Scrum Master

Role Overview

• Lead the full scrum cadence (planning, daily standups, refinement, review, retrospectives) with disciplined, pragmatic facilitation that respects the team's time.
• Protect sprint commitments by managing scope changes transparently, surfacing impacts and trade-offs before they become surprises.
• Remove blockers quickly; escalate decisively when impediments cannot be resolved within the team.
• Coach and support the team in effective Agile/Scrum practices through credibility, consistency, and collaboration — not prescription.
• Use delivery metrics (velocity, cycle time, throughput) and dashboards to improve predictability and drive continuous improvement — not to police.
• Foster a team culture focused on clarity, accountability, outcomes, and continuous improvement over ceremony and activity.
• Facilitate discovery workshops and refinement sessions to uncover true needs, constraints, and edge cases beyond initial requests.
• Partner with product and engineering to ensure user stories are clear, testable, and carry well-defined acceptance criteria — filling gaps yourself when needed.
• Challenge assumptions, resolve ambiguity, and make trade-offs explicit during refinement so engineers aren't guessing during implementation.
• Maintain a single source of truth in JIRA (epics, stories, dependencies, links, priorities) and keep it accurate, current, and trustworthy.
• Produce lightweight, high-value supporting artifacts as needed (process flows, decision logs, dependency maps) to aid alignment and execution.
• Coordinate with Delivery Manager and stakeholders on readiness, risks, dependencies, and upcoming work to ensure smooth delivery.
• Proactively identify and address process bottlenecks, quality gaps, and communication breakdowns before they become delivery issues.

Requirements

• 3+ years as a Scrum Master or Agile facilitator within software delivery teams, with meaningful exposure to requirements and backlog management.
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM, PSM, or equivalent) — valued for the knowledge, not the badge.
• Strong facilitation skills — you can run a room (or a Teams call) and keep smart, opinionated people productive.
• Practical experience with JIRA — workflows, dashboards, and backlog management at a level that keeps the board trustworthy.
• Demonstrated ability to recognize weak or ambiguous requirements and improve them — you don't need to be the primary author, but you know a bad story when you see one.
• Experience working directly with software engineers. You understand technical constraints without needing to write the code.

Benefits

• Outstanding opportunities to learn, grow, and expand your network.
• Excellent compensation, benefits, and generous incentives.
• Complimentary snacks to keep you focused.
• Super cutting-edge technology.
• State-of-the-art workspace.
• Community involvement.
• Great team synergy.
• Friday lunch and shenanigans... on us!
• Incentive program for investing in your growth.
• 401K savings plan and education reimbursement.
• 24/7 access to a modern gym with Tonal and Peloton.
• Free monthly garage parking with direct private access to the office.
• Brand-new, sun-filled National Harbor offices with scenic views of the Potomac, surrounded by shops, restaurants, and more.
• Medical, dental, life, and short-term disability insurance covered at 100% of the premium for employees and 50% for dependents.
• Paid parental leave, including adoption and foster care placement.
• PTO starting at 15 days during your first two years of employment, 20 days in years 2 through 4, and 25 days thereafter (+ incentives opportunities to earn more PTO!).
• 9 company-observed holidays + 2 more floating holidays to cover additional observed holidays or for use as extra PTO.
• And more! Check out our careers page for more details: www.gocloudforce.com/careers/.