This is a hands-on coaching role. You will work directly with management, Product and Service Owners, Scrum Masters, and team members — coaching leaders on Agile and product ownership while working shoulder-to-shoulder with teams on their day-to-day execution and their ADO boards. Teams range widely in Agile maturity, and several are not traditional software-development teams. On-site in Lansing two days per week; remainder remote. AGILE LEADERSHIP AND COACHING • Serve as the lead Agile Coach across multiple teams with varying Agile and Azure DevOps maturity • Assess current Agile practices and identify opportunities to improve team maturity, consistency, and adoption • Coach teams on Agile principles, Scrum and Kanban practices, backlog management, prioritization, estimation, planning, and continuous improvement • Facilitate or coach teams through sprint and iteration planning, backlog refinement, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews and demos, and retrospectives • Help teams move from using Agile terminology to consistently applying Agile practices in their daily work • Identify impediments to Agile adoption and work with leadership on practical solutions PRODUCT OWNER AND LEADERSHIP COACHING • Coach managers and Product/Service Owners on effectively performing the Product Owner role • Improve how work is defined and prioritized, how backlogs are built and maintained, and how epics, features, user stories, tasks, and acceptance criteria are written • Help establish clear business priorities, manage stakeholder expectations, and measure outcomes and team performance • Provide leadership with recommendations for improving Agile maturity and sustaining long-term adoption AZURE DEVOPS ADOPTION • Partner with Azure DevOps specialists and client teams to establish and mature ADO boards • Coach teams on effective use of Boards, Backlogs, epics/features/stories/tasks, Queries, Dashboards, work-item management, and sprint and iteration planning • Ensure ADO configuration and processes support each team's Agile operating model • Establish consistent standards and best practices across multiple ADO teams BACKLOG DEVELOPMENT AND TEAM EXECUTION • Facilitate working sessions to build, organize, and refine team backlogs • Help teams translate business objectives into actionable work items • Improve story quality, acceptance criteria, estimation, prioritization, and definition of done • Establish practical processes teams can continue using independently after the coaching engagement • Help teams use metrics and dashboards to improve transparency, predictability, and decision-making • AGILE MATURITY AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT • Evaluate the Agile maturity of individual teams and leadership groups • Develop actionable recommendations based on each team's maturity level • Identify training and coaching needs for managers, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, champions, and team members • Establish measurable Agile maturity goals and track progress • Help develop longer-term coaching, training, and adoption roadmaps • Build internal Agile champions capable of sustaining the practices after the engagement Requirements REQUIRED EXPERIENCE • 8+ years of experience working in Agile delivery environments • 5+ years of Agile coaching, Agile leadership, Scrum Master, Product Owner coaching, or Agile transformation experience • Demonstrated experience coaching multiple teams simultaneously • Strong hands-on experience with Azure DevOps, specifically ADO Boards • Experience establishing and managing Agile backlogs within Azure DevOps • Strong understanding of Scrum, Kanban, Agile product management, backlog management, user story development, estimation and planning, Agile metrics, and continuous improvement • Experience coaching Product Owners, Scrum Masters, managers, and senior leaders • Demonstrated ability to assess team maturity and create practical improvement plans • Strong facilitation skills and experience leading workshops with both technical and non-technical stakeholders • Excellent written and verbal communication skills • Able to work on-site in Lansing, Michigan two days per week PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS • Agile coaching engagements within large enterprises or government and public-sector organizations • Experience implementing Agile practices with teams that are not traditional software-development teams — business, operations, security, compliance, asset management, or shared services • Enterprise Agile transformations or Agile Centers of Excellence • Experience developing Agile maturity assessments and multi-year adoption roadmaps • Familiarity with DevOps concepts and the relationship between Agile delivery and DevOps practices • Certifications such as Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Professional Scrum Master (PSM), SAFe Practice Consultant (SPC), SAFe Agilist, PMI-ACP, or an Agile Coaching certification