Work Model: Hybrid (2 days a week onsite)
Allows Relocation: NO, must be within 90 miles
SUMMARY
The scrum master position will work as a contract resource for the State of Michigan - Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB) supporting the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The resource will act as the scrum master for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Accounts Receivable and Collections (MDHHS ARC) Project with duties including coaching the team on scrum practices, facilitating scrum ceremonies, removing impediments to progress, protecting the team from external distractions, and fostering collaboration and continuous improvement within the team and organization.
KEY COMPETENCIES
- Strong servant leadership mindset with a focus on empowering teams.
- Exceptional analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to drive transparency, predictability, and continuous delivery.
- Comfortable facilitating executive-level reporting, burn-up metrics, dashboards, and KPI updates.
- Ability to maintain a positive, motivating influence within high-pressure or sensitive delivery timelines.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required:
- 7+ years of experience serving as a Scrum Master in Agile software development environments.
- Proven experience supporting complex, enterprise-level financial or debt management software solutions.
- Advanced knowledge of Scrum, Kanban, and Scaled Agile methodologies (SAFe, Nexus, LeSS, or similar).
- Strong understanding of software development life cycles (SDLC), secure application development lifecycle (SADLC), and modern DevOps practices.
- Demonstrated ability to guide teams in implementing Agile best practices, continuous improvement, and delivery forecasting.
- Experience facilitating Agile ceremonies including Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Refinement, Sprint Reviews, and Retrospectives.
- Strong ability to remove impediments, negotiate dependencies, and collaborate across cross-functional teams (engineering, QA, product, architecture, compliance, and operations).
- Hands-on experience using Azure DevOps Agile lifecycle management tools.
- Proven ability to coach Product Owners in backlog refinement, story decomposition, estimation, and value prioritization.
- Experience supporting teams working with integration-heavy, API-driven, or data-centric systems.
- Strong understanding of regulatory, privacy, and security considerations in financial services software (e.g., PCI, SOC, FFIEC, CFPB-related requirements).
- Excellent communication, facilitation, conflict resolution, and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to lead multiple Agile teams or a large, scaled program context.
- Experience working in fast-paced, cloud-first environments (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
Preferred:
- SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), SAFe Advanced Scrum Master (SASM), CSM, PSM I/II, ICP-ACC, or equivalent certification.
- Experience working with debt collection/servicing systems, payment processing workflows, or financial case management platforms.
- Understanding of user-centered design, accessibility standards, and customer journey mapping.
- Experience supporting Quality Assurance processes including regression, user acceptance testing (UAT), and post-deployment validation.
- Ability to facilitate technical discussions, backlog elaboration sessions, and dependency alignment across multiple teams.
- Experience contributing to or establishing Centers of Excellence (Agile CoE) or process governance programs.
MANAGER NOTES
- 2 rounds of interviews; must be willing and able to interview in-person
PRE-EMPLOYEMENT & CLIENT SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Employment and/or client submission is contingent upon successful completion of required pre-employment screening and verification processes. These requirements include:
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Background check: Candidates must successfully complete the required background screening in accordance with company policy and applicable law.
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Drug screening: Candidates must successfully complete the required drug screening in accordance with company policy, applicable client requirements, and applicable law.
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Identity and location verification: Candidates may be required to complete identity and/or location verification using a secure verification tool prior to client submission.
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Employment eligibility: Candidates must provide appropriate documentation to verify employment eligibility as required by law.
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Qualification verification: Information provided during the application and recruiting process, including employment history, education, certifications, licenses, and professional references, may be verified as applicable.
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Additional client requirements: Additional screening, documentation, or verification may be required based on the client, position, work location, or applicable requirements.
All screening and verification activities will be conducted in accordance with applicable company policies, client requirements, and federal, state, and local laws.
BENEFITS
This is a contract opportunity with a great organization. As a contractor for Smith Johnson, you are eligible for medical, dental, life, disability. Smith Johnson pays for 70% of your medical and dental and 100% of life and disability. The contract is also eligible for PTO/holiday accrued monthly. You are also eligible for a 3% retirement matching plan. Smith Johnson believes in taking care of our contractors.