Train Engineer (RTE) is a servant leader and coach for the Agile Release Train (ART). The RTE facilitates the ART events and processes to firmly anchor the teams on maximising the value delivered. RTEs bring their breadth and depth of Agile experience to their train, communicate with stakeholders, escalate impediments, help manage risk, and drive relentless improvement across the portfolio.
Position Description: Responsibilities:
- Manage and optimise the flow of value through the ART.
- Configure SAFe® to the organisation's needs, standardising and documenting practices.
- Coach leaders, teams, and Scrum Masters in Lean-Agile practices and mindsets.
- Help manage risks and dependencies.
- Use Rally, Kanbans and other endorsed tools to maximise visibility and efficiency.
- Establish and communicate the annual calendars for Iterations and Program Increments (PIs).
- Facilitate PI Planning readiness by fostering a Continuous Exploration process which drives the synthesis of a Vision, a Road-map, and Backlogs.
- Facilitate the PI planning event.
- Summarise Team PI Objectives into Program PI Objectives and publish them for visibility and transparency.
- Assist tracking the execution of features and capabilities.
- Facilitate periodic synchronisation meetings, including the ART sync at the Program Level and the value stream sync for Solution Trains (as necessary).
- Assist with economic decision-making by facilitating feature and capability estimation by teams and the roll-up to Epics, where necessary.
- Support teams in problem identification and decision-making, and escalates and track impediments that cannot be handled at the team level.
- Provide input on resourcing to address critical bottlenecks.
- Encourage collaboration between teams and System and Solution Architects/Engineering.
- Work with Product and Solution Management, Product Owners, and other stakeholders to help ensure strategy and execution alignment.
- Improve the flow of value through value streams using DevOps and Release on Demand competency.
- Help drive the Lean User Experience (UX) innovation cycle.
- Facilitate System Demos.
- Drive relentless improvement via Inspect and Adapt workshops; assess the agility level of the ART and help them improve.
- Foster Communities of Practice and the use of engineering and Built-In Quality practices.
Required Technical Skills
- Proven deep expertise in Lean and Agile Concepts.
- 10+ years of experience in leading large diverse teams (Development, Support, Maintenance etc.,) preferably in a distributed or global delivery model.
- Worked in a large, Scaled Agile enterprises.
- Sensitive to the unique opportunities and challenges associated with facilitating and continuously aligning a large development program.
- Successfully led projects in complex and challenging conditions.
- Experience in cost management, budgeting and managed project budgets.
- Lean-Agile mindset; has an ability and willingness to acquire new hard skills, and an open-mindedness to new tasks and new challenges.
- Knowledge of and appreciation for DevOps.
- Ability to manage from outcomes vs timelines.
Required People & Leadership Skills
- Servant Leader who can build and motivate high performing teams.
- Encourages and supports the personal development of each individual.
- Coaches teams to self-organise and identify and fix problems for themselves.
- Supports the teams with openness, understanding and empathy and encourages the teams to operate in similar fashion.
- Thinks beyond day-to-day activities and deadlines; applies systems thinking and stays grounded in outcomes and in the program's overall performance.
- Excellent communicator who can communicate with team members as well with senior leaders.
- Excellent negotiation skills; exhibits "Win/win" thinking - can be persuasive and exert influence, while sensitively seeking a solution which will benefit all parties.
- Excellent facilitation skills.
Education & Experience Level:
- SAFe® 4.6 RTE certification (or higher).
- 10+ years of experience in leading large diverse teams preferably in a distributed or global delivery model.
- 5-7 years of experience as a Scrum Master in a scaled Agile enterprise.
- CSM/PSM I/PMI-ACP certifications.
- Has done cost management, budgeting and managed project budgets.
