Agile Coach (Hybrid)

At Selective, we don't just insure uniquely, we employ uniqueness.

Selective is a midsized U.S. domestic property and casualty insurance company with a history of strong, consistent financial performance for nearly 100 years. Selective's unique position as both a leading insurance group and an employer of choice is recognized in a wide variety of awards and honors, including listing in Forbes Best Midsize Employers in 2024 and certification as a Great Place to Work in 2024 for the fifth consecutive year.

Employees are empowered and encouraged to Be Uniquely You by being their true, unique selves and contributing their diverse talents, experiences, and perspectives to our shared success. Together, we are a high-performing team working to serve our customers responsibly by helping to mitigate loss, keep them safe, and restore their lives and businesses after an insured loss occurs.

This Agile Coach role reports into the Transformation Office, which is accountable for driving a Product Transformation here at Selective. Close collaboration will be required with key business roles (i.e., business owners, product managers and product owners) to ensure our product orientation is set up to drive measurable business outcomes aligned to the strategic plan. Candidates in this position will be a key influencer to the operational and strategic direction of the company and will help systemically ensure strategies are effectively implemented in alignment with business goals.

• Drive agile/product maturity for a portfolio, roughly 10 teams. Identify current gaps/challenges, build a coaching plan, guide the team through advancing their teams/programs/portfolio, and measure successful outcomes
• Develop and deliver workshops and training sessions for agile, lean, and product model practices.
• Establish program level ceremonies; creation and management of feature kanban board
• Coach Scrum Masters and Product Owners on the expected skills and behaviors
• Drive continuous improvement on agile teams, programs, and departments using techniques such as Inspect & Adapt, Retrospectives, and Root Cause Analysis.
• Facilitate tracking and reporting of agile metrics at the program level (i.e. backlog health, predictability, lead time, cycle time, quality) to promote transparency, continuous improvement, and connection to the portfolio strategy, outcomes, and measures.
• Influence our financial reporting practices to align to the product model

Knowledge and Requirements

• Strong leadership and communication skills
• Ability to work directly with product teams, as well as program and senior IT leadership
• Strong command of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) values, principles, and practices
• Advanced Agile certification required
• Experience with Agile work management software especially Microsoft Azure DevOps and Target Process (or equivalent)
• Knowledge of Insurance Industry a plus
• Experience as a product owner, manager, or leader is a plus.
• 8+ years of experience in software development, with 3+ years of experience in coaching teams/leaders

Selective Insurance offers a total rewards package that includes a competitive base salary, incentive plan eligibility at all levels, and a wide array of benefits designed to help you and your family stay healthy, achieve your financial goals, and balance the demands of your work and personal life. These benefits include comprehensive health care plans, retirement savings plan with company match, discounted Employee Stock Purchase Program, tuition assistance and reimbursement programs, and paid time off plans. Additional details about our total rewards package will be provided during the recruiting process.

The actual base salary is based on geographic location, and the range is representative of salaries for this role throughout Selective's footprint. Additional considerations include relevant education, qualifications, experience, skills, performance, and business needs.

Selective is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. That means we respect and value every individual's unique opinions, beliefs, abilities, and perspectives. We are committed to promoting a welcoming culture that celebrates diverse talent, individual identity, different points of view and experiences - and empowers employees to contribute new ideas that support our continued and growing success. Building a highly engaged team is one of our core strategic imperatives, which we believe is enhanced by diversity, equity, and inclusion. We expect and encourage all employees and all of our business partners to embrace, practice, and monitor the attitudes, values, and goals of acceptance; address biases; and foster diversity of viewpoints and opinions.