Delivery Lead - Motor ART (Agile Release Train)

The ART Delivery Lead has overall accountability for the success of the delivery of the work across IT which supports the Motor portfolio, working closely with Tribes or Squads involved that have committed to deliver at the Quarterly PI (planning increment), whilst supporting the Product Leads in achieving their OKR’s (Objectives & Key Results).  They will initially focus on establishing the first Agile Release Train (ART) for key Motor priorities. They act as a servant leader and are responsible for delivering value through facilitating ART events, escalating organisational impediments, managing risk, and driving a culture of continuous improvement.

The ART Delivery Lead ensures that the optimum balance is achieved between costs, value, and benefits in the provision of IT services and systems, working within business priorities as agreed by the Motor leadership.  This is in alignment with the agreed baseline from the Change Investment Committee, ensuring that ‘business demand’ is matched to ‘IT supply’ including other areas of coordination outside of IT that are required to deliver change.

Accountabilities

• Accountable for understanding what the strategic Motor Portfolio backlog of changes and priorities are, and linking these to priorities across IT
• Accountable for the coordination across IT and Tribes to deliver the Motor backlog, monitoring and reviewing the progress of delivery
• Accountable for supporting Tribe Delivery Leads that have accountability for delivery where Motor demand only impacts a specific Tribe rather than cross-tribe
• Accountable and responsible for defining the PI (Planning Increment) events, objectives, outcomes, and follow-up actions
• Accountable and responsible for identifying, measuring, and reporting key IT metrics across the Motor backlog and relevant ARTs
• Accountable for driving collaboration and continuous improvement mindset across all associated Tribe members supporting the ART
• Accountable for providing open and effective communication channels leading to greater knowledge transfer within Communities of Practice 
• Accountable owner and role model for living the following values: productivity, quality, transparency, and openness
• Accountable for supporting the ART Leadership and Lead Product owners by ensuring the ART program activities align with Motor Business Vison and OKR’s
• Accountable and responsible for tracking and managing the I&A outcomes and follow up actions
• Accountable for forecasting future resource requirements for the ART and working with Heads of IT, Technical Lead, Chapter leads and other Tribe Delivery Leads to agree on future resourcing strategies to support the Motor backlog and relevant ART(s).
• Accountable for representing Motor’s ART interests in the Portfolio sync
• Accountable for organising the ART show and tells’ regularly to ensure the development is hitting stakeholders’ expectations

Responsibilities

• Manage all activities needed to make the Release Train a success:
• Work with Motor Product team to understand backlog priorities, ensuring these are translated into appropriate business and technical epics
• Ensure relevant technology and security standards and designs are in place and adhered to
• Allocate and manage appropriate resources and costs
• Plan, run and measure the PI planning and outcomes
• Participates in the tribe scrum of scrums (portfolio sync)
• Proactively manage key risks, issues, dependencies and escalates where necessary to ART Leadership
• Assist in building a robust high-level ART portfolio plan to deliver the Motor Business Vision considering budgetary constraints in delivering the plan successfully
• Ensure overall Motor backlog priorities are understood across IT, delivery accountability is clear, and progress can be tracked
• Serve as the single point of IT contact for Motor as needed
• Assist Head of IT in providing delivery direction and expertise to the ART
• Act as an ambassador for IT and make a positive contribution to the feedback that the function receives.
• Takes responsibility for maintaining clear controls on performance and costs.
• Understanding of the current IT estate and operations, as well as current enterprise architecture objectives and constraints, so can navigate effectively to ensure maximum efficiency applied to the management and coordination of the ART program Plan.
• Responsible for coordinating and collaborating with the Delivery Lead & Head of Tech within each tribe to ensure an ART release schedule is defined, maintained with escalations to the ART leadership made if any impact release schedule is found.

Key Interactions

• Maintain relationships with the Motor Leadership Team to ensure a good understanding of business goals and strategy
• Collaborate and consult with other Tribe Delivery Leads and relevant roles across IT to maintain alignment of plans and manage dependencies
• Collaborate with the Leadership of the other Tribes across the change area to ensure an excellent understanding of dependencies and aggregated risks and issues
• Collaborate and consult with Tribe Heads of Tech and Chapter Leads to address resourcing bottlenecks and challenges
• Coach those within the ART in Lean-Agile practices and mindsets

Knowledge and Experience Required

Essential

• Technology leadership experience (in an agile environment is desirable)
• Extensive experience with project management fundamentals with the ability to apply principles, tools, and techniques to develop/plan, manage or execute projects to ensure successful completion, particularly within the software development lifecycle
• Excellent communicator with the ability to negotiate, influence, and explain, particularly to large business teams and geographically distant area
• Able to lead calmly through periods of high pressure whilst inspiring people and teams to achieve excellence and grow their skills
• Understanding of how to scale Lean and Agile approaches/ delivery models including Planning Increment and Continuous Integration & Delivery.
• Experienced budget management skills
• Drive, enthusiasm, and a can-do attitude
• Knowledge and experience in the use of tools such as Jira, Confluence, etc.

Desirable

• SAFe® 5 Agilist certification or equivalent
• Scrum Master certification (CSM Certified Scrum Master, PSM – Professional Scrum Master)
• Extensive knowledge and experience in coaching and mentoring techniques

Salary, Benefits and Work-Life Balance

We do not have a set salary for this position, as it will be dependent on the successful candidate’s experience. We are happy to see CVs from all candidates who meet the requirements and will be happy to discuss the remuneration package.

At Admiral, we are proud to be a diverse business where we put our people and customers first. We have great benefits to ensure employees have a great work-life balance; it's one of the reasons we're consistently voted one of Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For in the UK. We want you to have an element of freedom to define a working lifestyle that supports this, so accommodate flexible hours wherever possible.

You can also view some of our other key benefits here; https://admiraljobs.co.uk/employee-benefits/.

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