Scrum Master (Hybrid - In Office 10 days/Month)

We are adding a Scrum Master to our team!

Who We Are:

Since 1909, National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) has been one of America’s most successful and highly rated independent life insurance companies. We specialize in a suite of innovative products for life’s journey, giving people the financial stability, careful guidance and peace of mind to lead a life filled with confidence, dignity and grace.

NGL's Core Values – integrity, dependability, collaboration, compassion and growth are a foundation of our company and help to build on the interactions we have with our policyholders, partners, funeral homes and each other. We believe in creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for all where diversity is celebrated, and everyone is encouraged to live their best, most authentic self. We offer Employee Resource Groups for employees to get involved, learn, network, and offer professional and personal development opportunities.

With over 100 years of experience, our passion is to serve people. Learn more. 

Work Environment: NGL offers a flexible work environment where employees can work fully remote, hybrid or onsite at our Madison, Wis. office. We support virtual working arrangements in certain states outside of WI.

A Day in the Life:

The Scrum Master is focused on empowering Scrum Teams to continually mature and improve the value they deliver to NGL. The Scrum Master is responsible for guiding and coaching one to three Scrum teams on how to use Agile/Scrum practices and values. The role ensures that teams are appropriately leveraging the Scrum framework and Agile mindset to encourage desired results. The Scrum Master acts as a servant leader to the Scrum team, with a focus on creating an environment of collaboration, responsibility and accountability, helping the product owner to create a robust product backlog, and coaching the Scrum team to improved performance.

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Role Accountability
  
  
  
  • Regularly support one to two teams.
  
  
  • Major focus on deepening core Scrum Master skills.
  
  
  • Supports improving organizational Agile, leads improvement of cross team collaboration.
  
  
  
  


• Agile Practices
  
  
  
  • Solid understanding of at least 1 Agile framework and how to coach a team to utilize it using metrics.
  
  
  • Learning other Agile frameworks in use at NGL and can assist a team to select the correct one based on their work.
  
  
  • Expanding knowledge of metrics, how to track them, and when to use them across multiple frameworks.
  
  
  
  


• Facilitation
  
  
  
  • Sets a clear agenda and expectations to get the right outcomes from a meeting/ceremony; helps teams achieve outcomes on a regular basis.
  
  
  • Regularly adjusts approach during meetings/ceremonies and uses powerful questions to help teams drive results.
  
  
  • Can sense when there is conflict and utilizes multiple approaches to coach teams to address it.
  
  
  
  


• Coaching
  
  
  
  • Coaches teams to create cultures where they hold each other accountable.
  
  
  • Regularly uses a structured approach to individual and team coaching to help them grow.
  
  
  • Assesses team maturity and utilizes results to help teams improve on a regular basis.
  
  
  
  


• Organizational Agile
  
  
  
  • Knows how their team adds value for NGL as well as how they fit into the Value Stream structure to help drive organizational results.
  
  
  • Utilizes metrics to help teams understand how they are impacting organizational results and find opportunities for improvement.
  
  
  • Takes on communication, training, and promotion of Agile for their team and key groups their team supports, assists on organizational support of Agile.
  
  
  
  


• Personal Development
  
  
  
  • Focused on how to grow teams understanding of Agile and associated practices, growing skills in how to help those who work with Scrum teams.
  
  
  • Refining core competencies needed to support teams as a Scrum Master, growing skills to improve Agile at an organizational level.
  
  
  • Learning how to coach multiple teams effectively.
  
  
  
  

Essential to Your Success:

• In-depth knowledge of Agile methodology and /Scrum framework


• Ability to thrive in ambiguity as the organization builds out practices


• Demonstrated ability to facilitate, and mentor in group and individual setting


• Utilize data to improve results


• Leadership and coaching abilities to guide and mentor Associate Scrum Masters and teams


• Conflict resolution skills to address issues and promote healthy team dynamics


• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written


• Demonstrated use of agile management software used to create and maintain backlogs and manage sprints


• Demonstrated creation of visibility to the work via tools and techniques vs PM software

Education Requirements:

• Preferred: 4 Year / Bachelors Degree
  
  
  
  • Bachelors degree preferred, or relevant work experience can be substituted.
  
  
  
  


• Preferred: Other
  
  
  
  • PSM or similar Scrum Master certification preferred.
  
  
  
  

Years of Experience:

• A minimum of two years of experience in a Scrum Master role. Flow metrics, JIRA, and experience working within a product organization a plus.
  

NGL is committed to creating a diverse environment and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability, sex or gender (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions), gender identity or gender expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, military service and veteran status, physical or mental disability, protected medical condition as defined by applicable state or local law, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

NGL is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in the recruitment process. To request an accommodation, please contact [email protected].