Agile Coach

The Agile Coach is a senior leadership position responsible for championing and implementing Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe ) practices across clinical informatics teams supporting VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization. This role leads Agile transformation, coaches teams and leadership on Lean-Agile principles, facilitates Program Increment (PI) planning, and ensures continuous value delivery across 170+ VA Medical Centers., SAFe Implementation & Facilitation

• Lead implementation and maturation of SAFe practices across multiple Agile Release Trains (ARTs)
• Champion Lean-Agile principles and mindset, driving cultural transformation throughout the organization
• Facilitate quarterly Program Increment (PI) Planning sessions ensuring alignment of teams to common objectives
• Guide execution of 20 iterations annually with two-week sprint cycles and additional intervals for innovation and planning
• Establish and maintain Agile governance structures, ceremonies, and metrics aligned with SAFe best practices
• Facilitate Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshops to drive continuous improvement

Coaching & Team Development

• Provide expert coaching to Agile teams, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Release Train Engineers (RTEs)
• Mentor leadership on Lean-Agile transformation, servant leadership, and change management
• Coach teams on SAFe ceremonies including Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Reviews, Retrospectives, and PI Planning
• Guide teams in breaking down features into user stories with clear acceptance criteria
• Foster culture of continuous improvement, psychological safety, and high performance
• Support development of self-organizing, cross-functional teams

Program Optimization & Stakeholder Engagement

• Oversee Agile metrics and reporting including velocity, burn-down/burn-up charts, and predictability measures
• Identify and eliminate impediments, bottlenecks, and organizational barriers to flow
• Collaborate with Product Management to maintain and prioritize program backlogs
• Partner with VA leadership, Product Owners, and technical teams to drive Agile adoption
• Present Agile practices, progress, and recommendations to executive stakeholders
• Support risk identification, dependency management, and issue resolution across ARTs

• Bachelor’s degree required in Business, Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field; Master’s degree preferred
• SAFe certification required:
• SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) strongly preferred
• Minimum: SAFe Agilist (SA), SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), or SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE)
• Additional certifications preferred: Certified Scrum Master (CSM), PMI-ACP, or equivalent
• Minimum 7 years in Agile delivery and transformation roles
• Minimum 3 years in SAFe implementation or coaching capacity
• Proven experience facilitating PI Planning events for large programs (50+ participants)
• Demonstrated success coaching and mentoring Agile teams and leadership
• Experience with Agile metrics, tools (Jira Align, Jira), and reporting
• Healthcare or federal government Agile experience preferred
• Deep knowledge of SAFe principles, practices, and all levels (Team, Program, Large Solution, Portfolio)
• Expert understanding of Lean-Agile mindset, values, and principles
• Strong knowledge of Scrum, Kanban, XP, and other Agile frameworks
• Understanding of DevOps, Continuous Delivery, and technical practices
• Experience scaling Agile across multiple teams and complex programs