seeking a seasoned Senior Project Manager / Senior Scrum Master to join its Retail PMO organization. This individual will lead multiple mid-sized technology initiatives supporting Retail In-Store Applications while operating across Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery environments. The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong project delivery leadership, Agile expertise, stakeholder management capabilities, and a proven track record of successfully delivering complex initiatives.
Role Specifics- Manage 3 4 concurrent mid-sized projects.
- Projects typically range from 8 12 months in duration.
- Project budgets generally range from approximately $400K to $2M
- Collaborate with internal teams and external vendor delivery partners.
- Operate within a hybrid delivery environment utilizing Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
- Support approximately 2 3 Agile teams.
- Initial focus will be on initiatives supporting Retail In-Store Applications.
Additional Context- Long-term contractor opportunity within the Retail PMO.
- Join a mature, high-performing organization consisting of Program Managers, Project Managers, Release Train Engineers (RTEs), and Scrum Masters.
- High-performing consultants often remain engaged for multiple years.
- Fully remote opportunity; proximity to an ADUSA location preferred but not required.
- Limited to no travel required.
- Interview process may include:
- Initial screening
- Program Manager interview
- Portfolio Lead interview
- Team interview
Primary Responsibilities
- Lead project execution from initiation through closure.
- Create and maintain project plans, schedules, budgets, and governance artifacts.
- Drive execution across business and technology organizations.
- Manage project scope, schedule, budget, risks, issues, and dependencies.
- Coordinate activities involving multiple stakeholder groups.
- Lead governance meetings and executive status reporting.
- Facilitate successful project deployment and release planning.
- Bring structure, organization, and clarity to complex initiatives.
- Drive stakeholder alignment and decision-making.
- Manage vendor relationships and delivery expectations.
Waterfall Project Management Expectations
Candidates should demonstrate strong knowledge of the complete IT Project Lifecycle and be able to discuss practical examples from project initiation through closure.
Required experience includes:
- Scope Management
- Project Planning and Scheduling
- Dependency Management
- Issue Management
- Risk Management
- Resource Management
- Cost and Budget Management
- Stakeholder Management
- Governance and Status Reporting
- Project Communications
- Change Control
- Release and Deployment Planning
Candidates should be able to clearly articulate how these disciplines were applied to achieve successful business outcomes.
Agile & Scrum Leadership Expectations
Candidates must demonstrate strong experience with Agile planning at multiple levels, including:
- Annual Planning
- Product Roadmap Planning
- Quarterly Planning
- Sprint / Iteration Planning
Additional requirements include:
- Facilitating Scrum ceremonies
- Facilitating Kanban ceremonies
- Cross-team planning and coordination
- Backlog refinement and prioritization
- Dependency identification and management
- Agile metrics reporting and utilization
- Risk identification through Agile practices
- Driving continuous improvement initiatives
Candidates should possess experience coaching Agile teams through:
- Maturity assessments
- Growth opportunity identification
- Development planning
- Team effectiveness improvements
Experience working within hybrid Agile/Waterfall environments is required. Experience with Agile-at-Scale frameworks such as SAFe or Scrum at Scale is preferred.
Project Leadership & Delivery Skills
Candidates should possess demonstrated experience:
- Managing complex projects and/or troubled initiatives.
- Bringing clarity and direction to ambiguous situations.
- Driving alignment across multiple business and technical teams.
- Leading without direct authority.
- Facilitating difficult decisions.
- Driving accountability and execution.
- Balancing project delivery with business outcomes.
- Managing competing priorities and stakeholder expectations.
Communication Skills
Strong communication skills are essential.
Candidates should demonstrate:
- Executive-level communication capabilities.
- Clear, concise, and accurate status reporting.
- Strong presentation skills.
- Active listening.
- Facilitation expertise.
- Ability to tailor messaging for executives, business stakeholders, project teams, and technology partners.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Relationship Management
Successful candidates will demonstrate the ability to:
- Build strong partnerships across organizations.
- Develop trusted relationships with business stakeholders.
- Collaborate effectively with vendors and delivery partners.
- Influence project decisions.
- Facilitate stakeholder alignment.
- Manage conflict constructively.
- Earn credibility and respect quickly.
- Maintain productive working relationships in complex environments
Tools & Technologies
Preferred experience with:
Required Qualifications
- Senior Project Manager experience.
- Senior Scrum Master experience.
- Experience leading Agile, Waterfall, and Hybrid initiatives.
- Proven success managing multiple concurrent projects.
- Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience driving strategic technology initiatives.
- Ability to ramp up quickly and operate with minimal direction.
Preferred Qualifications
- Retail technology experience preferred but not required.
- PMP certification preferred.
- Agile certifications preferred.
- Experience working in enterprise PMO environments.
- Experience with Agile scaling frameworks preferred.
What Will Make a Candidate Stand Out
Candidates who are most successful in the interview process will:
- Clearly demonstrate both breadth and depth of project management experience.
- Provide specific examples of applying Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
- Quantify measurable business outcomes and delivery results.
- Demonstrate a proven ability to build trusted relationships.
- Show a strong history of long-term client engagement success.
- Quickly ramp up on new projects, processes, and organizational structures.
- Bring immediate structure, clarity, and execution discipline to assigned initiatives.