Release Train Engineer

Lead, facilitate and coordinate the operation of the Agile Release Train (ART), ensuring quarterly synchronization between business and technology in assigned programs. Facilitate PI Planning events (pre-PI refinement, the 2-day event, Confidence Vote and ROAM exercise), the cross-team ceremonies during the increment (Scrum of Scrums, PO Sync, ART Sync and System Demo) and the Inspect & Adapt workshop at PI close - ensuring plan compliance, cross-team dependency management and predictable delivery of business value in every Program Increment.

DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THE FOLLOWING PROCESSES

• Agile coaching services and SAFe framework adoption.
• Facilitation and governance of PI Planning events.
• Management of the ART operating rhythm (cross-team ceremonies).
• Continuous improvement at program level (Inspect & Adapt).
• Health, safety and work environment compliance.

Key Processes Supported

• Agile coaching andSAFeadoption
• PI Planning governance and facilitation
• ART operating rhythm management
• Program-level continuous improvement
• Health, safety, and workplace compliance, * Documentation and knowledge management: Confluence, Notion, SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace.
• Communication and collaboration: Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, Google Meet.
• Live polling and surveys: Mentimeter, Slido, Poll Everywhere (for Confidence Vote and PI Planning dynamics).
• Metrics and dashboards: Tableau, Power BI, Jira Dashboards, EazyBI (reading and interpreting Predictability, Flow and Business Value metrics).
• Spreadsheets and modeling: Excel, Google Sheets (Sprint Capacity Planner, capacity debt tracking, ad-hoc analysis).
• Frameworks and methodologies: SAFe 6.0 (ART, Program Increment, PI Planning), Scrum, Kanban, Lean. Working knowledge of Dynata Product & Engineering Process (V1, May 2026).

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

These are the strategic, ongoing accountabilities of the role. They apply continuously across every Program Increment. The responsibilities are grouped in two blocks: SAFe-canonical (what any RTE does anywhere) and Chapter-specific (what an RTE at Dynata does within the Chapter structure).

SAFe-canonical responsibilities

• Own the ART operating rhythm end-to-end. The RTE is the single accountable owner of every cross-team ceremony that operates above the sprint level: pre-PI refinement, PI Planning, Scrum of Scrums, PO Sync, ART Sync, System Demo and Inspect & Adapt.
• Be the single point of escalation for cross-team dependencies and impediments within the ART. Teams escalate to the RTE; the RTE escalates upward only when a decision is needed above the ART level.
• Maintain the Program Board as the source of truth for what every team is committed to in the current PI. The Program Board is the RTE’s primary artifact - updated by them or by named delegates, never left stale.
• Coach the PEMs, Tech Leads and Product Managers of the ART on the SAFe operating model. Coaching is delivered through observation, feedback and structured 1-on-1s - not through training events.
• Hold the trust relationship with the Business Owners of the ART. Business Owners must believe the RTE is operating in service of business outcomes - this is the precondition for BO commitment to 2-day PI Planning attendance and to honest Business Value scoring.
• Track and report Predictability, Flow and Business Value metrics for the ART. Where dashboards are not yet in production, the RTE owns interim manual reporting.
• Facilitate the Inspect & Adapt workshop at PI close and drive the resulting improvement backlog into the next PI. Continuous improvement at ART level is an RTE-owned outcome.
• Manage the ART’s interfaces with adjacent teams, vendors and strategic initiatives. When dependencies cross the ART boundary, the RTE is the named liaison.

Chapter-specific responsibilities (Dynata Agile Chapter)

• Report weekly to the Chapter Lead on ART health - Predictability trajectory, in-flight impediments, cross-team dependencies at risk, capacity debt balance, upcoming decisions.
• Participate in the monthly Chapter Council (90 minutes). Bring cross-ART issues, template evolution proposals, community-of-practice status.
• Coordinate with peer RTEs as additional ARTs stand up. When features or capabilities span multiple ARTs, peer RTEs collaborate on synchronization - chair-rotated between RTEs.
• Contribute team-level and ART-level data to the Metrics & Reporting Steward for the Chapter’s cross-ART dashboards.
• Support the PEM Community Lead and the Agile Team Coach when they need ART-specific input for their communities of practice.
• Own the ART’s contribution to the Chapter’s rolling 12-month roadmap: onboarding of new teams, tooling improvements, capacity for training or certification.
• Represent the ART at the Chapter Lead’s quarterly review with the CPO and Executive Sponsor.

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Pre-PI refinement (Weeks 1-6 of the PI cycle)

• Facilitate the weekly pre-PI refinement cadence per team: 60-minute session where PM, PEM and Tech Lead jointly groom the top-priority features for the next PI. Required output per team: features sized, acceptance criteria written, dependencies flagged.
• Publish each team’s capacity envelope 2 weeks before PI Planning - KTLO / Investable Capacity (BAU + Strategic) split, agreed with the team and reviewed with the Business Owner. Uses the Sprint Capacity Planner (Process Doc V1 Template 1) at PI scale.
• Run a mini Program Board pilot in Week 5: pick 2-3 in-flight features, map them on a digital board, surface dependencies, apply ROAM. This rehearses the actual PI Planning event artifact.
• Confirm Business Owners’ calendar commitment for the full 2 days of PI Planning. Escalate any availability gap to the Chapter Lead and the Business Owner Liaison at least 3 weeks out.
• Test the hybrid PI Planning tooling in Week 4 - Program Board digital surface, Confidence Vote polling tool, breakout video channels. Any tool failure at PI Planning is an RTE failure.
• Finalize the Day-0 execution plan for PI Planning: room, agenda, attendees, materials, catering. Distribute pre-read to all attendees 5 business days before the event.

PI Planning event (Days 1-2 of the event itself)

• Facilitate Day 1 end-to-end: executive opening from Sponsor, business vision and top features from PM Management, architecture vision from the Architect, team breakouts for draft planning. Close Day 1 with the draft-plan review and risk identification session.
• Facilitate Day 2: finalize team plans, walk the Program Board with every cross-team dependency as a string, apply ROAM to every risk, drive PI Objectives sign-off per team with Business Value scores (1-10) assigned by Business Owners.
• Conduct the Confidence Vote at PI Planning close (1-5 scale). If the average falls below 3.0, call an immediate re-plan on the lowest-confidence team’s scope before closing the event. This is a non-negotiable RTE responsibility.
• Publish within 24 hours: signed PI Objectives per team, snapshot of the Program Board, ROAMed risk register with named owners, meeting minutes distributed to all attendees.

In-PI execution (5 sprints + IP, approximately 10 weeks)

• Facilitate Scrum of Scrums twice per week (30 minutes): each Tech Lead reports impediments, dependencies in motion and emerging risks; keep the Program Board current with what changed.
• Facilitate PO Sync weekly (60 minutes): PEMs review priority changes, scope adjustments, capacity debt status and new requests from PMs; keep the program backlog current.
• Facilitate ART Sync weekly (60 minutes): cross-team program-level coordination across PEMs, Architects and PMs; document decisions and trade-offs in the decision log.
• Facilitate System Demo every 2 weeks (45 minutes): all teams demonstrate completed work to PMs, BOs and stakeholders; capture acceptance live; rejected items return to the backlog.
• Manage cross-team impediments as they emerge. Severity-1 (will miss a PI Objective) is escalated to the sponsor in under 4 hours; lower severities are logged in the impediment register and reviewed at the next ART Sync.
• Maintain the Predictability dashboard sprint over sprint. If at mid-PI the metric is trending below 60%, trigger a re-plan with PMs and PEMs.

PI close - Inspect & Adapt (half-day workshop)

• Facilitate the PI System Demo: end-to-end demonstration of integrated value delivered across all ART teams.
• Present the quantitative PI close metrics: Predictability per team, Flow metrics, capacity debt balance and Business Value committed vs delivered.
• Facilitate the problem-solving workshop: root-cause analysis on the 2 to 3 most significant issues from the PI using structured techniques (5-Whys, fishbone, A3). Output: backlog of improvement actions with owners and target sprints in the next PI.
• Sign and distribute the Inspect & Adapt report; inputs feed the QBR data for the next quarter.

Chapter-tied responsibilities (continuous)

• Send a weekly ART health note (email or Confluence) to the Chapter Lead: Predictability trajectory, top 3 in-flight impediments, dependencies at risk, upcoming decisions.
• Attend the monthly Chapter Council (90 minutes): bring cross-ART issues, contribute to template evolution, share community-of-practice status from the ART’s perspective.
• Coordinate with peer RTEs on cross-ART dependencies. Where a feature or capability spans two ARTs, peer RTEs schedule a synchronization touchpoint within the same week the dependency surfaces.
• Represent the ART at the Chapter Lead’s quarterly review with CPO and Executive Sponsor. Present ART-level data and outlook for the next PI.
• Contribute one template improvement or documented learning per quarter to the Chapter’s shared library (playbooks, templates, decision aids).

Cross-cutting responsibilities of the role

• Ensure that ART members comply with the engineering process defined by Dynata and with the requirements of the assigned program.
• Ensure the methodological quality of the assigned program, in terms of SAFe framework adoption and Dynata process guidelines.
• Ensure the proper documentation of program artifacts: Program Board, ROAM register, PI Objectives, capacity envelopes, Sprint Completion Report Cards, decisions and escalations.
• Perform impact analysis on scope changes during the PI and propose trade-offs to the business areas.
• Coach the ART team and propose the training they should receive; act as mentor / sponsor for any other internal coach or program-level role that requires guidance.
• Participate in the performance evaluation of Dynata staff assigned to the ART.
• Perform peer reviews on key program artifacts: PI Plans, Program Boards, Confidence Votes, Inspect & Adapt reports.
• Ensure the status and progress of PI commitments are updated in the assigned program’s management system.
• Collaborate with cross-functional business and technical teams to understand business needs and support decision-making, both for ongoing and new programs.
• Analyze business needs focused on Dynata tactical and strategic plans, and propose, plan and execute the interventions required to meet such needs.

At Dynata, we deliver the highest quality first-party data to help businesses around the world gain precise insights, activate the right audiences, and confidently measure impact. With industry-leading respondent accuracy, reliability, and a commitment to continuous improvement, Dynata is the trusted foundation for smarter decision-making.

At Dynata, we are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible environment where every employee and customer feels valued, respected, and supported. We strive to build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities we serve. Dynata welcomes and encourages applications from individuals with disabilities and is dedicated to fostering a work culture that supports everyone. Accommodations are available upon request for all aspects of the selection process.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or related field
• Preferred graduate-level education in Agile Project Management, Organizational Transformation, or related disciplines
• Minimum two (2) active SAFe / Agile certifications (SAFe RTE preferred).
• 5+ years leading software delivery programs
• 2+ years coordinating multiple teams at the program level
• Minimum 3 PI Planning events facilitated or co-facilitated in any prior context.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS - TECHNOLOGIES

• Backlog and planning: Jira (including Jira Plans), Azure DevOps, Linear. Familiarity with Dynata two-Jira-project model (PM board and Engineering board).

The base salary range for this position in is $95K-$115K/yr; however, base pay offered may vary depending on location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. A discretionary incentive program may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a full range of medical and other benefits, dependent on full-time employment status.