Senior Lead Scrum Master
Northern Trust· Financial Services· Oct 20, 2026 · 8d ago
Chicago IL
In office
Full-time
Lead/Staff
$96K–$162K
Job description
About Northern Trust
As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.
Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.
With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.
Major Duties :1. Create empowered, self-organizing, high-performing teams by serving as the team’s servant leader
• Mentor the team and the Product Owner on Scrum and Agile best practices
• Continuously improve team productivity and facilitate completion of work
• Educate the team, Product Owner and stakeholders on the business value of engineering practices, and promote the use of engineering practices to provide faster delivery, better quality, and fewer defects
• In collaboration with the team and Product Owner, regularly assess the Agile maturity of the team, identify improvement opportunities, and implement the improvements at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable for the team and the organization
• Coach the team on the value and methods of developing cross-functional skills
2. Facilitate planning
a. Coach the Product Owner on creating and maintaining a continuously prioritized Product Backlog of stories with clear acceptance criteria and high-level estimates
b. In collaboration with the team, facilitate the creation of team agreements which minimally include a Definition of Done (DOD) and a Definition of Ready (DOR)
c. Facilitate regular Release Planning workshops
d. Ensure updates to the plan are communicated to stakeholders
3. Facilitate delivery
a. In collaboration with the team, identify and mitigate risks, issues and dependencies internal and external to the team
b. Remove impediments that prevent the team from delivering work and continuously improving
c. Facilitate sprint execution including elaborate planning sessions, sprint planning preparation sessions, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives. Team coaching on:
I. Creating small stories with thin slices of end-to-end functionality
ii. The value and use of relative estimation
iii. Executing Design/Build/Test activities daily
iv. Testing early and often during each sprint
v. Incorporating engineering practices
vi. Completing committed stories in the sprint
vii. Completing Potentially Shippable Increments (PSI) in each sprint
viii. Correctly and effectively using velocity for planning
4. Time box events to effectively manage the team’s and stakeholders’ time. Create information radiators that automatically and continuously share pertinent information with the team and stakeholders. Increase transparency and aid in internal and external communication and alignment. Read and recommend valuable Lean and Agile books, blogs, articles, etc. to continuously increase the team’s Agile maturity.
5. Seasoned expertise in Agile principles and practices, with deep technical and/or business knowledge. Provides comprehensive, in-depth consulting and leadership to team and partners at a high technical level.
6. Able to facilitate open, fact based discussions, build consensus and reach decisions.
7. Carries out moderately complex activities and initiatives which can involve multiple disciplines and/or ambiguous issues.
Knowledge :Excellent oral and written communication skills, time management and individual and team building skills. Advanced interpersonal skills, able to establish strong working relationships and promote bi-directional communication within and across teams and programs.
Strong leadership and organizational skills, skilled in facilitation, continuous improvement, empowerment, transparency, building trust and servant leadership. Able to effectively manage challenging situations through negotiation and conflict resolution.
Strong understanding of all facets of the software development life cycle including planning, development, quality assurance, change management and release management.
Excellent understanding of software development methodologies and fundamentals (Agile, SCRUM, Kanban, Waterfall, etc.) Strong knowledge and experience with Agile techniques such as Continuous Integration, automated testing, test-first approaches such as TDD, ATDD, etc., pairing, Agile games, etc.
Able to organize, moderate and demonstrate Agile industry best practices. Experience with developing and executing plans, meeting deadlines, coordinating timelines and efforts and applying advanced principles, theories and experiences.
Experience :A College or University degree and relevant proven work experience of Agile practical usage in the role of Scrum Master is required. Experience with Agile Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools (JIRA, Rally/CA Agile Central, VersionOne, etc.) preferred. Certified Scrum Professional and/or certified Scrum Master preferred.
Salary Range:
$95,600 - 162,400 USD
Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.
Work Authorization
Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future. Northern Trust will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work visa status for this opportunity (no sponsorship is available for H-1B, L-1, TN, O-1, E-3, H-1B1, F-1, J-1, OPT, CPT or any other employment-based visa).
Working with Us
As a Northern Trust partner, you will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture, which has a strong history of financial strength and stability. Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to an inclusive workplace and assisting the communities we serve.
Philanthropy is deeply rooted in Northern Trust’s history and is an essential element of our culture. Employees around the world give their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities.
Reasonable Accommodation
Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing adjustments to individuals with health conditions and disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at MyHRHelp ntrs.com , or alternatively you can discuss your individual requirements with the recruiter you are working with.
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Keywords to mirror
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Benefits
Benefits detected in the listing.
Dental
Vision
401k
Paid Time Off