COLAB, located in Richmond, VA, is a digital agency with a team of around 25 talented and motivated individuals with the core purpose of empowering our clients through WebOps. WebOps is a framework for building and optimizing a website so that it constantly evolves to the needs of the entire organization. We are a fully hybrid team - with some of our team members operating fully-remote, some that prefer coming into our office most days, and some choosing a mix of the two. Additionally, we are currently piloting a 4-Day Workweek.

Our team is made up of product and project managers, strategists, designers, developers, and quality assurance analysts that come from a variety of backgrounds with diverse opinions and unique perspectives, which we believe is key to great problem solving.

We are looking for a Scrum Master who is ready to both work with budding Scrum teams to create the highest business value for our clients and mature those teams into self-organizing delivery engines. Scrum looks a little different at COLAB in that each Scrum team will be responsible for delivering multiple products on concurrent timelines with external factors that do not overlap across products (i.e. completely separate client engagements). The Scrum Master will report to the Product Success Team Lead.

At this time, COLAB will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

• You know how to create and maintain a high-energy environment for your team; you have a knack for learning what motivates different people and using that to drive positive outcomes
• You thrive in a high-accountability culture and will drive responsibility across the teams
• You are hard working, solution oriented, and looking for an opportunity to grow and be challenged
• You are a skillful communicator, listening carefully to understand both verbal and nonverbal cues; learning and practicing different communication styles comes naturally to you
• You are a natural leader who knows how to motivate a team to perform the best work of their lives
• You have strong interpersonal skills and can build rapport easily with a wide variety of personality types
• You can tease out healthy conflict in a team, lead them through discussion to determine the solution, and rally the team around the path forward
• You have a knack for learning what motivates different people and using that to drive positive outcomes
• You’re comfortable navigating both the “forest” and the “trees”; moving between varying levels of detail with ease
• You use a pragmatic approach to guide the team by seeking to understand what they want to achieve and helping them become more effective in an Agile context
• You thrive in a high-accountability culture and will drive responsibility across the teams
• You are comfortable with ambiguity, adapting, and are excited by the opportunity it presents
• You are innately curious and understand the impact of asking the right questions
• You aren’t afraid of being a change agent in a small organization; you’re ready to dive in, roll up your sleeves, and can adapt to a changing environment
• You’re not easily flustered because you know that a steady leader helps your team have better focus and be better problem solvers
• You aren’t conflict averse and thrive in an environment with open, honest, and direct communication

Lead the production team in self-organization

• Support the product owner and provide education where needed
• Remove impediments and coach the scrum team on how to remove impediments on their own
• Artfully engage and support the team in utilizing Agile ceremonies to identify and resolve conflicts and issues
• Grows teams to a high performing level by recognizing areas of strength and improvement and employing appropriate coaching and development techniques.
• Identify organizational roadblocks that limit team productivity and quality, and provide meaningful feedback to the team, so we can improve, innovate, and move forward

Coach and educate team members on Agile methodologies

• Coach team and managers on the Agile mindset/behavior.
• Increase team knowledge of Agile/Lean topics helping them understand “why” practices work not just “how”.
• Assess the Agile/Scrum maturity of the team and coach the team to higher levels of maturity.
• Actively seek continued learning and self-improvement on your own career journey
• Stays current with Agility industry trends & explores other perspectives by reading (or contributing to!) blogs, consuming external media, & possibly participate in external Scrum/Agile events.

Help the product owner and production team to achieve success and drive value for our clients

• Collaborate with project managers to ensure client and project deadlines are lining up with sprint cycles
• Inform team resourcing
• Schedule and facilitate scrum ceremonies, meetings, and work with product owner and/or stakeholders to clear roadblocks for the team
• Monitor performance and progress to ensure team is staying on track with goals and work with the team to make adjustments as needed

Requirements

• 5+ years of leading 2 or more Scrum teams
• Thorough knowledge of the SDLC, with proven experience and success with websites and web applications
• Strong interpersonal skills and high EQ
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Strong negotiation and leadership skills
• Exceptional attention to detail
• Effective facilitation skills at the team level (neutrality, conflict management, communication, etc.)
• Experience working on a web development team with cross functional resources such as strategy, ux, and visual design
• Advanced understanding of Lean-Agile metrics (health, value, flow and quality) to help teams continually improve
• Proven experience in producing multiple, concurrent, shippable product deliverables on short (6-8 month) timelines
• Ability to work independently and be highly proactive
• Ability to work under pressure by prioritizing competing work streams
• Proficiency in Agile tools such as Jira (usage, administration, and configuration), Figma, digital whiteboard, video conferencing, etc.
• A positive solution-oriented attitude, always
• A unique perspective

Benefits

• Hybrid workplace (choose to work remotely, in our Richmond office, or a mix)
• 4-day workweek (currently piloting)
• Inclusive, sociable, and team-oriented culture
• 100% Company-paid Health Insurance
• Optional Dental & Vision Insurance
• Retirement Plan (401k) with Company Match
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Parental Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Short Term & Long Term Disability
• Training & Development
• Access to Onsite Gym & Pool