Squad Lead

The main responsibilities of the Squad Lead are; removing blockers, ensuring progress can be made by team members by removing issues outside of their control, dealing with any organisational impediments, and protecting the squad from unnecessary distraction.  The squad lead is responsible for the day-to-day agile management activities such as running the Scrum process. The Squad Lead as a servant leader, has responsibility for upskilling the Squad in agile ways of working that enable the squad to self-organise, manage and deliver value using agile methodology.

Accountabilities

• Accountable for maximising Squad’s ability to deliver Sprint goals and contribute to Tribe OKRs.
• Accountable for Squad level ceremonies integrity, consistency and effectiveness driving Squad value.
• Accountable to both the Squad as a whole and each individual Squad member performing as a servant leader.
• Accountable for supporting the Squad to live the following values: productivity, quality, transparency, and openness over internal politics in everything it does.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for ensuring Squad level ceremonies like 3 Amigos, Daily Standups, Sprint Planning, Sprint Demos, Sprint Retros etc. are conducted focusing on value return.
• Responsible for the effective and consistent operational performance for the scrum process as the Squad Lead.
• Responsible for Identifying, tracking, removing and escalating both blockers and impediments at Squad level to maintain both pace and flow of value.
• Responsible for ensuring compliance to Guardrails and Squad level activities.
• Responsible for owning and managing risks, issues and dependencies at Squad level.
• Responsible for managing and resolving intra-Squad dependencies by working with other Squad Leads within the Tribe.
• Responsible for both timely and effective tracking and reporting on Squad’s progress against Sprint goals to Tribe Leadership.
• Responsible for managing Squad capacity, utilisation and velocity. Actively engages with other Squad Leads in the Tribe and Tribe leadership to discuss resourcing and utilisation strategies.
• Responsible for providing Chapter Lead with relevant input for each Squad member supporting each Squad member’s development and performance needs.

Key interactions

• Coaches Squad team members in Lean-Agile practices and mindsets
• Support Product Owner(s) with Squad backlog management
• Collaborates and consults with other Squad Leads in the Tribe to manage resourcing and dependencies.
• Supports Tribe leadership in optimising value flow for the Tribe.
• Works with the Chapter Lead to assist in the development of capability.

Knowledge and Experience Required

• Knowledge and experience of Agile development techniques like: User Stories, Continuous Integration, BDD – Business Driven Development, ATDD - Acceptance Test Driven Development, Continuous Testing, Pairing and Automated Testing.
• Detailed knowledge and experience operating within Claims.
• Detailed knowledge and experience operating within GWCC and its satellite systems.
• Knowledge and experience of using Kanban Boards including the production of effective and timely squad performance monitoring reporting.
• Knowledge and experience with operating with an embedded SDLC process underpinned by Lean Agile practices.
• Project management fundamentals with the ability to apply principles, tools and techniques to develop/plan, manage or execute projects to ensure successful completion.
• Active Scrum Master experience for at least 2 years operating with software development team that was applying scrum mastery techniques, lean agile principles and practices resulting in effective ROI.
• Experience operating within heavily regulated environments including external regulated consumer products and service offerings.

Knowledge and experience in the use of tools such as: Jira, Confluence etc.

Desirable Professional Training Requirements

• SAFe® 5 Agilist certification or similar
• Agile Management Foundation or similar
• Scrum Master certification (CSM Certified Scrum Master, PSM – Professional Scrum Master) or similar.

Interview Process

This will be a 1 stage process which will be consist of a 60 minute competency interview.

Location

For Hybrid workers (within a 50-mile radius of our Cardiff HQ) there is an expectation to work from the office twice a month.  For remote workers (outside of a 50-mile radius of our Cardiff HQ) there is an expectation to attend the office a handful of times a year when required (i.e big meetings, workshops etc).

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 consistently voted one of the 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.

All colleagues will receive 33 days holiday (including banks holidays) when they join us, and this will increase with length of service, up to a maximum of 38 days (including banks holidays). You also have the option to buy or sell up to five days of annual leave in addition to your allocation.

For Hybrid workers (within a 50-mile radius of our Cardiff HQ) there is an expectation to work from the office twice a month.  For remote workers (outside of a 50-mile radius of our Cardiff HQ) there is an expectation to attend the office a handful of times a year when required (i.e big meetings, workshops etc).

You can also view some of our other key benefits here.

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