Scrum Master Agile Coach

Sajjad Shariff

Elkridge, Maryland, United States ******.*******@*****.*** 443-***-**** in/sajjad-shariff-mb SUMMARY

Strategic IT leader with 16+ years of experience in Agile transformation, project delivery, and servant leadership across federal, financial, and healthcare sectors. Proven track record as SAFe® RTE, Agile Coach, and Scrum Master driving cross-functional collaboration, innovation, and delivery excellence. EXPERIENCE

SAFe Release Train Engineer

iTech AG September 2023 - Present, Arlington, VA

• Facilitating Scrum events: Leading Scrum-specific events like sprint planning, retrospectives, and reviews

• Creating daily meetings: Hosting daily meetings to ensure the team understands the project's progress and phases

• Coaching the team: Coaching the team on the scrum framework and ensuring they can keep getting their work done effectively

• Facilitating effective backlog management: Planning strategies for successful Product Backlog Management

• Educating the team: Educating the team on best practices and tools

• Removing impediments: Preventing and eliminating impediments, such as a distracting work environment.

• Orchestrated PI Planning sessions for Agile Release Trains involving over 100 team members, resulting in a 30% increase in on-time delivery of features and enhanced cross-team collaboration.

SAFe Release Train Engineer Agile Coach

TISTA Science and Technology March 2020– September 2023, Columbia, MD

• Spearheaded and facilitated PI Planning readiness and execution, aligning vision, roadmap, and team backlogs across multiple Agile teams.

• Coordinated over 15+ Program Increments annually, driving a 25% increase in time-to-market efficiency using SAFe practices.

• Created and communicated annual calendars for Iterations and PIs to internal and external stakeholders.

• Optimized value flow through the ART using Jira, BigPicture, Confluence, and Kanban boards.

• Led periodic syncs and published PI objectives to ensure transparency and alignment with program goals.

• Supported program-level estimation and decision-making through feature/capability rollups.

• Proactively managed risks, tracked dependencies, resolved bottlenecks, and escalated impediments to foster team collaboration.

• Partnered with Product Management, Product Owners, and stakeholders to align execution with strategic goals.

• Improved delivery through DevOps and Release on Demand enhancements within the Continuous Delivery Pipeline.

• Facilitated Sprint reviews, retrospectives, and Inspect & Adapt workshops to promote continuous improvement. Sr. Agile Project Manager Scrum Master Product Owner CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield July 2015 – March 2020, Owings Mill, MD

• Led Agile transformation initiatives as a Servant Leader and Agile Coach, guiding teams from project inception to delivery.

• Defined product vision, created As-Is/To-Be documentation, performed high-level cost analysis, and built Agile roadmaps and feature backlogs.

• Facilitated Agile ceremonies including Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Reviews, and Retrospectives, to ensure delivery continuity.

• Collaborated cross-functionally with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Developers, QA, and BAs to deliver projects on time and within budget.

• Effectively managed risks, created delivery timelines, and identified required resources to meet project goals.

• Tracked and reported key Agile metrics to measure team performance and delivery progress.

• Led JAR/JAD sessions using brainstorming and collaborative working sessions to capture detailed business and technical requirements.

• Elicited and documented functional and non-functional requirements; performed feasibility studies for process improvement initiatives.

• Oversaw defect management by facilitating issue resolution meetings and maintaining explicit issue tracking.

• Authored critical project artifacts, including test plans, test cases, UAT manuals, and SOPs to support regression, smoke, and user acceptance testing. Sr. Project Manager Senior Business System Analyst US Department of Agriculture January 2015 – April 2015, Washington, DC

• Developed comprehensive project management plans, defining scope, goals, resources, budget, and key deliverables.

• Designed technical specifications for complex, integrated government systems with multi-agency data feeds.

• Analyzed business requirements for feasibility, accuracy, and completeness, identifying gaps and resolving issues with stakeholders and analysts.

• Led requirements-gathering sessions and stakeholder discussions with architects, developers, and vendors to define functional needs.

• Documented use cases and user stories using Requisite Pro to support clear communication across teams. Project Manager

American Express Financial Services February 2014 – December 2014, NY

• Coordinated internal teams and third-party vendors to ensure smooth project execution and delivery.

• Delivered projects on time, within scope, and within budget, while maintaining alignment with business objectives.

• Managed resource allocation, availability, and workload distribution across project phases.

• Developed and maintained detailed project plans to track timelines, deliverables, and progress.

• Oversaw scope, schedule, and cost changes, ensuring minimal impact on project goals.

• Built and maintained strong relationships with clients and stakeholders to support successful outcomes.

• Conducted risk management planning to proactively identify and mitigate project risks. Project Manager Sr. System Analyst

State Street Corp. May 2013- Jan 2014, Boston, MA

• Planned and scheduled project tasks to meet established deadlines and ensure on-time completion of deliverables.

• Applied analytical expertise to develop and implement solutions for complex business processes.

• Documented business requirements, translating them into high-level and detailed use cases with process flows using MS Visio.

• Facilitated Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions with stakeholders, QA analysts, and project managers.

• Tracked and reported Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across departments including executive, legal, IT, and vendor partners. Business Analyst

Bank of America March 2012 – April 2013, District of Columbia (DC)

• Gathered and analyzed requirements from corporate clients, technical teams, and portfolio managers to align project goals.

• Managed support functions including planning, tracking, reporting, quality assurance, and internal communications.

• Reviewed project activities to ensure compliance with organizational standards and procedures.

• Led Joint Application Development (JAD) sessions to understand and document business workflows and processes.

• Prepared weekly and monthly status, progress, and risk mitigation reports for stakeholders and leadership teams. Business Analyst

PNC Mortgage Jan 2011 – February 2012, PA

• Gathered and documented functional requirements for a health benefit claims receiving and processing system.

• Led business analysis and project coordination, ensuring alignment between technical teams and business stakeholders.

• Mapped and validated business process flows with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to support solution design and implementation. Business Analyst

SunTrust Bank May 2007- December 2010, MD

• Created business use case scenarios and documented system specs based on input from SMEs and steering committee meetings.

• Conducted gap analysis and maintained a traceability matrix to align system requirements with business needs.

• Drafted functional and non-functional specifications using iRise simulator to define and validate requirements.

• Designed and documented new system functionality via screen mock-ups, use cases, workflows, and navigation maps.

• Performed business process modeling using UML Activity Diagrams.

• Collaborated with project managers to estimate timelines, track weekly progress, and facilitate informal reviews and adjustments. EDUCATION

Chartered Market Technician

Market Technicians Association, New York • 2008

Master in Business Administration

University of Mumbai • Mumbai • 2005

Bachelor of Science in Accounting

University of Mumbai • Mumbai • 2003

CERTIFICATIONS

SAFe Release Train Engineer

2021

Certified Scrum Master

Scrum Alliance • 2019

SKILLS

• Project & Program Management: Project initiation, planning, scheduling, risk and change management, cost control, contract management, negotiation, stakeholder communication, coaching, SDLC, PMLC, Agile (Scrum, SAFe), Waterfall.

• Business & Systems Analysis: Business/process modeling, gap analysis, SWOT, JAD sessions, requirements gathering (BRD, FSD, RTM, user stories, use cases), As- Is/To-Be documentation, business architecture, process reengineering.

• Release Train Engineer (SAFe): Product vision, roadmap, PI/release/sprint planning, backlog management, sizing & estimation, definition of done, retrospectives, transition documentation.

• Tools & Technologies: JIRA, CA Agile, HP ALM, IBM RequisitePro, iRise, MS Visio, MS Project, MS Office Suite, MySQL, PEGA, NASCO, Facets, Automation Anywhere, ETL, Mainframe, Balsamiq.

• Industry Domains: Banking, Healthcare, EDI, Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

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