Senior Technical Scrum Master & IT PM Leader

WILLIAM .A. OKPU

Houston, TX 210-***-**** **************@*****.*** LinkedIn

SUMMARY

Certified Senior Technical Scrum Master and IT Project Manager with 10+ years of experience leading Agile, Scrum, and hybrid project delivery across enterprise digital transformation initiatives. Proven ability to scale Agile practices, optimize workflows, and drive measurable business outcomes. Experience in software development, automation, data migration (ETL/RPA), cloud transformation, AWS service integrations, cybersecurity, digital product delivery and AI innovation. Recognized for servant leadership, building high-performing cross-functional teams, stakeholder engagement, and aligning delivery with business strategy to achieve measurable ROI.

CORE STRENGTHS

• Agile & Delivery Leadership: Agile Transformation, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Coaching & Mentorship, Release & PI Planning, Scrum Ceremonies, Product Delivery, Continuous Improvement, Stakeholder Collaboration, Metrics & Velocity Tracking, Risk & Dependency Management, Large Scale Scrum (LeSS), Stakeholder Engagement, Project Planning, Enterprise Change Management, Servant Leadership, Backlog Management, Sprint/PI Planning, Conflict Resolution, Change Management, Facilitation, Value Stream, WIP limits, Agile Release Train (ART), Team Performance Optimization, Cross-Functional Team Leadership

• Enterprise Transformation & Technical Skills: Data migration (ETL/RPA), automation, API integration, DevOps, cybersecurity, cloud adoption (AWS), system integration, SDLC, CI/CD, UI/UX, AWS Integration, Secure SDLC, DevSecOps transformation, AI/ML

• Tools & Platforms: Jira, Azure DevOps (ADO), ServiceNow, Smartsheet, MS Project, Mural, Visio, Slack, MS Teams, AWS, Power BI, KPI metrics, Confluence, Kanban

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Sep 2024 - Present Senior Technical Scrum Master Digital Product Development Houston, TX

• Led Agile delivery of enterprise digital platforms supporting vessel classification, maritime safety compliance, and engineering inspection workflows, enabling global surveyors to manage inspection and certification data across international fleets.

• Spearheaded collaboration between software engineers, maritime domain experts, and product managers to deliver AI-powered maritime applications, leveraging machine learning, data analytics, and automation to support engineering objectives and ensure compliance with global maritime safety regulations

• Partnered with cybersecurity and compliance teams to ensure AI-enabled digital platforms aligned with secure SDLC practices and maritime regulatory requirements, strengthening application security posture and mitigating risks associated with AI and data-driven systems

• Implemented Agile forecasting and capacity planning techniques to ensure teams delivered high-value features within defined scope and budget parameters.

• Managed two cross-functional engineering and infrastructure teams (12+ developers, QA engineers, and cloud specialists) delivering cloud-enabled applications that digitize vessel inspection reporting and certification management, improving operational efficiency by 35%.

• Facilitated PI planning events, backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives using Azure DevOps, achieving 95% on-time sprint completion and improving delivery predictability by 25%.

• Established stakeholder reporting frameworks leveraging Agile delivery metrics (velocity, cycle time, throughput), providing real-time visibility into team performance, improving forecasting accuracy, and enabling data-driven strategic decisions.

• Collaborated with Product Owners and development team members to prioritize features, define user stories, establish definition of ready and definition of done, and apply estimation frameworks (MOSCOW, INVEST, 3C) and remove impediments, reducing scope ambiguity by 30%.

• Mentored junior Scrum Masters and Agile team members, providing coaching on Agile principles, backlog management, and delivery best practices.

• Directed release management and deployment coordination across development, QA, and DevOps teams, implementing structured release governance and automated deployment workflows that enabled zero-downtime production releases and maintained 99.9% availability for mission-critical maritime safety applications.

• Oversaw the full application development lifecycle (SDLC) and structured testing phases including unit, integration, regression, and UAT, improving application quality and reducing production defects by 30% while ensuring stable releases.

• Promoted a culture of innovation by facilitating engineering ideation sessions, solution design workshops, and technical brainstorming initiatives that accelerated adoption of AI, cloud automation, and digital engineering capabilities Chevron Petroleum Aug 2022 - Sep 2024

Senior Scrum Master Technology & Innovation Houston, TX

• Led cross-functional teams delivering AI-enabled cybersecurity solutions across application security, cloud security, and identity governance programs for maritime digital applications, improving threat detection, reducing security vulnerabilities, and strengthening protection of mission-critical fleet and operational systems.

• Managed two Agile cybersecurity scrum teams 18+(cybersecurity engineers, analysts, and architects) delivering enterprise security programs across application, cloud, and identity security domains, ensuring 100% compliance with regulatory and corporate security standards.

• Facilitated Agile delivery for multiple cross-functional Scrum teams, ensuring project deliverables were completed on schedule, within scope, and within budget while maintaining alignment with business objectives

• Oversaw cybersecurity integration across cloud and critical infrastructure environments, implementing secure configurations, automated monitoring, and proactive risk mitigation, reducing high-severity vulnerabilities by 35% across enterprise systems.

• Facilitated all Scrum ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Daily Standups, Reviews, Retrospectives) and provided Agile coaching tailored to cybersecurity workflows, improving team velocity by 35% and sprint predictability by 25% while ensuring secure-by-design delivery

• Collaborated with Product Owners to prioritize enterprise backlogs, define precise acceptance criteria, and implement clear, testable user stories, enhancing delivery predictability, feature quality, and stakeholder satisfaction.

• Implemented proactive risk management and dependency tracking across security operations, application security, and infrastructure teams, reducing unresolved security impediments by 20% and accelerating vulnerability remediation cycles

• Led ART-level events (PI Planning, Inspect & Adapt, System Demos), achieving 95% completion of planned objectives.

• Coordinated delivery across multiple Scrum teams within SAFe Agile Release Trains, ensuring synchronization of sprint objectives and program milestones

• Enhanced delivery transparency by 70% through Azure DevOps dashboards and performance metrics, providing executives and stakeholders with real-time visibility into cybersecurity, cloud, and infrastructure initiatives..

• Established and led Scrum-of-Scrums coordination across multiple Agile teams, aligning cross-team dependencies and improving program delivery synchronization

Marathon Petroleum Jun 2020 - Jul 2022

Scrum Master / IT Project Manager Operational Excellence Findlay, OH

• Coordinated API integrations between SCADA systems and enterprise applications (SAP S/4HANA, Maximo) enabling automated data exchange for asset management, maintenance, production optimization and operational data systems

• Led modernization initiatives integrating industrial SCADA systems with enterprise cloud platforms, enabling real-time operational data pipelines.

• Facilitated Agile ceremonies (Sprint Planning, Daily Standups, Reviews, Retrospectives) for cross-functional teams supporting critical Oil & Gas operations across Upstream, Midstream and Downstream

• Partnered with Product Owners and Business SMEs to translate upstream drilling data requirements, midstream throughput optimization needs, and downstream inventory management workflows into well-defined user stories.

• Designed portfolio-level Kanban stages (Funnel Review Analysis Implementation Done) within ADO to align with Lean governance standards

• Implemented Jira and ServiceNow for backlog management, SLA tracking, and incident prioritization, enhancing transparency and team accountability across geographically distributed teams

• Supported DevOps enablement for operational technology systems, improving deployment automation and monitoring across production environments

• Proactively managed project scope, schedule, resources, and delivery milestones, ensuring alignment with program objectives Toyota Financial Services (TFS) Apr 2019 - Apr 2020 Senior Scrum Master / Technical Project Manager Digital Transformation Program Dallas, TX

• Led program delivery for enterprise API platform modernization, enabling secure integrations between payment systems, digital applications, and partner ecosystems.

• Coordinated engineering teams implementing CI/CD pipelines and automated testing frameworks for digital payment services

• Managed cross-functional teams spanning product, engineering, and operations to deliver digital payment integrations, achieving seamless deployment and adoption.

• Championed the API-first strategy rollout for payment gateways, reducing transaction processing times by 40% and improving developer and customer experience.

• Coordinated DevOps pipeline implementation supporting automated builds, testing, and deployments for payment services infrastructure.

• Drove Scrum ceremonies (sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, retrospectives), increasing sprint predictability by 25% and improving team velocity by 20% through disciplined backlog refinement and continuous improvement.

• Facilitated Agile delivery using engineering best practices including Test-Driven Development (TDD), Automated Testing, Continuous Integration, Pair Programming, improving code quality and reducing production defects by 32%

• Acted as a change agent during Agile transformation, guiding teams through adoption of SAFe practices, DevOps workflows, and digital delivery frameworks.

USAA – United Services Automobile Association Jan 2018 - Feb 2019 Agile Program Manager Data Migration San Antonio, TX

• Managed a portfolio of 3 projects, transitioning the department from a Push system to a Pull system using Kanban, resulting in a 70% increase in throughput

• Led 3 Agile teams (25+) across ETL, RPA, and infrastructure for $5M data modernization; implemented flow metrics and WIP limits, reducing cycle time and improving lead time

• Automated data validation using RPA bots, achieving 99.9% accuracy and reducing manual reconciliation time.

• Reduced data processing time by 62% by building a new cloud data infrastructure team.

• Orchestrated Scrum and Kanban adoption across teams, improving performance by 30% and ensuring continuous improvement culture.

• Delivered end-to-end data migration via ETL pipelines with complete data integrity and compliance.

• Coached teams on Agile/Scrum best practices while integrating RPA lifecycle governance, including audit controls, bot versioning, bot testing strategy, and release controls

• Coordinated with RPA developers using UiPath/Blue Prism to design, test, and deploy bots aligned with business workflows J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Jul 2014 - Dec 2017

Scrum Master / Project Manager Financial Services San Antonio, TX

• Spearheaded migration of 20+ enterprise applications to AWS, improving operational efficiency by 30% and reducing infrastructure costs by 15%.

• Directed payment gateway modernization (ACH, SWIFT, SEPA, digital wallets), accelerating transaction processing by 35% and enabling real-time reconciliation.

• Facilitated Agile ceremonies, sprint planning, and release management, increasing delivery predictability by 25% and sprint velocity by 20%.

• Implemented CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment workflows on AWS, reducing release cycle time by 40%.

• Orchestrated API integration strategy for third-party fintech providers, improving customer experience and enabling faster transaction processing.

• Delivered enterprise payment modernization handling $5B+ annual transaction volume across ACH, SWIFT, and digital wallet channels

• Directed cross-functional teams executing enterprise cloud migration strategy, transitioning legacy financial systems to AWS-based microservices architectures

• Led continuous improvement initiatives using sprint retrospectives, flow metrics, and delivery analytics, improving velocity and reducing cycle time

EDUCATION

Ashford University Oct 2019

MBA, Organizational Management – Project Management San Diego, CA University of Buea May 2011

Bachelor of Science, Public Administration Buea

CERTIFICATIONS

• SAFe® 6 Release Train Engineer (RTE)

• SAFe® 6 Product Owner / Product Manager

• SAFe® 5 & 6 Scrum Master

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate

• Certified Organizational Management Professional

• Certified AI Capabilities and Limitations

• Certified Claude 101

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