Release Train Engineer

The Role

The Location

The Team: The S&P Global Commodity Insights team seeks to accelerate transformation from product to platform-centric software engineering practices in an Agile development methodology, specifically within the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). This person will play a pivotal role in optimizing the flow of value across an entire Agile Release Train (ART).

The Impact:

This role has a broader context of major strategic initiatives to extend our market leadership, enhance customer experience, and implement next-generation software technology. You will be responsible for orchestrating value delivery across multiple Scrum/Agile teams, ensuring alignment and execution of large-scale, strategic programs. In short, it represents an exciting and visible opportunity to join our team during a dynamic period of fundamental organizational and operational changes.

Whats in it for you: Great Place to Work, Good Learning Curve, Excellent Work Culture, and Motivates you to Get Stuff Done.

Responsibilities:

• Program Execution and Facilitation: Lead and facilitate the Agile Release Train (ART) events, including PI Planning, Inspect & Adapt (I&A) Workshops, Scrum of Scrums, and the ART Sync.
• Coaching and Mentoring: Coach ART leaders, Scrum Masters, and teams in Lean-Agile practices and mindsets. Drive the overall adoption and improvement of SAFe within the train.
• Flow Optimization: Establish and communicate the annual calendars for Iterations and Program Increments (PIs). Work with Product and Solution Management, and other stakeholders to help ensure strategy and execution alignment.
• Risk and Dependency Management: Manage and escalate impediments, risks, and dependencies for the ART. Coordinate with other ARTs and shared services.
• Reporting and Transparency: Ensure clear, objective reporting on PI execution status, feature delivery, and system predictability to stakeholders, including executive leadership.
• Budgeting and Capacity: Assist with budgeting and resource capacity planning for the ART.
• Relentless Improvement: Foster a culture of continuous improvement within the ART, driving the outcomes of the I&A event and ensuring improvement items are owned and executed.
• Change Agent: Act as a servant leader and change agent, fostering a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised and resolved without fear of blame, retribution, or being judged.

What are we Looking For?

Basic Qualifications - The candidate must have:

• Certifications

  : Current SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) certification preferable

• Experience:

  • 8+ years of experience playing a Scrum Master role for a software development team diligently applying Scrum principles.
  • 2+ years of direct experience as a Release Train Engineer (RTE), successfully launching and running at least three or more Program Increments (PIs) in a SAFe environment.
• SAFe Mastery: Deep, practical capability in applying and tailoring the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to optimize value delivery at the program level.
• Tooling: Expert-level experience with commonly used tools for managing an ART, such as Azure DevOps, Rally, or Jira Align, including configuring boards and generating program-level metrics.
• Communication & Conflict: Excellent oral and written communication skills, with a proven ability to facilitate discussions and resolve conflict at the program and stakeholder level.
• Servant Leadership: Demonstrates strong servant leadership, facilitation, situational awareness, conflict resolution, and continual improvement skills.

Preferred Qualifications The candidate could have:

• Advanced Certifications: SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) or other advanced SAFe certifications (e.g., SAFe Advanced Scrum Master (SASM)).
• Technical Knowledge: Knowledge and/or experience with DevOps practices, Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), and Lean-Agile Budgeting.
• Other Agile Approaches: Knowledge of other scaling models or Agile approaches: LeSS, Nexus, Kanban, XP, etc.
• Domain Expertise: Previous experience in the financial services or commodities/energy sector.