Scrum Master

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

Originally posted on Himalayas