Senior Scrum Master

The Scrum Master is responsible for facilitating disciplined, high-quality Agile delivery within a designated workstream of the Ecosystem Modernisation Programme, ensuring that teams operate as effective, autonomous, and continuously improving Agile units. The role partners closely with the Workstream Lead, who retains end-to-end accountability for outcomes, decisions, and prioritisation, while the Scrum Master focuses on delivery execution, Agile maturity, and team effectiveness. Positioned within the PMO governance structure, the Scrum Master acts as a custodian of Agile practices, ensuring consistent application of Scrum and Agile ways of working across teams, alignment to programme governance, and transparency of delivery progress, risks, and dependencies into the PMO and Programme Board Agile Delivery Facilitation • Facilitate all core Scrum ceremonies including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives. • Enable predictable, incremental delivery of agreed workstream outcomes in alignment with the integrated programme plan. • Ensure that sprint commitments are realistic, transparent, and aligned to broader programme milestones and dependencies. Partnership with Workstream Leadership • Partner closely with the Workstream Lead (Executive Product Owner-type role) to translate strategic intent, decisions, and priorities into a well-refined and actionable backlog. • Support the Workstream Lead in maintaining clarity of scope, priorities, and trade-offs while preserving Agile delivery discipline. • Act as a trusted delivery partner, surfacing delivery risks, constraints, and dependencies early. Agile Coaching & Team Enablement • Serve as the custodian of Agile and Scrum practices within the workstream. • Coach delivery teams to become self-sufficient, high-performing, and autonomous, progressively reducing dependency on the Scrum Master over time. • Embed a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and outcomes-focused delivery. Governance, Reporting & PMO Alignment • Ensure delivery artefacts, metrics, and reporting align with PMO standards and programme governance cadence. • Actively manage delivery risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies, escalating through PMO channels where required. • Provide transparent, factual delivery insights to support Programme Board, SteerCo, and EXCO reporting as required. Cross-Team & Vendor Collaboration • Coordinate with other Scrum Masters, Project Managers, and delivery leads to manage cross-workstream dependencies. • Facilitate effective collaboration with vendors and partners operating within the workstream, ensuring alignment to programme delivery expectations and Agile standards. Knowledge and Methodologies • Strong working knowledge of Scrum, Agile principles, and scaled Agile delivery within complex enterprise environments. Understanding of programme-level governance, dependency management, and integrated planning. • Familiarity with enterprise technology delivery contexts, including platform modernisation, digital enablement, and systems integration. • Knowledge of the employee benefits / financial services domain is highly advantageous. Competencies • Advanced facilitation and coaching skills. • Strong stakeholder engagement and communication capability, including engagement with senior and executive stakeholders. • Delivery discipline combined with pragmatism in complex, multi-vendor environments. • Ability to influence without authority and operate effectively within matrixed governance structures. • Strong problem-solving, conflict resolution, and continuous improvement mindset. Requirements Minimum 5–8 years’ experience as a Scrum Master or Agile delivery lead within medium to large-scale programmes. • Demonstrated experience working in complex, multi-workstream or enterprise transformation programmes. • Experience within employee benefits, insurance, or broader financial services environments is strongly preferred. • Proven track record of coaching teams from early Agile adoption through to mature, autonomous delivery. • Relevant tertiary qualification in Information Technology, Business, or a related field. • Agile / Scrum certification (e.g. PSM I/II, CSM, SAFe Scrum Master or equivalent). • SAFe or scaled Agile experience/certification is advantageous.