Senior Scrum Master

What you will do

• Coach engineering teams from low Agile maturity to self-sustaining Scrum or Kanban practice, and help decide which framework fits each team's work.
• Make ceremonies earn their place: run focused, useful Sprint Planning, Refinement, Reviews, and Retrospectives, and cut or reshape anything that isn't adding value.
• Close the retrospective loop by making sure improvement actions are owned, tracked, and actually carried into the next sprint.
• Teach teams to write clear user stories with testable acceptance criteria, and to break work into sprint-sized pieces.
• Build capacity-based sprint planning so commitments are realistic and teams start hitting them.
• Coach and support the Product Owner on backlog ownership, prioritization, and refinement, and fill gaps directly while that capability grows.
• Establish consistent, low-friction Jira practices (board design, workflows, definitions of ready and done) so the data reflects reality.
• Implement Kanban practices for flow-based teams: visualized workflow, WIP limits, and flow metrics such as cycle time and throughput.
• Use team metrics to show progress to the teams themselves and to government stakeholders.
• Represent your teams in program-level planning and sync events, and escalate impediments and cross-team dependencies.

What we are looking for

• Active Secret clearance and U.S. citizenship required.
• Bachelor's degree and 6+ years of related experience, equivalent to a System Engineer Level 4.
• Current industry-recognized Agile certification (Scaled Agile, Scrum.org, Scrum, Inc., Scrum Alliance, or PMI).
• Demonstrated experience coaching a low-maturity or struggling team to sustained Agile practice, with specific examples of what improved.
• Hands-on experience with both Scrum and Kanban.
• Experience coaching Product Owners or backfilling PO responsibilities.
• Proficiency configuring and managing Jira boards, workflows, and reporting.
• On-site in Colorado Springs as program needs require, so you must live within commuting distance.

Also valuable

• Coaching-focused credentials such as ICAgile ICP-ACC, SAFe Advanced Scrum Master (SASM), or Kanban University KMP/TKP.
• Experience coaching engineering-heavy teams (software, systems, or cyber) that were skeptical of Agile.
• Experience working across multi-contractor teams as a subcontractor or embedded coach.
• Prior experience supporting DoD, Space Systems Command, or U.S. Space Force programs.
• Familiarity with SAFe and DevSecOps practices.
• Experience with Confluence.

Compensation

The pay range for this position is $120,001–$160,000 annually. Actual pay depends on experience, qualifications, and contract requirements.

Fulcrum Defense is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.