Scrum Master Project Manager

YOUSEF ALRAQHAS, SSM SP SAFe CSM

Citizenship: USA Alexandria, VA 832-***-**** ********@*****.*** Able to Obtain Security Clearance TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Agile Methodology

• SDLC

• CD / CI Pipelines

• Product roadmap

• ATS

• Workday / iCIMS / Taleo

• Scrum Framework • Kanban • ERP / HRIS

• SAFe

• MS Teams

• AWS

• Cloud

• CRM

• Agile Release Train (ART)

• Jira / Confluence

• Scrum Ceremonies

• Program Increment (PI)

• Kanban

• Story Mapping

• Release Management

• Agile & Scrum Metrics

• Velocity Tracking

• Recruiting Metrics

COMPETENCIES

• Project Management

• Full Lifecycle Recruiting

• Impediments Removal

• Training & Onboarding

• Consulting

• Risk Management

• Coaching • Technical Recruiting • Project Controls

• Facilitation

• Client Relationship Building

• Conflict Resolution

• Talent Acquisition

• Business Documentation

• Vendor Management

• Account Management

• Budgeting

• Negotiation

• HR Legal Compliance

• Process Improvement

• Event Coordination

• Agency Staffing

• Product Management

• Market Research

CERTIFICATIONS

Professional Project Manager (PMP)

Project Management Institute – In Progress

Certified SAFe 6.0 Scrum Master (SSM)

Scaled Agile Framework Inc – Expiration January 2026 Certified SAFe 6.0 Practitioner (SP)

Scaled Agile Framework Inc – Expiration May 2025

Certified Scrum Master (CSM)

Scrum Alliance – Expiration June 2025

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Cloud Computing (In Progress) Wester Governor University Millcreek, UT

Bachelor of Business Administration

American University of Kuwait Kuwait, Kuwait

Master of Public Administration

University of North Carolina, Charlotte Charlotte, NC EXPERIENCE

IT Agile Project Manager / SAFe Scrum Master Southwest Airlines, Houston, TX (Remote - Contract) January 2024 – December 2024

• Led sprint planning, program increment (PI planning), daily stand-up meetings, sprint reviews, and retrospectives

• Supported the product owner in their responsibilities, including product roadmap, backlog refinement, story prioritization, features, sprint planning and managing key stakeholders’ expectations

• Facilitated root cause analysis sessions during retrospectives and builds corrective action plans

• Communicated progress and impediments to senior management and stakeholders

• Onboarded new team members and coached them on team agreements and scrum / SAFe guidelines

• Collaborated with other teams in the agile release train (ART) and assisted the Release Train Engineer (RTE) with program objectives

• Developed and facilitated daily scrum or stand-up meetings, leading to a 10% increase in sprint efficiency by implementing sprint goals- oriented meetings during the daily 15-minute sync instead of status update meetings

• Led and coached a team of 4 front-end developers, 2 backend developers, 2 analysts, and 1 product owner on agile and SAFe practices, reducing project duration by 30% and improving program execution and workflow by 27%

• Leveraged Jira Cloud, Jira Align, and Confluence to track progress, managing the backlog and improving estimate accuracy and project completion by 18%

• Improved team morale by 20% by leading team-building activities, fostering open communication and promoting a culture of continuous improvement

• Implemented scrum metrics, such as average velocity, capacity, cycle time, lead time, burndown, and load, leading to a 10% reduction in carryover and 15% improvement in team performance

• Successfully collaborated with different stakeholders and teams in the ART to remove blockers / impediments and dependencies, resulting in a 20% reduction in project risk

HR Project Manager / Scrum Master Southwest Airlines, Houston, TX (Remote - Contract) April 2022 – January 2024

• Supported the planning, scheduling, and tracking of milestones and deliverables for HRIS projects, including the Workday implementation, ensuring timely completion and alignment with business goals

• Acted as a key liaison between teams to facilitate clear communication, ensuring all stakeholders stay informed of progress, risks, and necessary adjustments

• Organized and coordinate project-related meetings, workshops, and training sessions, preparing agendas, documenting key takeaways, and ensuring follow-ups on action items

• Tracked project tasks, follow up on deadlines, and maintain accurate documentation such as status reports, process workflows, and system configuration guides

• Assisted in system testing, user acceptance testing (UAT), and post-implementation reviews by coordinating test efforts, developing test scripts, and tracking outcomes

• Identified potential risks and challenges during implementation, proactively working with the senior HRIS Project Manager and team to develop solutions and ensure smooth project execution

• Facilitated the creation of user guides and training materials, assist in delivering end-user training, and provide ongoing support to drive successful system adoption

• Successfully managed timelines, deliverables, and milestones for HRIS projects, ensuring 95% on-time completion for Workday implementation and system upgrades

• Acted as a bridge between HR, IT, and business teams, ensuring seamless communication and reducing project bottlenecks by 30% through proactive issue resolution

• Organized and facilitated over 20+ project meetings, workshops, and training sessions, leading to a 40% improvement in team preparedness and alignment

• Developed and maintained comprehensive project records, reducing data retrieval time by 50% and ensuring 100% accuracy in status reporting

• Coordinated end-to-end system testing efforts, identifying and resolving 90% of system issues before go-live, minimizing post- implementation disruptions

• Identified potential roadblocks early, allowing for timely resolutions that resulted in a 25% reduction in project delays

• Assisted in the creation of user guides and training materials, leading to a 60% increase in employee confidence and efficiency in utilizing Workday functionalities

• Supported HRIS enhancements and system maintenance, leading to a 20% increase in system efficiency and reduction in manual data entry errors

Sr Technical Recruiter / Sourcer Starbucks, Houston, TX (Remote - Contract) June 2021 – April 2022

• Managed the full lifecycle recruiting process, which includes: posting requisitions, sourcing, resume reviews, screening, interviewing, technical assessments, submitting resumes to hiring managers, discussing roles with hiring managers, providing candidate feedback, presenting and negotiating offers, onboarding, conducting background checks / drug screens, and entering data into the ATS

• Oversaw 10-20 requestions quarterly for roles, such as front-end and back-end developers, cybersecurity engineers, cloud engineers, data engineers, data scientists, machine learning engineers, desktop support specialists, and system administrators

• Tracked and reported key recruitment metrics, including time -to-hire, offer acceptance rate, and quality of hire and presented them during bi-weekly meetings with hiring managers, HR Recruiting Managers, and HR Business Partners

• Built and maintained talent pipelines for current and future hiring needs (example: software developers, system administrators, and IT technical Specialists)

• Traveled to different diversity conferences to implement and promote diversity hiring initiatives to ensure a diverse pool of candidates

• Developed innovative sourcing strategies to attract passive candidates using Linkedin, Github, stack Overflow and specialist job boards using coding messages, which resulted in a 20% increase in response rate

• Managed to close 10-20 requisitions quarterly with an average time-to-fill ratio of 43 days (time when the position is posted to when the role is filled)

• Implemented recruiting-wide strategy of sitting with hiring managers during panel interviews to be partners in the hiring process, which results in a smoother process for hiring managers and pleasant experience for candidate

• Managed vendor relationship with the staffing agencies for the contracting new hires, which results cost saving and reduction IT Recruiter / Sourcer Philips, Nashville, TN & Houston, TX (Hybrid & Remote) December 2019 – June 2021

• Provided full-cycle recruiting (initial intake, sourcing, screening, selecting, hiring, and onboarding) for 25-30 entry/ mid and senior level positions in sales, customer service, IT, engineering, and project management. Sourced and attracted passive candidates using networking groups, Linkedin Recruiter, referrals, and job boards (roles vary from high volume to niche recruiting)

• Developed a list of creative Boolean Searches and presented to the recruiting team, increasing candidate response rate and attracting diverse candidates in the candidate pipeline

IT Recruiter / Sourcer HCA Healthcare, Nashville, TN (Hybrid) October 2018 – December 2019

• Managed the end-to-end recruiting and sourcing process for clinical and non-clinical staff (allied health professionals, nurses, doctors MD DO PA NP with different specialties, corporate and support staff) while maintaining an average requisition load of 20-50 per quarter

• Closed a hiring a gap for the cardiology nursing shortage by implementing creative outreach campaigns and developing a career fair for nursing students and recent graduates as well as experienced nurses This The scope of the proposed services will include the following: Client is seeking an experienced Scrum Master to support the Sustainability portfolio busi nesses within the Renewable Energy sect or. The Scrum Master will facilitate Agile processes, coor dinate development activities, and drive the successful implementation of an Energy Trading and Risk Management (ETRM) platform. This role is hybrid, requiring four days in-office per week in Houston, TX. Day-to-Day In this role, you will leverage your previous Agile experience to coach teams on best practices for Scrum to increase the Agile maturity of existing Scrum Teams. Coaching teams on Agile best practices is critical to the success of this role. The Senior Scrum Master will work with our research and development as well as our product supply groups. They will act as a servant leader for the teams by facilitating clear communication to the product developers and owner s working on their team. Creating a collaborative Agile environment that results in quality product delivery and overall increase in value for P&G. In addition, the Scrum Master is responsible for removing roadblocks that hinder the team from reaching their goals and has a flexible approach that enables the team to respond and adapt to change qui ckly. Responsibilities

• Facilitate all Scrum ceremonies - sprint planning and refinement, daily standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives

• Work with the Product Owner s and Development teams to identify technical solutions and process improvements to align with business and IT strategic directions

• Coach the team to higher levels of maturity, at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable for the team and the organization

• Guide, coach, and motivate the team with the goal of increasing productivity

• Facilitate discussions, decision-making, and conflict resolution

• Identify and eliminate any hindrances or distractions that impede the team's ability to meet their commitments

• Demonstrate and advocate for fundamental agile values and principles. Ie: transparency, inspection and adaptation, collaboration, prioritization and team accountability

• Proactively help guide and remove blocker/impediments for the team or guide the team to remove their own impediments

• Act as a thought partner to the Team, supporting them in identifying solutions to obstacles that arise

• Enhance resource utilization, participate in capacity and sizing planning

• Use reporting tools to monitor the progress of the portfolio delivery and ensure transparency of team accomplishments and assessments of risks/i ssues

• Foster and enable a collaborative and innovative environment, support and empower the team to make suitable commitments through story commitment and task definitions

• Regularly assess the Teams’ Agile maturity, to identify best fit personal coaching and development approach for each Team Job Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field

• 5+ years of experience as a Scrum Master in an Agile environment

• Expertise with Agile, the Scrum framework,

• Experience with PI Planning; Aiding in preparing Scrum Teams for PI Planning readiness, working with Release Train Engineers to ensure dependencies have been identified and accounted for, etc.

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