Scrum Master Continuous Improvement

Vani Ambati

***********@*****.*** 571-***-****

CERTIFICATIONS

•Certified Scrum Master (CSM) – Scrum Alliance

•ICP-ATF – ICAgile Certified Professional – Agile Team Facilitation

•Certified SAFe® 5.0 Agilist

•Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)

•AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

•Certified Product owner

Cloud AI AWS Practitioner (InProgress)

HIGHLIGHTED ACHIEVEMENTS

• Outstanding Contributor Award – Led the migration of 265+ applications to the cloud at Fannie Mae

• High Performer Award – 2021

• Spearheaded AI-driven transformation through the Gen AI Co-Pilot project

• Successfully led disaster recovery planning for 77 apps and external clients with zero downtime

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Certified Lead Scrum Master/TPM with 9+ years of experience driving Agile transformation, delivering high-impact cloud and AI solutions, and scaling Agile practices across complex enterprise environments. Proven expertise in leading multiple Scrum teams, facilitating Scrum of Scrums, and executing product scope and feature prioritization within SAFe frameworks. Adept at mentoring Scrum Masters, managing cross-functional teams, and enabling continuous delivery through DevOps integration (CI/CD, Terraform, Git). Known for successfully leading cloud-native modernization, AI-driven initiatives (e.g., Gen AI Co-Pilot), and enterprise-wide Agile coaching in highly regulated settings. Trusted partner for stakeholders, product owners, and engineering teams to deliver value at scale with velocity and quality.

EXPERIENCE

Lead Scrum Master/Technical Project Manager– Key Responsibilities (Including Gen AI pilot)

Fannie Mae Oct 2016 – Apr 2025

•Act as a servant-leader and facilitator, supporting Agile teams in day-to-day operations and best practices.

•Identify and remove impediments that hinder team progress, driving resolution and enabling continuous delivery.

•Coach and mentor junior Scrum Masters to enhance team maturity, performance, and alignment with Agile principles.

•Lead team-of-teams ceremonies, such as Program Increment (PI) Planning, and assist in roadmap development, prioritization, and facilitation.

•Guide successful software release cycles by delivering capabilities for infrastructure and shared services.

•Build and maintain strong stakeholder relationships; manage monthly Scrum deliverables and release meetings.

•Spearhead the migration of project tracking tools from Jira to Azure DevOps for streamlined reporting and collaboration.

•Support Product Owners and Scrum teams in backlog management, refinement, and execution of Agile ceremonies.

•Apply and coach on Agile frameworks including Scrum, XP, Kanban, and SAFe.

•Promote relentless improvement by instilling Scrum norms, eliminating blockers, and encouraging efficiency.

•Drive team performance in key areas such as quality, predictability, delivery flow, and velocity.

•Facilitate bi-weekly backlog refinement, sprint planning, reviews/demos, and retrospectives.

•Lead Scrum of Scrums (SoS) and coordinate cross-team dependencies during quarterly PI Planning.

•Coach teams in writing clear and complete user stories with well-defined acceptance criteria ("Definition of Ready/Done").

•Collaborate with product teams to ensure backlog prioritization and health.

•Present key Agile metrics and insights to management through reports and executive-level presentations.

•Manage complex deployments, releases, and dependencies across 95+ internal and external teams.

•Ensure audit and compliance adherence (On-Prem and Cloud) and present monthly updates to Senior Directors.

•Manage two high-performing Scrum teams, facilitating all Scrum ceremonies and ensuring sprint effectiveness.

•Utilize Agile tools like Jira, Confluence, and Azure DevOps to generate actionable metrics (burndown, velocity, cycle time).

•Participate in Scrum of Scrums to scale Agile across teams and implement best practices.

•Partner with DevOps to implement CI/CD pipelines aligned with enterprise enablement.

•Participate in architecture and requirement discussions, resolving onboarding-related technical issues.

•Collaborate with legal, compliance, risk, and audit teams to identify and implement necessary platform changes.

•Lead the retirement of two legacy platforms supporting 265+ applications over 15–20 years.

•Support backlog prioritization and define detailed acceptance criteria for user stories.

•Review completed work during demos and provide sprint-level acceptance.

•Work cross-functionally with engineering, design, operations, support, and other departments from development to launch.

•Interface with the PMO to ensure alignment between project milestones and strategic goals.

•Continuously reprioritize product backlogs in response to evolving business needs.

•Review and support Master Service Agreements (MSAs) with legal and stakeholder teams.

•Coordinate with external vendors for product-related change requests and deliverables.

Senior Scrum Master – Shared Services / XML Gateway

Fannie Mae Sept 2014 – Oct 2016

•Facilitated sprint cycles, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and backlog grooming for cross-functional teams building enterprise-level shared service APIs.

•Aligned sprint goals with strategic objectives by partnering with product owners, technical leads, and key stakeholders.

•Implemented Agile best practices and used key metrics (velocity, burndown, cycle time) to drive continuous improvement across teams.

•Supported onboarding of applications into enterprise security gateways and cloud governance structures, ensuring compliance with internal security and audit standards.

•Collaborated with security, DevOps, and architecture teams to streamline integration of applications into secure cloud environments.

•Designed and customized Agile boards in Jira and Azure DevOps to manage sprint workflows, epics, and dependencies during cloud migration.

•Tracked and mitigated risks across interdependent applications to ensure alignment with broader migration roadmaps and reduce delivery bottlenecks

•Acted as a bridge between technical teams and business stakeholders to provide clear, timely updates on project progress, risks, and roadblocks.

•Facilitated cross-team syncs and Scrum of Scrums to promote collaboration, resolve impediments, and ensure delivery continuity.

•Championed Agile transformation through coaching, mentorship, and Agile training sessions for team members and junior Scrum Masters.

•Presented sprint status reports, release updates, and metrics dashboards to executive leadership for informed decision-making.

•Supported Agile transformation for two newly onboarded application teams integrating with enterprise platforms, promoting Agile values and frameworks to enhance team efficiency.

•Agile ceremonies including daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and retrospectives under the guidance of senior Scrum leadership.

•Tracked and managed campaign-level deliverables using Kanban boards to ensure timely execution of high-priority internal business initiatives.

•Worked closely with Product Owners and business analysts to maintain and prioritize the team backlog, ensuring work items were well-defined and actionable.

•Assisted in the implementation of SAFe principles by facilitating Program Increment (PI) Planning sessions and aligning team WIP (Work In Progress) with ART-level objectives.

•Monitored team progress, identified blockers, and escalated impediments to senior Scrum Masters and delivery leads when necessary.

•Supported the creation of Agile artifacts such as burndown charts and team performance reports to increase transparency and stakeholder engagement.

•Coordinated with cross-functional team members to ensure dependencies were clearly documented and proactively managed.

•Encouraged a culture of continuous feedback and improvement by participating in team retrospectives and process refinement efforts.

Business/System Analyst – Data Quality and Self-Service Cloud Onboarding

Fannie Mae Aug 2013 – Sept 2014

Developed automation strategies to streamline cloud-based self-service onboarding processes, reducing manual effort and improving onboarding speed for new applications.

Created and implemented metadata standards across enterprise systems; trained Informatica Data Quality (IDQ) analysts on rule creation, data profiling, and validation for cloud-based applications.

Partnered with data architects to design and build scalable, high-performance cloud data pipelines supporting Multifamily Target State systems and future-state architecture.

Conducted gap analysis and requirements gathering sessions with stakeholders to document current-state processes and design improved future-state workflows.

Worked with product managers and business users to define data governance policies, business rules, and critical data elements for regulatory and operational reporting.

Collaborated with ETL and cloud engineering teams to ensure seamless data flow, transformation, and validation across Azure-based data platforms.

Designed functional specifications and data flow diagrams (DFDs) to support technical development and QA testing across multiple platforms.

Facilitated user acceptance testing (UAT) by preparing test cases, managing feedback loops, and ensuring alignment with defined acceptance criteria.

Supported Agile development by maintaining user stories, backlog grooming, and sprint planning in partnership with Scrum Masters and developers.

Presented data quality metrics and pipeline performance reports to business and technical leadership to drive ongoing improvement initiatives.

Business Analyst – XML Gateway Security & Cloud Policy Enforcement

Fannie Mae Sept 2012 – Aug 2013

• Built enterprise security policies for cloud-based and on-prem Web Services (SOAP/REST)

• Designed XMLGateway onboarding flow with cloud governance and mandatory encryption/security protocols

QA/BA Analyst – Mobile Payments & API Testing

JP Morgan Chase Jul 2010 – Aug 2012

• Led test execution for cloud-based mobile banking apps across iOS, Android, and BlackBerry

• Built SOAP/REST test cases using SoapUI, created mock services, and tested build installations

• Participated in Agile ceremonies, worked with JSON payloads, and used JIRA for user story tracking

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Cloud Platforms: Azure, AWS (Cloud Practitioner Certified)

Agile Frameworks: Scrum, SAFe, Kanban

DevOps Tools: Git, Jenkins, Terraform, UCD, UCR, CI/CD pipeline facilitation

Databases: SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL

Testing/Quality: SOAP UI, JUnit, JSON, Web Services, Mobile Testing

Project/Agile Tools: Azure DevOps, Jira, Rally, VersionOne, Confluence, TFS, ALM, Clarity

Data Tools: Informatica, IDQ, EDQ, Autosys, MicroStrategy, BI

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