Scrum Master

Admiral Financial Services Limited (AFSL) was formed 5 years ago and is part of the Admiral Group, better known for being one of the best-in-class insurance companies in the UK. As part of the Admiral Group our headquarters are in Cardiff.

AFSL has been an amazing growth story with major ambitions to grow even further.  This means we are now looking to enhance all our capabilities, particularly how we leverage data, automation, rating, digital journeys and services, rating, and our main lending system to continue delighting our customers.

AFSL has been awarded two milestone achievements with the Moneyfacts Personal Loans and Car Finance provider of the year in Feb 2021.

We have a number of opportunities for experienced Scrum Masters to join one of the fastest growing parts of Admiral Group – Admiral Financial Services Limited (AFSL).

Opportunities for Scrum Masters in AFSL

Here at AFSL, we're embarking on an exciting Agile transformation. We are looking for a number of Scrum Masters to help us achieve our ambitions working with teams and colleagues to deliver our data vision, our digital and customer journeys roadmaps, and best in class pricing/rating and main lending system capabilities.

Objective of the role:

Your role will be to embed Agile ways of working into our Engineering squads, Data Analytics team, or others. The Scrum Master has overall accountability for the success of the squads/teams, acting both as a servant leader and coach. The main responsibilities of the role are to make the squads/teams successful and enable them to perform, while managing all the Agile ceremonies and artefacts as well as ensuring that blockers are cleared. The Scrum Master as a servant leader, has responsibility for upskilling the Squad in agile ways of working that enable the team to self-organise, manage, and deliver value using agile methodologies. A lot of colleagues are new to the business and new to Agile - Successful candidates will be there to upskill everyone.

Build a community in AFSL – You won’t be alone; we have Scrum Masters in AFSL and in Admiral Group and your role will also be to play a role in the promoting a community of Agile advocates.

Key Contribution Areas / Main duties

• Accountable for maximizing Squads/teams ability to deliver Sprint goals and contribute to Strategic Objectives.
• Identifies, tracks, removes, and escalates impediments at squad level to maintain flow of value. Facilitates the removal of blockers and impediments to the squads/teams’ progress with support from management where required.
• Owns and manages risks, issues, and dependencies at Squad level. Manages and resolves squad-to-squad dependencies working with other Scrum Masters.
• Facilitate Squad level ceremonies like Daily Huddles/Stand-ups, Sprint Planning, Sprint Demos, Sprint Review etc.
• Tracks and reports on Squad’s performance, progress on goals to Leadership. Uses visual management tools to report on Squad performance.
• Accountability for the overall process the squad/team follows to deliver value.
• Manages squads/team’s capacity, utilization, and velocity. Actively engages with other Scrum Masters in AFSL to discuss resourcing and utilization strategies.
• Coaches the squads/teams on Agile ways of working and how to use Agile in the most effective manner.
• Drive collaboration and continuous improvement mind-set in the squads/teams.
• Drives transparency and openness of communication in the squads/teams.

About you, essential knowledge, skills, experience

You are curious and methodical, and someone who enjoys constant continuous improvement.  You get energy from getting the most out of people and helping them solve their biggest challenges.  You constantly question how we can make these things better through digital, streamlining, technology, data or automation.  Above all, you're passionate about creating an Agile environment that puts customers at the heart of what we do. You have excellent communication skills.

• Proven work experience and/or certification as a Scrum Master, with expertise and deep knowledge of Agile practices and ways of working – and relevant qualifications if available. Minimum 2 years working as a Scrum Master and/or managing projects in an Agile fashion.
• Strong skills and experience with using Agile working tools (i.e. Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOps, or similar)
• Good understanding of typical Agile roles and the required skills and capabilities within a scaled agile framework of Tribes and Squads.
• Strong interpersonal skills that can support colleagues and be comfortable with robust challenge from stakeholders
• Facilitating discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution
• Strong motivational skills to help drive delivery

Desirable Knowledge/Skills/Experience

• Coaching, group leadership and team building experience/skills (and/or qualifications)
• Experience/understanding of Cloud-based technology solutions and delivery, including concepts like containerization, API management gateways, CICD pipelines, etc.

Additional Information

Due to Covid, the whole Admiral Financial Services is working remotely. We will provide you with everything you need to work comfortably from home.

We expect you to be working remotely for the foreseeable future, however, once it is safe to return to the office, we will have days when the whole team comes together to collaborate. You can decide if you want to come to the office between 2-5 days per week.

Salary, Benefits, and Work-Life Balance

We do not have a set salary for this position, as it will be dependent on the successful candidate's experience. We are happy to see CVs from all candidates who meet the requirements and will be happy to discuss the remuneration package.

At Admiral, we are proud to be a diverse business where we put our people and customers first. We have great benefits to ensure employees have a great work-life balance; it's one of the reasons we're voted no. 1 in the 2019 Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For in the UK. We want you to have an element of freedom to define a working lifestyle that supports this, so accommodate flexible hours wherever possible.

About Admiral Group

Admiral Group is a FTSE 100 Financial Services company with a presence in eight countries. The company was set up in 1993 as a car insurance specialist, but since then the Group has expanded in other countries and other insurance verticals such as household and travel insurance, in loans, price comparison platforms, and has developed innovative products.

The Group has 7 million customers worldwide and employs over 11,000 people across its operations. Admiral is a growth story with an enviable track record of strong financial performances, ROE consistently over 50%, a turnover of £3.5 bn, and a profit before tax of £520 m in 2019.

Admiral’s philosophy is that ‘people who like what they do, do it better’ and Admiral is proud to offer an open culture where achievement is rewarded and recognised and where coming to work is exciting every day. In 2019, Admiral received a special award from ‘Best Companies to Work For’ as the only company to feature within their rankings since they began 20 years ago: a true testament to the Group’s culture.

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