Agile Release Train Engineer

Who We Are

Join a team that puts its People First! As a member of the First American family of companies, First American Trust is a federal savings bank that has provided banking, wealth management, and trust solutions on a national, full-service basis for more than five decades. Since 1889, First American (NYSE: FAF) has held an unwavering belief in its people. They are passionate about what they do, and we are equally passionate about fostering an environment where all feel welcome, supported, and empowered to be innovative and reach their full potential. Our inclusive, people-first culture has earned our company numerous accolades, including being named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for nine consecutive years. We have also earned awards as a best place to work for women, diversity and LGBTQ+ employees, and have been included on more than 50 regional best places to work lists. First American will always strive to be a great place to work, for all. For more information, please visit www.careers.firstam.com.

What We Do

The Agile Release Train Engineer (RTE) at First American (FA) Trust supports the Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) at FA Trust to implement FA Trust’s business agility roadmap to deliver value and achieve the desired outcomes for our customers. The Agile RTE will scale Lean and Agile practices, providing training, tools, and coaching, to effectively scale agility at FA Trust. The RTE is a servant leader and coach dedicated to optimizing and improving the flow of value through Agile Release Trains, collaborating with various teams, including product management and software development teams, and communicates progress to stakeholders, escalates impediments, manages risk, and matures the Agile operating model.

What You'll Do:

• Work closely with First American (FA) Trust’s Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) team to implement LACE strategy, operationalize FA Trust’s Business Agility roadmap and improve Lean Agile practices.

• Implement Lean Portfolio Management and scale agility to enable Agile teams to effectively plan, handle dependencies/risks and successfully deliver strategic initiatives.

• Manage and optimize the flow of value through one or more Agile Release Trains (ART).

• Closely partner with scum masters, product owners and product managers to guide Agile Release Trains, ensuring alignment between strategy and execution.

• Facilitate SAFe events including PI planning and readiness events, Innovation and Planning events, ART Sync, Scum of Scrums/Coach Sync, PO-PM Sync etc.

• Integrate, administer, and use agile workflow tools including Planview and Jira to help the organization visually track and manage the flow of work.

• Lead regular and open communication across the Agile operating model to ensure stakeholders have high visibility and awareness of progress, dependencies, ART level impediments and risks, train-level metrics etc.

• Drive continuous improvement by using feedback and Agile metrics that matter to identify areas of improvement, and guide teams in implementing them.

• Identify and implement additional organizational, operational, and process changes needed to optimize the impact of the Lean-Agile journey.

• Grow FA Trust’s Lean-Agile competencies by assisting in development of training and conducting training sessions to educate individuals/teams on Agile values, principles, and practices.

• May need to perform duties outside of normal work hours based on business needs.

• May need to travel to attend in-person events based on business needs.

What You'll Bring:

• Deep knowledge of Lean-Agile practices from having served as a Lean-Agile champion, agile transformation lead, or Agile coach.

• Practical experience in managing release trains under Agile, preferably SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework)

• Experience in Lean portfolio management.

• Lean mindset, Agile coaching and mentoring expertise to facilitate product refinement, Agile development and delivery best practices. 
• Experience in conducting Agile training for leaders and teams.

• Facilitates discussion at all levels of the organization to resolve conflicts.

• Escalates urgent issues, and risks and drive them to resolution in a timely manner.

• Skillfully negotiates, persuades, and gains consensus from cross functional teams and business stakeholders.

• Understands the roles at all levels of the Scaled Agile Framework.

• Understands the difference and the appropriate boundaries between this role and the role of Scrum Master, Agile Coach, and manager.

• Active listening skills.

• Receptive to feedback.

Preferred Knowledge/Skills

• Experience in driving agile transformation from pilot through full-scale implementation strongly preferred.

• Systems thinker and servant leader.

• Applies knowledge of SAFe to deliver outcomes at the Team and/or ART level.

• Experience in Jira administration preferred.

• Understands advanced concepts of software development processes and procedures.

• Listens to others with empathy and accepts input from team members.

Education

• Generally, requires BS Degree in an IT or Business Field or equivalent work experience.

Licenses or Certificates

• Certified ScrumMaster or equivalent.

• Certified SAFe Release Train Engineer/ SAFe Advanced Scrum Master/ SAFe Practice Consultant 6.0 preferred.

• Certified Agile Coach preferred.

Experience

• Typically, has at least seven (7) years of real-world Agile coaching experience as a scrum master, agile coach, or release train engineer, guiding software product teams, divisions, or organizations through the varied challenges of adopting and scaling agility within an organization.

• Preferably has at least two (2) years serving as an RTE.

Pay Range: $114,625.00 - $152,825.00

This hiring range is a reasonable estimate of the base pay range for this position at the time of posting.  Pay is based on a number of factors which may include job-related knowledge, skills, experience, business requirements and geographic location

What We Offer

By choice, we don’t simply accept individuality – we embrace it, we support it, and we thrive on it! Our People First Culture celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion not simply because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s the key to our success. We are proud to foster an authentic and inclusive workplace For All. You are free and encouraged to bring your entire, unique self to work. First American is an equal opportunity employer in every sense of the term.

Based on eligibility, First American offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401k, PTO/paid sick leave and other great benefits like an employee stock purchase plan.