Agile Scrum Master Senior Analyst at Cigna

Purpose of the Role

• The purpose of the Scrum Master / Agile Team Coach role is to maximize value delivery through collaboration, impediment removal, visibility, learning, and evidence-based improvement.
• This role supports high-performing team dynamics, sustainable delivery, continuous flow, and self-managed teams that are shaping and maturing Agile ways of working across International Health.

About the Role

• The Scrum Master / Agile Team Coach is a team coach and servant leader who facilitates change through the adoption and application of Agile principles, practices, and frameworks.
• The role enables teams to self-organize, improve flow, embrace effective ways of working, and consistently deliver value outcomes to stakeholders. The role partners closely with Product Owners, team members, Release Train Engineers, Agile Product Managers, and other stakeholders to support predictable delivery and continuous improvement.
• This is a Band 3 Contributor Career Track Role.

Key Responsibilities

Team Coaching and Agile Enablement

• Provide coaching and guidance to Agile Teams and support the adoption and application of Agile values, principles, and practices.
• Act as a servant leader, facilitator, mentor, and coach for individuals and teams.
• Enable teams to improve collaboration, transparency, psychological safety, accountability, and self-management.
• Use effective communication and listening skills to teach, coach, mentor, and support healthy team interactions.
• Foster a healthy working culture, build strong relationships, and strengthen key interactions across teams and stakeholders.

Delivery Flow and Continuous Improvement

• Support teams in improving flow, reducing bottlenecks, managing impediments, and operating at a sustainable pace.
• Help teams establish realistic and achievable delivery commitments based on capacity, clarity, dependencies, and delivery risks.
• Maintain metrics and data necessary to provide visibility into maturity, progress, quality, flow, predictability, and value delivery.
• Facilitate evidence-based improvement through retrospectives, improvement actions, and follow-through on agreed outcomes.
• Encourage Built-In Quality, continuous learning, and relentless improvement as part of day-to-day team working practices.

Facilitation and Cadence Events

• Support and facilitate team ceremonies and cadence events that drive progress toward value delivery and business outcomes.
• Facilitate team events such as planning, team syncs, backlog refinement, reviews, retrospectives, and improvement workshops, as applicable to the team context.
• Participate in Sync events, Scrum Master / Team Coach forums, and internal Agile communities of practice.
• Support ART-level alignment events, including PI Planning, ART Sync, Coach Sync, System Demo, and Inspect & Adapt, as applicable.

ART Alignment, Dependencies, and Impediments

• Provide support that helps Agile Teams improve overall ART performance through collaboration and alignment between team objectives, vision, and strategic themes.
• Facilitate and support dependency management to ensure alignment of delivery across teams.
• Support removal of impediments that hinder achievement of team goals and objectives.
• Protect the team from unnecessary disruptions and external distractions while escalating systemic impediments in a timely manner.
• Collaborate with Product Owners, RTEs, Agile Product Managers, business stakeholders, and technology partners to maintain transparency and alignment.

Success in this Role

• Teams demonstrate stronger self-management, collaboration, and ownership of delivery outcomes.
• Impediments, blockers, dependencies, and delivery risks are made visible and addressed promptly.
• Team ceremonies and cadence events are purposeful, outcome-focused, and continuously improved.
• Metrics and qualitative insights are used to improve flow, predictability, quality, and stakeholder transparency.
• Teams operate at a sustainable pace while maintaining alignment with ART priorities and International Health business outcomes.
• Continuous improvement becomes embedded in the team culture.

Required Qualifications / Skills / Experience

• Certified Scrum Master (CSM), SAFe Scrum Master, SAFe Advanced Scrum Master, Professional Scrum Master, or equivalent Agile certification.
• At least 4 years of proven experience as a Scrum Master/Agile Team Coach role.
• Experience facilitating team development and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Strong knowledge of Lean-Agile principles, Scrum practices, Kanban practices, and team-level Agile delivery.
• Experience with Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and understanding of its principles and practices.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, coaching, mentoring, and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional and geographically distributed teams.
• Strong problem-solving, decision-making, and organizational skills.
• Ability to manage priorities in a changing environment and support teams working under delivery deadlines.
• Ability to interact with Subject matter experts, Product Owners, Agile Product Managers, and stakeholders in a matrix structure.
• Knowledge of IT concepts, software delivery lifecycle, delivery methodologies, architecture considerations, and technical standards.

Desired Qualifications / Skills / Experience

• Working knowledge of Jira, Confluence, Mural, or similar collaboration tools.
• Experience supporting product, platform, operational, or service-based delivery teams.
• Experience facilitating organizational change and Agile transformation initiatives.
• Experience in software development lifecycle, IT delivery, product delivery, or project management.