Senior SAFe Release Train Engineer Coach

BUYIKANA KALALA

Senior Release Train Engineer Enterprise Agile Coach SAFe Program Consultant (SPC)

Charlotte, NC 28273 407-***-**** ****.******@*****.***

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Senior Release Train Engineer and Principal Consultant with 14+ years leading large-scale SAFe Agile transformations for Fortune 500 financial services and insurance enterprises. Proven ability to align cross-functional stakeholders, coach Agile Release Trains toward greater velocity and predictability, and embed Lean-Agile practices that translate directly into measurable business outcomes. Certified SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) and Release Train Engineer (RTE) recognized for building trusted-advisor relationships with C-level executives and developing the next generation of Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches.

CORE COMPETENCIES

Agile Leadership & Coaching: SAFe RTE, SAFe SPC, LeSS, Scrum, Kanban, XP, TDD, BDD, Kaizen, DevOps, Lean Practices

Enterprise Transformation & Change: Kotter, ADKAR, Lewin's Change Model, PROSCI

Team Development & Mentorship: Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, Delivery Leads, Product Owners/Managers, Program Managers, QA, BAs

Metrics & KPIs: Velocity, Throughput, Say/Do (Reliability) Ratio, Test Coverage, Cycle Time, Lead Time

Continuous Improvement & Innovation: CI/CD, MVP, Lean Portfolio Management, Roadmap Planning, AI Workflow Integration

Tools: JIRA, Rally, Azure DevOps, Miro, Mural, Lucid Chart, MS Whiteboard, VersionOne

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Principal Consultant Perficient, Charlotte, NC Nov 2023 – Present

●Serve as SAFe Release Train Engineer for wealth management Agile Release Trains, improving release predictability and streamlining delivery timelines across multiple squads.

●Introduced AI-assisted workflows for code generation, test case authoring, and user story creation, accelerating team throughput.

●Built Azure DevOps KPI dashboards that lifted the Say/Do ratio to 86% and increased test coverage by 23%.

●Deliver executive-level presentations and data-driven recommendations that shape Agile strategy and adoption roadmaps.

●Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to identify workflow bottlenecks and drive lean resource utilization.

●Provide forecast analysis and ad-hoc reporting to support leadership decision-making; lead regular operational reviews to surface continuous improvement opportunities.

Agile Practice Lead AgileThought, Charlotte, NC Jul 2021 – Sep 2023

●Managed and mentored a team of Scrum Masters, Delivery Leads, and Agile Coaches as SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), driving career growth and technical proficiency.

●Designed and delivered Agile training programs tailored to client needs across multiple enterprise engagements.

●Conducted enterprise Agile maturity assessments (Comparative Agility, SAFe Measure & Grow, Agility Health Radar) to benchmark and guide transformation roadmaps.

●Co-created Agile playbooks and SOPs as cultural custodian, standardizing practices across client engagements.

●Championed a continuous improvement culture, achieving measurable gains in delivery speed, quality, and customer satisfaction.

Agile Portfolio Coach Hartford Insurance Company, Hartford, CT [Add Dates]

●Partnered with the PMO to define Agile strategies and provide program oversight across multiple lines of business (LOBs).

●Facilitated group and 1:1 coaching sessions, building trusted-advisor relationships with delivery leadership.

●Identified and resolved Agile anti-patterns, increasing ART velocity by 18% across 5 Agile Release Trains.

Release Train Engineer Apex Solutions, Charlotte, NC May 2020 – Aug 2020

●Stabilized 3 Agile Release Trains (ARTs), strengthening SAFe practices and team competency.

●Built an Agile Enablement Council to champion Agile values and remove organizational barriers to enterprise agility.

●Mentored Agile Coaches and Scrum Masters to elevate Agile maturity across the trains.

Agile Transformation Lead UST Global, Charlotte, NC Jan 2020 – Apr 2020

●Partnered with C-level executives and directors to advance enterprise agility, driving financial performance through incremental delivery.

●Facilitated Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) across the portfolio to shape the enterprise Agile transformation vision.

●Coached teams on Agile values and principles, strengthening servant leadership and team-level agility.

●Delivered workshops on Agile Fundamentals, Agile Leadership, Kanban, and Extreme Programming (XP) team rollouts.

Enterprise Agile Coach Allstate Insurance Company, Charlotte, NC Sep 2018 – Jan 2020

●Guided leadership in defining KPIs and Agile metrics to support enterprise transformation.

●Developed Agile ceremonial playbooks and role definitions to accelerate team maturity.

●Established Agile Communities of Practice to foster cross-team knowledge sharing.

●Applied PROSCI and other change management models to drive cultural adoption of Agile ways of working.

●Scaled Agile practices using SAFe and LeSS frameworks across the organization.

●Facilitated quarterly System Demos for Agile Release Trains and the Solution Train, increasing visibility into organizational deliverables.

●Led a Data Quality Control Agile transformation, developing and distributing ceremonial playbooks and role definitions organization wide.

Agile Coach Mitchell Martin (Bank of America), Charlotte, NC Nov 2017 – Sep 2018

●Defined Agile metrics to help Bank of America's Data Quality Check (DQC) leadership manage and assess Agile maturity.

●Facilitated Value Stream Mapping sessions with C-level executives to identify teams, workflows, dependencies, and intake processes.

●Delivered Big Room presentations and Agile training, advancing leadership and associate knowledge of Agile principles.

●Founded Scrum Master and Product Owner Communities of Practice to accelerate Agile learning and knowledge sharing.

●Shifted portfolio focuses on value-driven metrics over legacy performance metrics, driving continuous process improvement.

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Sr. Scrum Master Kavaliro, Charlotte, NC Mar 2017 – Nov 2017

Built a Scrum Master Community of Practice and coached new teams and executives on Agile best practices, realigning Duke Energy's culture toward value-driven delivery.

Sr. Scrum Master MATRIX Resources, Charlotte, NC Mar 2016 – Feb 2017

Supported Release Train Engineers on PI Planning and Inspect & Adapt events; conducted Agile maturity assessments to guide Time Warner Cable's Scaled Agile adoption.

Agile Team Coach TEKsystems, Charlotte, NC Mar 2015 – Mar 2016

Built an Agile Adoption framework for Bank of America's Saber 2 program and coached scrum teams on Agile methodologies and tooling (VersionOne).

Scrum Master Strategic Staffing Solutions, Plano, TX Aug 2014 – Feb 2015

Facilitated Scrum ceremonies for three onshore/offshore teams, delivering incremental value every 2-week sprint.

Agile Coach Plutus Technologies, Charleston, SC May 2012 – Jul 2014

Introducing Agile/Scrum best practices to leadership and mentored project leads into certified Scrum Masters.

EDUCATION

Master of Business Administration, Information Systems Management 2009

Strayer University — Washington, DC

Bachelor of Science, Computer & Information Systems 2001

Florida A&M University — Tallahassee, FL

CERTIFICATIONS

●Udemy AI Certification: AI Ethics — 2026

●Udemy AI Certification: Gen AI for Leaders — 2026

●Udemy AI Certification: AI Fundamentals — 2025

●Prosci Certified Change Practitioner — 2024

●ICP-Enterprise Coaching (ICP-ENT) 2023

●Certified Agile Leadership-Enterprise (CAL-E), Scrum Alliance — 2023

●Professional Scrum Master (PSM), Scrum.org — 2022

●SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scaled Agile Framework — 2022

●ICP-Agile Team Facilitator (ICP-ATF) 2020

●SAFe Program Consultant (SPC), Scaled Agile Framework — 2019

●ICP-Agile Certified Coach (ICP-ACC) 2019

●Large Scale Scrum (LeSS) Certified Practitioner — 2017

●Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Scrum Alliance — 2015

●Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Scrum Alliance — 2014

●PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), Project Management Institute — 2013

●Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Scrum Alliance — 2013

●Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), Project Management Institute — 2011

●ITIL v3 Foundations — 2011

Contact this candidate