Agile Release Train Engineer/Atlassian Digital Delivery Manager
Reporting To: Director of Planning and Delivery
Location: Home based
Release Train Engineers (RTEs) facilitate and manage software release planning activities, PI events and processes that enable the development teams to deliver a continuous flow of value to customers and end users. In doing so, they communicate with key stakeholders, escalate impediments, manage risks and dependencies whilst promoting agile best practices and drive continuous improvements of the release management processes.
RTEs typically have a solid grasp of how to scale Lean and Agile practices and understand the unique opportunities and challenges associated with facilitating and continuously aligning a large software development program.
The Atlassian Digital Delivery Manager is accountable for the systems that underpin software development, quality assurance, solution delivery and customer service desk functions, providing compliance, governance and ITIL alignment.
They are the primary contact to manage and support the business with the Atlassian application, whilst maintaining, and configuring tools and any related plug-ins and integrations, to ensure they meet the needs of the operational processes across the business and stakeholders.
As such, this role requires strong stakeholder engagement, clear communication, and excellent organisation skills.
This is a senior role that operates with considerable autonomy. As such, you will be exposed to a wide and challenging range of business issues through regular engagement with stakeholders across all levels in the organisation.
Duties & responsibilities
- Provide hands-on facilitation, support, and guidance for the development teams both onshore and offshore through all the stages of the agile development lifecycle.
- Facilitate development with service desk escalations and be the gateway between the business and development.
- Support Programme Increment Art Events and ensure analytics are in place to capture and present the Inspect and Adapt business outcomes in line with sprint iterations in accordance with the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
- Support stakeholders in the delivery of the company strategy and execution alignment.
- Assist in the tracking and execution of PI deliverables via the production and use of program and team level metrics.
- Manage releases, reviewing and prioritising development requests from sales, deployment, roadmap/design, and Change Requests.
- Work with development to schedule sprint content ensuring deadlines for stakeholders’ requirements are achieved and facilitate with appropriate stakeholders to resolve conflict of demand over capacity.
- Ensure that release plans are in place, consistently maintained, communicated across all parts of the business and that all issues pertaining to a particular release are managed accordingly.
- Undertakes analysis and reporting on the release and development backlog to influence high level resource allocation decisions.
- Maintain effective communication with key stakeholders to conduct changes in priorities within specific solution releases.
- Ensure data quality is managed and maintained.
- Work with the Director of Planning and Delivery and other key stakeholders to continuously drive improvements in processes and quality as part of an ongoing programme to ensure efficient delivery to internal and external customers.
- Responsible for maintenance and creation of RTE documentation to support processes and audits.
- Working with department leads, drive the move to a single cloud version of JIRA across the business ensuring that workflows and processes are standardised and simplified.
- Management of the Atlassian system and supplier ensuring system is maintained.
- Work closely with operational leads and the wider business on the Atlassian technology ensuring functions of the application support key business processes and operational rollout.
- Responsible for the Atlassian environments ensuring the governance and security requirements are met.
- Determine ways to improve SDLC process workflows and identify where functionality can/cannot meet stakeholder needs.
- Serve as a subject matter expert for the Atlassian system and products, providing hands-on support to internal teams and stakeholders.
- Implement a new Atlassian service desk to manage and support system issues and new enhancements.
- Create projects, workflows, customisations, and integrations that help deliver an efficient operational business system for end users.
- Provide user and license management, granting permissions where required and appropriate.
- Recommend innovative ideas for using the Atlassian suite.
- Perform system administration and maintenance tasks, including backups, indexing, and configuring scheduled jobs inc. out of hours, where required.
In addition to the above, the Agile Release Train Engineer/Atlassian Digital Delivery Manager is responsible for any other activities in support of the business which can reasonably be expected to fall within the capabilities of the employee.
Education, experience & skills
Whilst it is accepted that the individual education and experience profile for managers will vary, the following is provided as a guideline of expectations:
- Managerial skills essential.
- Qualified Agile RTE qualification, ideally within an environment with multiple development teams onshore, offshore, and nearshore.
- A thorough understanding of the Agile methodology supported by skills to guide and coach development teams in the methodology delivery.
- Strong understanding of Agile principles, theories, practices, techniques, and analytics.
- Experience of collaborating and influencing cross-functional teams, ensuring data quality metrics are in place and adhered to.
- Experience in tracking delivery of software development projects.
- Experience of working to tight deadlines across multiple solutions.
- Management of Atlassian systems and products.
- Ability to organise and co-ordinate areas of work for yourself and others.
- Excellent verbal, presentation, and written communication skills.
- Excellent people skills with the ability to manage, influence, negotiate and collaborate with a variety of stakeholders at all levels in the business.
- Self-starter, highly proactive and assertive in a demanding and dynamic environment.
Desirable:
- Good understanding of the NHS and operational procedures within one or more care settings e.g. Primary Care, Secondary, Social Care, Acute Mental Health.
