Scrum Master

Role summary

This role is offered on a part time basis, for three days per week. The role can be based from any of our Guildford, London, Gloucester, or Leeds offices, however the role can involve predominantly home working with some office visits as needed, on average one day per week. A small amount of travel to other UK offices will be required, on average once per quarter. The successful candidate will be required to undergo a UK Security Vetting process. 

Let’s start by talking about what the role of Scrum Master is not/does not do:

• A Scrum Master is not a Project Manager by another name;
• A Scrum Master is not a Team Lead by another name – the Scrum Master doesn’t manage the development team because the Scrum team is self-organizing;
• A Scrum Master doesn’t plan releases – that’s done by the Product Owner;
• A Scrum Master is not responsible for delivery – that’s done by development team.

The Scrum Master is responsible for doing anything possible to help the development team perform at their highest level and supporting the process to enable the development team to successfully deliver. This involves removing any impediments to progress, facilitating meetings, working with the Product Owner to make sure the Product Backlog is in good shape and ready for the next sprint, gathering team level metrics and generally ensuring Scrum is understood and enacted correctly. Scrum Masters do this by ensuring that the Scrum Team adheres to Scrum theory, practices, and rules. The Scrum Master helps those outside the Scrum Team understand which of their interactions with the Scrum Team are helpful and which aren’t. The Scrum Master helps everyone change these interactions to maximize the value created by the Scrum Team.

A Scrum Master is typically not a manager or tech/team lead, but is an influential leader and coach who manages by servant leadership and does not do direct command and control management.

The role of a Scrum Master is for the most part defined by a person’s character. There are good, bad and great Scrum Masters. It is a people-centric role and in many cases these types of soft-skills are difficult to learn.

An Agile project is defined by the Product Owner and developed by the team. The Scrum Master is there to facilitate, make sure that Agile processes are being followed and to support the Product Owner and the team in any way possible. The Scrum Master can be the difference between project success and failure.

“Whereas the Product Owner is responsible for Product Success, the Scrum Master is responsible for Process Success.”

What you’ll be doing

• Providing Scrum Master expertise for multiple scrum teams.
• Providing hands-on advise and coaching to at least one scrum team which you are not directly responsible for
• Leading and coaching a department or small business unit in scrum adoption and implementation
• Understanding Agile scaling frameworks such as LeSS, SAFe and Nexus
• Understanding and applying, where appropriate, alternatives to Scrum such as Kanban

Key accountabilities

• Work closely and diligently with Product Owners and other stakeholders to better understand their requirements or user stories
• Ensure the Product Owner defines and maintains the Product Backlog using the I.N.V.E.S.T. model
• Protect the development teams from external and internal distractions and acting as a buffer between the team and process overhead so each team member can focus on shipping working software/products
• Remove impediments so that the development team can focus on the work at hand, ensuring that the Scrum process doesn’t impede development team progress
• Facilitating completion of the work without coercion, assigning, or dictating the work but enabling discussion, decision making and conflict resolution
• Definition and adaption of the development process to be followed by the team
• Assisting with internal and external communications, improving transparency and radiating information
• Taking on administrative, coaching and leadership roles that make Scrum development possible.

What we’re looking for

• A servant Leader – must be able to garner respect from his/her team and be willing to get their hands dirty to get the job done;

• Communicative and social – must be able to communicate well with teams and enable close cooperation across all roles and functions;

• Facilitative – must be able to lead and demonstrate value-add principles to a team;

• Assertive – must be able to ensure Agile/Scrum concepts and principles are adhered to, must be able to be a voice of reason and authority and make the tough calls where needed;

• Situationally aware – must be the first to notice differences and issues as they arise and elevate them to management;

• Enthusiastic – must be high-energy;

• Seeking Continual improvement – must continually be growing ones craft learning new tools and techniques to manage oneself and a team;

• Acting upon conflict resolution – must be able to facilitate discussion and facilitate alternatives or different approaches;

• Promoting team empowerment – encourages & demands self-organisation from the development team;

• Promoting team transparency – must desire to bring disclosure and transparency to the business about development and grow business trust.

• Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaboration Skills.

Life at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence 

We are embracing Hybrid Working. This means you and your colleagues may be working in different locations, such as from home, another BAE Systems office or client site, some or all of the time, and work might be going on at different times of the day. By embracing technology, we can interact, collaborate and create together, even when we’re working remotely from one another. Hybrid Working allows for increased flexibility in when and where we work, helping us to balance our work and personal life more effectively, and enhance wellbeing.

Diversity and inclusion are integral to the success of BAE Systems Applied Intelligence. We are proud to have an organisational culture where employees with varying perspectives, skills, life experiences and backgrounds – the best and brightest minds – can work together to achieve excellence and realise individual and organisational potential. 

About BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

We use our intelligence-led insights to help defend Governments, Nations and Societies from cyber-attacks and financial crime. Our customers depend on our evolving capabilities to help them safely grow their organisations. Our unprecedented access to threat intelligence, world-leading analysts and market-leading technology means we can help them to adapt, evolve and stay ahead of the criminals.

Division overview: Corporate Functions

At BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, we pride ourselves in being a leader in the cyber defence industry, and the business could not operate without all the dedicated work of our Corporate Functions teams. From Finance & Operations through Communications & Marketing, to HR and Site Operations and more, our Corporate Functions enable our divisions to implement ground-breaking digital transformations and crucial defence software.

As part of Corporate Functions, you will be supporting and partnering with our global business from the backline, being a strategic advisor within your specialist area, and ensuring the business runs smoothly and efficiently. We all have a role to play in defending our clients; and this is yours.