Job Title: Scrum Master
Term: 12 months
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Reports to: Technical Program Manager
Level: Intermediate/ Senior (4-8 years of relevant experience).
Key Responsibilities
- Facilitate and coordinate Scrum ceremonies (Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Retrospective) with clear agendas, time-boxing, and documented outcomes (decisions, risks, actions, owners, due dates).
- Own and maintain the team's delivery metrics dashboard (sprint velocity, burndown/burnup, defect rates, cycle time, cumulative flow), surfacing trends and escalating concerns to the TPM.
- Actively identify, track, and remove constraints blocking squad members from delivering sprint goals; escalate cross-organizational blockers to the TPM within agreed SLAs.
- Coach squad members and relevant stakeholders on agile principles, Scrum practices, and delivery best practices, progressively building internal agile capability.
- Facilitate cross-squad coordination where multiple technical work streams (Backend, Frontend, API, Data) have interdependent sprint commitments.
- Support knowledge transfer by ensuring that process documentation, decision logs, and sprint artefacts are maintained in the agreed shared workspace.
- Report on delivery health metrics at fortnightly steering cadence, partnering with the TPM for programme-level reporting.
Measurable Outcomes & Deliverables
First 30 Days
- Attend all Scrum ceremonies and produce baseline assessment of ceremony health, compliance, and documentation gaps.
- Own the delivery metrics dashboard and report on velocity, burndown, defect rates, and cycle time and report any present gaps.
- Produce a cross-squad dependency register across Backend, Frontend, API, and Data workstreams.
- Confirm fortnightly steering cadence with the TPM and key stakeholders.
Days 31–60
- Sprint velocity stabilizing; at least two consecutive sprints with 80% sprint goal achievement.
- DoD compliance rate tracked and reported; 90% of completed stories meet DoD criteria.
- Backlog health confirmed: two sprints of stories refined and sprint-ready at all times.
- At least one agile coaching session delivered to client counterparts or junior squad members.
- Delivery metrics dashboard live and shared with TPM and stakeholders.
Days 61–90
- Retrospective improvement actions tracked; demonstrable improvement in at least two delivery metrics since sprint 1.
- Agile maturity assessment (informal) of squad completed; coaching plan for remaining engagement period produced.
- All sprint ceremonies running to time and rated as useful by squad members (informal pulse check).
- Knowledge transfer - one squad member or stakeholder who has visibly adopted improved Scrum practices through coaching
Ongoing KPIs
- Enable the squad to consistently achieve agreed sprint goals through effective planning and execution.
- Ensure stories meet the agreed Definition of Done before acceptance.
- Proactively identify, escalate, and facilitate resolution of delivery blockers and dependencies.
- Maintain a healthy, prioritized backlog that supports upcoming sprint planning and delivery.
- Drive continuous improvement by facilitating effective sprint ceremonies and retrospectives and ensuring agreed improvement actions are followed through.
Stakeholders & Ways of Working
Agile Ceremonies Owned: Sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, backlog refinement.
Reporting Cadence:
- Fortnightly delivery health summary to TPM.
- Sprint metrics dashboard updated at end of each sprint.
- Ad-hoc impediment escalation to TPM as required.
Cross-Functional Touchpoints:
- All squad roles (API Engineer, Backend, Frontend, Data Scientist, UI/UX Designer).
- Product Owners and stakeholders attending sprint reviews.
- TPM for programme-level dependency and risk alignment.
Required Skills & Experience
- 4–8 years of experience in Scrum Master or agile delivery roles, with at least 2 years in technology delivery environments.
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Professional Scrum Master (PSM), or equivalent certification required.
- Proven ability to facilitate agile ceremonies for cross-functional technical teams, including engineers, data scientists, and designers.
- Experience tracking and improving delivery metrics (velocity, cycle time, burndown, DoD compliance).
- Strong coaching and facilitation skills; ability to work with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to identify and remove impediments at both team and organizational level.
- Experience working in embedded client-side or consulting delivery contexts preferred.
- Familiarity with backlog management tools (Jira, Azure DevOps, or equivalent).
- Understanding software development lifecycle (SDLC), including testing, integration, and release processes.
Preferred / Nice-to-Have Skills
- SAFe Agilist or equivalent scaled agile certification.
- Experience in fintech, payments, or mobile money delivery environments.
- Familiarity with Kanban or hybrid Scrum/Kanban delivery models.
- Prior experience embedding within a client organisation in a consulting or secondment capacity.
- Experience facilitating agile transformations or team capability-building programmes.
- Exposure to API integration, backend, or data science delivery workstreams.
Tools & Technologies
- Backlog and sprint management: Jira / Azure DevOps / equivalent
- Documentation and knowledge base: Confluence / SharePoint
- Communication: Microsoft Teams
- Metrics and reporting: Jira dashboards / Excel / Azure DevOps dashboards
- Retrospective facilitation: Miro or equivalent
- Collaboration: Miro / Mural / equivalent virtual whiteboard
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