Senior Consultant, Derivatives - Scrum Master

at  Northern Trust Corp

About Northern Trust:
Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.
Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world’s most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.
Role/Department
The scrum master serves to facilitate scrum to the larger team by ensuring the scrum framework is followed. He or she is committed to the scrum methodology, agile principles, and best practices—but should also remain flexible and open to opportunities for the team to improve their workflow.

The key responsibilities of the role include:

• Standups: Facilitate daily standups (or the daily scrum) as needed.
• Iteration/sprint planning meetings: Protect the team from over-committing and scope creep. Aid in estimation and sub task creation.
• Sprint reviews: Participate in the meeting and capture feedback.
• Retrospectives: Note areas for improvement and action items for future sprints.
• Board administration: Work as the administrator of the scrum board. Ensure that cards are up to date and the scrum tools like Jira are working well.
• 1 on 1s: Meet individually with team members and stakeholders as needed. Iron out team disagreements about process and work styles. Many scrum practitioners oppose 1on1, believing these communications should happen during standups.
• Internal Consulting: Scrum masters should consult with team members and internal stakeholders on how best to work with the scrum team.
• Reporting: Regular analysis of burndown charts and other portfolio planning tools to understand what gets built and at what cadence.
• Blockers: The scrum master aids the team by eliminating external blockers and managing internal roadblocks through process or workflow improvements.

SKills/Experience

The successful candidate will benefit from having;

• Leadership: Scrum masters must exhibit leadership qualities without being authoritative. They lead by serving the team and facilitating their self-organization.
• Effective communication: Clear and transparent communication is crucial. Scrum masters ensure all team members and stakeholders understand the project’s status, goals, and obstacles.
• Problem-solving: Scrum masters often deal with impediments and conflicts. They must be adept at problem-solving and finding solutions to keep the team on track.
• Adaptability: Scrum masters should be adaptable and open to change. They need to adjust to the evolving needs of the team and the project.
• Facilitation skills: The ability to effectively facilitate meetings and scrum ceremonies is vital. Scrum masters ensure these events run smoothly and focus on the intended outcomes.
• Time management: Scrum masters must manage time effectively to keep the team on schedule and meet sprint goals.
• Product backlog: The product backlog is a prioritized list of all the features, enhancements, and bug fixes the product needs to address. The product owner manages and maintains this backlog.
• Sprint backlog: The sprint backlog is a subset of the product backlog, containing the work items selected for a specific sprint.
• Scrum artifacts: Scrum employs various artifacts, such as burndown charts and task boards, to track progress and make the work visible to the team and stakeholders.
• Scrum events: Scrum events, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives, provide structure and opportunities for collaboration within the team.
• The scrum framework emphasizes flexibility, adaptability, and continuous improvement, making it a popular choice for managing complex projects in an agile manner.

Scrum master Tools

• Microsoft Azure DevOps

• Standups: Facilitate daily standups (or the daily scrum) as needed.
• Iteration/sprint planning meetings: Protect the team from over-committing and scope creep. Aid in estimation and sub task creation.
• Sprint reviews: Participate in the meeting and capture feedback.
• Retrospectives: Note areas for improvement and action items for future sprints.
• Board administration: Work as the administrator of the scrum board. Ensure that cards are up to date and the scrum tools like Jira are working well.
• 1 on 1s: Meet individually with team members and stakeholders as needed. Iron out team disagreements about process and work styles. Many scrum practitioners oppose 1on1, believing these communications should happen during standups.
• Internal Consulting: Scrum masters should consult with team members and internal stakeholders on how best to work with the scrum team.
• Reporting: Regular analysis of burndown charts and other portfolio planning tools to understand what gets built and at what cadence.
• Blockers: The scrum master aids the team by eliminating external blockers and managing internal roadblocks through process or workflow improvements