Principal Agile Coach

Job Title: Principal Agile Coach Enterprise Product and Portfolio Transformation

Job Location: Chicago, IL, 60604, USA

Work Model: Hybrid

Duration: 12+ Months

Must Have Skills/Attributes: Agile coach, Finance, Product Management

Experience Desired:

• Experience coaching Agile product management and organizational transformation - financial orgs (10+ yrs),
• Experience creating leadership communications, Agile guidance, playbooks, training materials (10+ yrs)
• Direct experience converting traditional waterfall project silos into lean-agile value streams (10+ yrs)

Job DescriptionRequired Skills for the Agile Coach

• 10+ years of experience coaching Agile product management, and organizational transformation within large financial institutions
• Exceptional written communication skills with demonstrated experience creating leadership communications, Agile guidance, playbooks, articles, training materials, or similar content
• Direct experience leading scaled-agile execution for financial service technology portfolios - prior framework experience may include SAFe, LeSS, DAD, Spotify Scrum@Scale or similar approaches
• Ability to identify and nurture value streams at portfolio level. Direct experience converting traditional waterfall project silos into lean-agile value streams
• Prior experience in establishing portfolio-level workflow structures, operating models, and transformation roadmap
• Experience creating playbooks maturity models, guidance materials, and coaching frameworks that support Agile adoption at portfolio, program-project, and team levels
• Exceptional written communication skills with experience producing high-quality published content
• Highly flexible/dynamic/consultative work approach - a problem-solver
• Well-versed through direct experience in establishing and reinforcing an Agile adoption lifecycle at portfolio, program-project, and team levels
• High aptitude for heavy interaction with business owners, polished communication skills
• Excellent feedback, conflict management and mentoring skills

Preferred Skills:

• Experience developing, implementing, or experimenting with AI Assistants, AI agents, generative AI solutions
• Experience designing, configuring, or developing AI-enabled solutions, AI assistants, or AI agents

Agile Coach Overview:

• This role will operate at the program and portfolio level, helping establish and scale Agile, product management, and product ownership capabilities. The Coach will facilitate and guide product teams through discovery activities including customer journey mapping, persona development, product strategy, value stream identification, epic and feature prioritization, and organizational transformation efforts. The role will also conduct Agile assessments, evaluate team and program maturity, identify improvement opportunities, and help develop transformation roadmaps based on assessment results. In addition, this role will contribute to the development of Agile guidance, playbooks, coaching content, maturity models, and thought leadership materials used across the organization.

Responsibilities:

• As an Agile Coach helps teams, programs and leaders move beyond process adoption and improve organizational effectiveness through Agile principles, product thinking, continuous improvement and Lean practices. Through education, mentorship, leadership development, content creation, assessment and facilitation, help teams and teams-of- teams internalize Agile principles rather than blindly following a new process
• Lead with influence and operate at all levels of the organization including senior technology, operations and line of business leadership. Guide and influence both cultural and process change
• Utilize in-depth knowledge of Lean-Agile frameworks along with industry and technology experience to assess program maturity and recommend, establish and ensure consistency in Agile practices across portfolios and programs
• Coach Product Owners and Business Analysts on best practices around backlog management, product discovery, customer value and the creation and elaboration of Features and Epics
• Facilitate Solution Architects and Development Leads to explore features and reach enough definition and design
• Coach Solution Architects and Development Leads in Systems Thinking and assists them in setting up architectural guidelines/guardrails that enable decentralized decision making
• Ensure healthy product backlog prioritization and refinement, Release planning, Iteration/Sprint planning practices are used
• Develop Agile enablement content including playbooks, guidance materials, coaching frameworks, assessments, maturity models, articles, and training resources
• Support the creation and adoption of AI-enabled Agile coaching capabilities including experimentation with AI agents, assessment automation, knowledge management solutions, and productivity tools
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify opportunities where AI technologies can improve coaching effectiveness, assessments, planning, reporting, and organizational agility

Program Metrics:

• Assess the Program's agile practices through various tools including health assessments, maturity models, predictability measures, flow metrics, WIP measures and other indicators of organizational effectiveness
• Deliver key metrics to stakeholders to demonstrate continuous improvement and ensure alignment in coaching and Agile practices
• Review Team practices routinely with Team coaches and Scrum Masters to establish team coaching and transformation plans
• Establish team health and maturity measurements
• Establish coaching and transformation backlog and share progress with key stakeholders
• Demonstrate continuous improvement across the program in predictability and delivery as adoption of Agile practices increases