Lead Agilist

Lead Agilist (Scrum Master)

Location: Cincinnati, OH – Downtown

Work Arrangement: Onsite

Experience: 5+ years of business experience, including 3+ years of Scrum experience

Employment Type: Full-Time W2 Consultant

About Smart Data

Smart Data is a software consultancy and technology staffing firm that connects talented technology professionals with opportunities at leading organizations. We partner with clients across a variety of industries to provide experienced professionals who help solve complex business and technology challenges.

When you join Smart Data, you'll have the opportunity to work with one of our established clients while gaining valuable experience, expanding your professional skills, and contributing to meaningful technology initiatives.

About the Opportunity

Smart Data is seeking a Lead Agilist (Scrum Master) to support one of our established enterprise clients in Downtown Cincinnati.

This is a hands-on Agile leadership role supporting one or more technology squads within a large enterprise environment. You'll serve as a Scrum Master, coach, facilitator, and servant leader, helping teams apply Agile and Scrum principles effectively while continuously improving how they work together and deliver business value.

This isn't a traditional project management role. Rather than directing the team's work, you'll help squads become increasingly self-organizing, accountable, collaborative, and data-driven.

You'll facilitate Scrum ceremonies, coach Product Owners and Development Teams, identify and remove impediments, help teams navigate dependencies and conflict, and create an environment where problems can be surfaced and solved collaboratively.

The right person brings strong Scrum fundamentals but also understands that effective Agile leadership requires coaching, emotional intelligence, facilitation, observation, adaptability, and the ability to influence without direct authority.

What You'll Bring

Required Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of full-time professional business experience
• 3+ years of hands-on Scrum / Scrum Master experience
• Strong understanding of the Scrum Framework and Agile principles
• Experience supporting and coaching Agile software development teams
• Experience facilitating:
• Sprint Planning
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Reviews
• Retrospectives
• Backlog Refinement
• Experience coaching Product Owners and Development Teams
• Strong facilitation, presentation, teaching, and mentoring skills
• Experience communicating and removing impediments both inside and outside of an Agile team
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Ability to facilitate discussions while remaining neutral and allowing teams to determine the best course of action
• Experience helping teams improve self-organization, collaboration, and accountability
• Strong conflict-resolution and mediation skills
• Ability to build trust and rapport across teams and organizational levels
• Experience using feedback loops, metrics, and empirical data to support continuous improvement
• Understanding of the software development lifecycle and how Agile teams operate within it
• Ability to influence teams and stakeholders without direct authority
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience

Nice to Have

• Experience supporting multiple Agile squads
• Experience within large enterprise technology organizations
• Financial services or other highly regulated industry experience
• Working knowledge of Kanban, Scrumban, XP, Mob Programming, or other Agile approaches
• Understanding of DevOps and modern software engineering practices
• Exposure to Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
• Familiarity with Test Driven Development (TDD) and automated testing practices
• Experience using Agile metrics and information radiators to identify opportunities for improvement
• Experience coaching teams through organizational or cultural change
• Experience working with cross-team dependencies in complex technology environments

What You'll Do

Agile Squad Leadership

• Support one or more Agile squads and help teams effectively apply Scrum and Agile principles
• Serve as a servant leader, guiding teams rather than directing them
• Observe team dynamics and determine where coaching or intervention will provide the greatest value
• Help teams become increasingly self-organizing and capable of solving their own problems
• Create an environment where team members can openly raise challenges, risks, and concerns
• Promote collaboration, accountability, transparency, and continuous learning
• Help teams remain focused on delivering meaningful business and customer value

Scrum Facilitation

Facilitate Scrum events and ensure teams receive meaningful value from them, including:

• Sprint Planning
• Daily Scrum
• Sprint Review
• Sprint Retrospective
• Backlog Refinement

You'll help ensure these aren't simply meetings on the calendar. You'll continuously evaluate whether each ceremony is helping the team inspect, adapt, communicate, and deliver more effectively.

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means:

• Your squads understand and effectively apply Agile and Scrum principles rather than simply following ceremonies
• Teams increasingly solve their own problems instead of depending on the Scrum Master to solve them
• Product Owners and Development Teams have a shared understanding of priorities, outcomes, and success
• Scrum events are focused, productive, and provide measurable value
• Impediments and dependencies are surfaced and addressed quickly
• Teams openly discuss risks, challenges, and opportunities for improvement
• Conflict is handled constructively
• Teams use data and feedback loops to continuously improve
• Collaboration and trust increase across the squad
• Teams become more self-organizing, cross-functional, and accountable
• Business and customer value remain central to how teams prioritize and deliver work

Why This Role Matters

High-performing Agile teams aren't created simply by following Scrum ceremonies.

They require an environment where people can communicate openly, challenge assumptions, continuously learn, resolve conflict, and take ownership of how they deliver value.

As a Lead Agilist, you'll help create that environment.

You'll work at the intersection of people, process, technology, and business delivery, helping Agile squads become stronger, more independent, and more effective over time.

This is an opportunity for an experienced Scrum professional who wants to move beyond simply facilitating ceremonies and have a meaningful impact on team performance, Agile maturity, software delivery, and organizational effectiveness.

Why Join Smart Data?

At Smart Data, we connect technology professionals with opportunities where they can make a meaningful impact.

As part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to:

• Work with established enterprise clients
• Support complex, business-critical technology initiatives
• Gain experience within large enterprise technology environments
• Work alongside experienced technology and business professionals
• Develop your Agile coaching, facilitation, and leadership capabilities
• Gain exposure to modern software engineering and DevOps practices
• Help teams improve how they collaborate and deliver business value
• Build valuable experience for your long-term career

You'll also have access to:

• Competitive base salary
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Optional life and disability insurance
• 401(k) with company match and optional profit sharing
• Paid vacation
• Paid bench time
• Training and professional development opportunities
• Referral bonus opportunities

Equal Opportunity Employer

Smart Data is an equal opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business needs.

Location: Cincinnati, OH 45202

Ability to Commute: Cincinnati, OH 45202 (Required)

Work Location: Hybrid / In-person