Scrum Master

About the roleWe want to be the leading local council in digital innovation. To achieve this, we need the right human to help us move fast and raise the bar for our delivery team.
You will need:

- Natural openness, curiosity and optimism (a bit of bravery probably wouldn’t hurt either)
- Excellent command of the agile manifesto, SCRUM framework, and experience of delivering both agile and waterfall projects successfully
- Strong understanding of agile principles and experience implementing Scrum in a software development environment
- Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills: able to inspire, motivate and build trust with a technical and non-technical audience
- Some data geekery, with a view to making decent decisions (not finger-in-the-air fluff)
- Ability to demonstrate awareness/understanding of equal opportunities and other people’s behaviour, physical, social and welfare needs
- A responsive and adaptable attitude
- A passion for making a positive impact for individuals and services

You'll get extra points for:

- Knowledge or coaching experience of the Product Owner role
- Experience in software testing
- A background in service design or software engineering
- Knowledge of project reporting at a high-level in a more traditional Waterfall PMO.
- An understanding of a traditional IT environment, as we are transitioning from a place of legacy systems and processes to a brave new world
- A demonstrable understanding of the public sector digital and technology agenda
- A well-rounded view of what good looks like in the world of public sector digital

What will you be doing?
- Lead the website delivery team, establishing and implementing quality processes that bring maximum-value public services for the council and its key customers.
- Oversee the successful delivery of digital projects to time, cost and quality, driving the use of both agile and more traditional methods, as appropriatebut champion the value of rapid, high-quality delivery.
- Plan, estimate and manage the allocation of people’s time to prioritised projects and products, adjusting as required to ensure key objectives are met, and feeding into the wider portfolio
- Facilitate daily stand-up meetings, sprint planning, sprint review, and sprint retrospective sessions
- Act as a mentor and coach to team members, helping them to understand and embrace the Scrum framework
- Work with the product owner to ensure that the product backlog is well-maintained and prioritized - and to make sure they have the data and understanding to make the decisions (i.e. shortening the timescales increases technical debt)
- Identify and remove any impediments that may be hindering the team's progress
- Monitor and report on the team's progress, using metrics and other tools to measure and communicate your team's performance
- Collaborate with other Scrum Masters, Project Managers, and agile coaches to ensure that best practices are being followed across the organization
- Be a proactive thinker, do-er and challenger, so that we can do our best work

About youAs a Scrum Master, you will have a strong understanding of agile principles and experience implementing Scrum in a dynamic environment.
You will be a cultural architect and passionate about continuous learning for yourself and your team. You will have an innate drive to increase productivity and visibility, and will be so committed to this cause that you will provide guidance on delivery practices to all areas of the organisation.
As a Scrum Master, you will be a servant leader, able to coach and mentor team members in the framework while also serving as a mediator and problem-solver when conflicts or roadblocks arise.
You will be familiar with Agile metrics and delivery benchmarking to ensure that we have the correct data to make informed decisions. Finally, you will have excellent political and strategic insight to understand the needs of key stakeholders and the complexity of several moving parts.

About usWest Northants Council’s Digital, Technology and Innovation service is revolutionising local authority IT. Our strategy is visionary and ground-breaking; our aim is to be the most innovative local authority in the country.
We need smart people. Armed, prepared and ready-to-go game-changers, visionaries, and challengers, people who want to go at 1000 miles an hour - we’d rather run fast and break things, than walk slowly and never change anything. You’ll work with like-minded, smart people; you’ll take old ways of doing things and challenge them. We’re big on removing barriers and busting constraints, so you’ll have what you need to help us transform this into a forward-thinking, the digital local authority that delivers public services in a progressive way.
Working in the Digital team, our purpose is to research, design and build better end-to-end Digital services for our councils and residents. The Scrum Master role has been created due to a high profile and comp