Agile Coach #2741~ Costco Wholesale
Issaquah, WA

Job Description

Description of position

An Agile Coach is instrumental in providing coaching and mentoring in support of Agile approaches such as Scrum and Kanban methods, practices and frameworks. The role is responsible for coaching and enabling agile behaviors and emphasizing agile values and principles. An Agile Coach will influence all levels of the organization to drive increased agility, speed, quality, autonomy, innovation and nurturing an environment where transparency is the focus. An Agile Coach understands that the outcome of their success is seen through the behaviors of others, and they provide the kind of coaching necessary to enable this. This role is key to enabling people to understand, learn and behave in an agile way that drives customer and business value while creating a healthy, agile team culture.

Note: Over time, this role will be re-evaluated based upon impact, measurable benefits and value executing project deliverables. Should the number of people in this role be reduced or it is determined the role is no longer necessary, those in the Agile Coach role will transition back to their former role or equivalent.

Tasks and responsibilities

* Coaches, mentors and guides agile teams on their journey to becoming self-sustaining, high performing agile teams.
* Drives adoption of Agile practices, techniques, and frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban, reducing the gap between agile theory and practice.
* Develops, tracks and monitors Agile metrics on things that impact value driven delivery and indicate potential problems, assisting teams in implementing solutions to those problems.
* Drives continuous improvement initiatives through data driven metrics, which encourage the adoption of agile practices and result in improved project execution, communication and concurrently building group skills and capabilities.
* Identifies organizational impediments to successful Agile transformation and work with the leadership team to create effective strategies to overcome them.
* Creates and delivers presentations and training sessions with an eye on process and related best practices and provides guidance on creating Agile artifacts.
* Fosters an environment of mutual respect and cooperation, transparency, autonomy, agility, learning, innovation, quality and speed of execution.
* Manages conflict, disharmony, and strife among people and situations while recognizing and addressing sensitivities, reducing barriers and increasing communication to assure an attitude of cooperation and joint action.
* Collaborates with teams to assess the overall health of their Agile practices and identify improvement opportunities.
* Partners with other Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters across the organization to align and drive consistency and transparency throughout the organization.
* Organizes and facilitates workshops that promote Agile maturity across the organization.
* Communicates well with teams and leaders of the organization, demonstrating good listening skills, asking questions and providing feedback.
* Serves as subject matter expert (SME) across the organization for Scrum, Kanban and Lean methodologies and offers guidance and training on effective ways to use physical and electronic tools to support methodologies.
* Builds solid working relationships and utilize effective negotiation and persuasion skills in working across the organizations.
* Participates in Agile Iteration and Release Planning.
* Assists in other areas of the division and company as necessary.

Required skills, abilities, and certifications

* 2+ years' experience executing Agile projects in large, complex environments.
* Experience in coaching, mentoring and training new Agile/Scrum teams.
* Deep understanding of Agile values, principles, and practices.
* Hands on experience in Scrum & Kanban as well as other Agile methodologies - such as Lean, SAFe or eXtreme Programming.
* Strong facilitation and communication skills.
* Strong Interpersonal and conflict resolution skills.
* Effective leadership and negotiation skills.
* Adaptive coaching style and the ability to work hands-on with teams in an advisor role with the ability to adapt based on the agile 'readiness' of the team.
* Enthusiastic and maintains a positive, high-energy attitude.
* Ability to operate autonomously while also working well within a team environment.
* Ability to assess, measure and communicate progress against defined goals.
* Drive for continuous learning.
* Ability to demonstrate emotional intelligence and integrity.
* Highly efficient in coaching the formation of a well-refined and prioritized backlog.
* Highly efficient in coaching Scrum Masters and Product Owners.

Recommended skills, abilities, and certifications

* 6+ years in Project Delivery roles and/or Release management.
* Certifications: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Coaching Agile Teams (ICP-ACC), Agile Team Facilitation (ICP-ATF).
* Agile experience at Costco is highly recommended.
* Proficiency in relevant programming languages.
* Successful internal candidates will have spent one year or more on their current team.

Apply: Use the link below to upload all required documents to

https://chm.tbe.taleo.net/chm02/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=COSTCO&cws=1&rid=2741

Applicants and employees for this position will not be sponsored for work authorization, including, but not limited to H1-B visas. If hired, you will be required to provide proof of authorization to work in the United States. Apart from any religious or disability considerations, open availability is needed to meet the needs of the business.