release train engineer /scaled agile framework sme

Kshitija Sansare, MBA, PMP®, RTE®, SAFE®, CSM®

Buffalo Grove, IL, 60089 847-***-**** *********@*****.*** www.linkedin.com/in/kshitija-sansare-mba-55681b11/

Release Train Engineer

Versatile and experienced change Agile Practitioner with 25 years of experience in driving and developing online customer-facing experience initiatives in agile environments by planning, leading, and executing successful products and strategies. Proven record on aligning business and IT digital initiatives, defining governance and best practices, establishing a digital center of excellence, and identifying process changes that overall improve customer experience. Recognized for expertise in team building, and excellent interpersonal communication with a proven record of success improving collaboration with cross-functional teams to develop products that ensure a first-class experience.

Areas of Expertise

Release Train Engineering (SAFe) Agile & Lean Methodologies (Scrum, Kanban) Program & Project Management (PMP Certified) Change Management & Transformation Leadership Product Management & Strategy Execution

Cross-Functional Team Leadership PI Planning & ART Facilitation Continuous Improvement & Coaching

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication Risk Mitigation & Issue Resolution

Tools

JIRA VersionOne Microsoft Office Confluence MuralT

Key Highlights

Change Management: Championed enterprise-wide change initiatives across the U.S., India, and Ireland by leading stakeholder assessments, focus groups, and executive alignment sessions, delivering technology-enabled solutions that addressed evolving business needs and drove organizational agility.

Product Management: Spearheaded global product development initiatives that delivered measurable business value through strategic oversight of requirements, budgeting, and cross-functional team performance; recognized as a consensus builder and transformational leader who drives operational excellence at scale.

Leadership & Collaboration: Known for exceptional leadership, coaching, and communication skills; consistently fostered high-performing teams and collaborative work environments that prioritized customer needs, compliance, and long-term relationship building.

Professional Experience

Cigna Remote January 2023 - Present

Release Train Engineer

Led 11 global Agile teams supporting Cigna’s EDI Enterprise Gateway product, which facilitates secure healthcare data exchange with external partners, while fostering collaboration, psychological safety, and trust among cross-functional stakeholders.

Facilitated PI Planning every 10 weeks. Partnered with Product Manager and Architect to evolve the ART vision and roadmap. Ensured the ART backlog aligns with strategic priorities. Prepared a deck to facilitate remote PI Planning event. Pre-checked the technology works to ensure all the necessary tools are in place for a smooth planning process.

Facilitated Scrum of Scrums, ART Syncs, and System Demos to drive alignment and successful delivery across the Agile Release Train.

Partnered with Product Management, System Architects, and Scrum Masters to ensure strategic coordination and execution of key initiatives.

Championed continuous improvement by leading Inspect & Adapt workshops and tracking performance metrics to optimize team effectiveness.

Empowered Scrum Masters and Product Owners to manage cross-team dependencies, resolve conflicts, and align on program-level objectives.

Strengthened Agile team-of-teams dynamics through clear communication, goal alignment, and consistent collaboration practices.

Led the RTE Community of Practice to support professional development and role maturity among RTEs and Scrum Masters.

Collaborated with Lean-Agile transformation team to ensure ART is consistently following Enterprise level established standards.

Allstate Insurance Northbrook, IL February 2015 - 2022

Release Train Engineer

Served as Release Train Engineer leading multiple Agile teams through significant organizational transformation, inspiring team members to embrace change, align with purpose, and drive strategic outcomes.

Led Agile transformation efforts as Servant Leader and Lead Agile Coach for a 100+ person Customer Journey-based Agile Release Train, guiding 12 cross-functional teams through Lean-Agile practices to launch Allstate’s new ASC (Affordable, Simple, Connected) Auto MVP product.

Delivered customer-centric strategies through a newly built $25M tech stack and digital ecosystem, driving the successful MVP rollout across select Illinois zip codes before scaling statewide.

Acted as chief Scrum Master within SAFe, facilitating program-level execution, managing risks, removing impediments, and fostering a continuous improvement culture to support Transformative Growth objectives.

Bridged communication between Technology and Business teams, overseeing backlog refinement, system flow, and leadership reporting to support outcome-based delivery and alignment across teams.

Orchestrated Discovery & Framing sessions and managed Epic-level initiatives to ensure architectural clarity, strategic intake, and seamless collaboration across multiple Agile teams.

Facilitated PI Planning every 10 weeks. Partnered with Product Manager and Architect to evolve the ART vision and roadmap. Ensured the ART backlog aligns with strategic priorities. Coached Product management on benefits of using WSJF to minimize the financial impact of delaying features and prioritize work that delivers the most value quickly.

Prepared a deck to facilitate in-person PI Planning event. Proactively worked on securing location /logistics/ games to ensure all the necessary tools are in place for a smooth planning process.

Conducted TeamHealth Assessments to drive relentless improvement plans.

Allstate Insurance Northbrook, IL 2005 - 2015

Senior Program Manager

Served as Senior Program Manager for Allstate’s $10M Trusted Advisor Program, leading the nationwide rollout of EProposal functionality across six product lines to enable agents to deliver multi-line, web-based quotes, enhancing client experience and sales effectiveness.

Program Manager for Correspondence Re-Engineering strategic technology initiative with a total budget of 6 million.

Program/Project Management consultant for large scale strategic project development. Assignment included putting together a three-year strategic Roadmap to convert all system generated correspondence from three different admin systems by leveraging an enterprise use tool Exstream. Resulting in a reduction of manual intervention by 80%. Additionally, reduced the system maintenance support and correspondence generation by 90%.

Expert-level practice of status reporting and communication to senior management.

Effective managing budgeting, forecasting, scheduling and reporting.

Improved processes to optimize performance and value over time.

Provided effective risk mitigation and issue management.

For the past 10 years 99% my projects have been on budget and on time; Focused on identifying process improvements opportunities to streamline processes and improve metrics and reporting.

Additional Relevant Experience

Allstate Insurance Northbrook, IL

Developer

Led development and implementation of integration projects within the Product Annuity Administration team, overseeing design, coding, installations, and code reviews.

Computer Discoveries Northbrook, IL

Application Consultant

Supported Allstate Financials as a lead developer on Transcend, a complex annuity and life insurance management system, by developing and maintaining front-end applications using Magic and Oracle SQL. Specialized in document generation, including policy pages and statements, and managed variable development in Magic for WordPerfect output.

Tata Press Limited, India

Developer

Designed and tested a Sales Analysis and Payroll system for the Yellow Pages business, developing MIS reports using FoxPro, dBase III, and Novell NetWare.

Education & Certifications

Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) 2022

Lake Forest School of Management

SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) Certification 2017

Leading with SAFe 6.0 Certification 2024

Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master Certification 2017

PMP Certification (recently renewed - current to October 2026) 2007

Project Management Institute

ICAgile Certified Professional – Agile Team Facilitation 2024

ICAgile Coaching 2024

Bachelor of Accounting (B.Ac.)

University of Mumbai,

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