Scrum Master

Job Title: Senior Agile Delivery Manager

Location: Newcastle, Leeds or Birmingham, UK

Job Type: Full-time contract, 12 Months

Work Model: Hybrid (60% office attendance p/w)

Summary:

• Client is forming a new software engineering team to address a defined backlog of ~20–30 items focused on service security, testability, resilience and recoverability.

• This role is not a coordination-only delivery role. We require a highly experienced Delivery Manager who can operate immediately and sustainably in a hands-on Scrum Master / agile delivery capacity, working directly with engineers on day-to-day delivery.

• You will work closely with a Senior Technical Business Analyst and Architect to ensure the backlog is technically ready, prioritised and executable before and during active sprint delivery.

Core Purpose:

The Senior Agile Delivery Manager is a technical delivery leader responsible for the hands-on delivery of software within a modern engineering environment.

You will:

• Lead agile ceremonies,

• Actively manage delivery risks and dependencies,

• Influence and engage senior stakeholders, and

• Enable engineering teams to deliver high-quality software outcomes.

Recent, applied experience leading software development teams is essential.

Statements of capability or aspiration without evidence will not be considered sufficient.

Key Responsibilities:

Agile Delivery (Hands-on)

• Act as Scrum Master / Delivery Manager for a software engineering team on a day-to-day basis.

• Lead sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews and retrospectives.

• Actively remove delivery blockers and manage scope, flow and prioritisation.

• Maintain delivery momentum across a sustained period of active build work.

Software Delivery & Technical Engagement

• Work directly with software developers, testers and DevOps engineers.

• Understand and manage delivery within modern software engineering lifecycles.

• Engage confidently with technical discussions and trade-offs.

• Support delivery across complex technical concerns (e.g. resilience, security, recoverability).

Note:

Experience limited to cloud migration programmes, CRM implementations (e.g. Dynamics) or systems integration / database-only delivery will not meet the requirements of this role unless there is clear, recent evidence of hands-on software product delivery.

Senior Stakeholder Influence

• Influence and challenge senior technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Provide clear, evidence-based delivery reporting.

• Build trust through consistent delivery performance and transparency.

Planning, Coordination & Reporting

• Maintain and refine prioritised backlogs with Product Managers and technical leads.

• Proactively manage risks, issues and cross-team dependencies.

• Use Jira effectively for planning, tracking and reporting at team and initiative level.

• Complete delivery-related governance and change activity (e.g. ServiceNow).

Essential Skills & Experience (Mandatory)

Candidates must clearly evidence the following on their CV:

• Recent, hands-on agile delivery experience with software development teams

• Operating as a Scrum Master / Delivery Manager in active software build

• Delivery within modern engineering environments, including:

o Version control (e.g. Git)

o CI/CD pipelines

o Cloud-native or platform-based services

• Strong senior stakeholder engagement and influence

• Practical experience managing delivery risks, dependencies and complex backlogs

• High proficiency in Jira (team and programme level)

• SFIA Level 6 capability demonstrated through applied experience, not role titles

CVs must describe what was delivered, how it was delivered, the technical challenges involved and how they were overcome.

Technical Environment (Experience Required):

The successful candidate will have worked recently and directly with engineering teams using technologies and practices such as:

• Cloud platforms (e.g. Azure and/or AWS) as part of software delivery, not migration only

• Infrastructure as Code (e.g. Terraform)

• CI/CD tooling and modern DevOps practices

• Automated testing and quality practices

• Secure, resilient digital services

Desirable Experience:

• Experience with platform engineering or data engineering teams

• Previous experience working within Client or wider UK government digital services

• Use of ServiceNow for delivery/change processes