SAFe Agile Practitioner / Agile Coach

Agile Practitioner

Management Level

F

Job Description 

The Agile Practitioner serves as a SAFe Agile Coach within the organisation, delivering expert guidance and hands-on support to teams and stakeholders. This role is instrumental in cultivating a culture of continuous improvement, agility, and high performance. Beyond coaching, the Agile Practitioner supports the administration of Program Increment (PI) Planning, leads the Community of Practice, facilitates all training sessions in the Agile Dojo, and drives the ongoing improvement of Agile Release Trains (ARTs). 

Key Responsibilities 

• Agile Coaching: Guide teams and individuals in adopting and refining agile practices, with a focus on SAFe principles. Mentor Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and other roles to enhance their effectiveness. Facilitate workshops, retrospectives, and agile ceremonies to foster collaboration and innovation. Identify and address organisational impediments to agility. 

• Program Increment (PI) Planning Administration: Coordinate all administrative aspects of PI Planning, including scheduling, venue management, materials, and communication. Support teams in preparing for PI Planning, including backlog refinement and dependency mapping. Document outcomes, track action items, and follow up on progress. 

• Community of Practice Leadership: Lead and facilitate the Community of Practice, cultivating engagement, knowledge sharing, and best practices. Organise regular meetings and events to strengthen community collaboration and learning. 

• Agile Dojo Training Support: Deliver and facilitate training sessions within the Agile Dojo, maintain training materials and schedules, gather feedback, and evolve training offerings to meet organisational needs. Promote a culture of learning and experimentation. 

• Quarterly ART Assessments and Improvement Plans: Support quarterly assessments for Agile Release Trains (ARTs), helping teams evaluate their performance and identify areas for growth. Collaborate with ARTs to develop and implement targeted improvement plans that drive sustained progress. 

• ART Retrospectives and Continuous Improvement: Organise, facilitate, and be responsible for ART Retrospectives, ensuring that outcomes are translated into actionable continuous improvement plans. Track progress on improvement initiatives and promote a mindset of relentless enhancement across ARTs. 

• Continuous Improvement: Champion agile values and principles throughout the organisation. Monitor performance metrics, support teams in setting and achieving improvement goals, and stay current with industry best practices and SAFe developments. 

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum 5+ years of experience in agile coaching, preferably within a SAFe environment
• Expert facilitation, mentoring, and communication skills
• Proven experience supporting PI Planning and large-scale agile events
• Experience leading or actively participating in Communities of Practice
• Ability to design and deliver engaging training and enablement sessions
• Strong organisational and administrative skills
• Experience with ART assessments, retrospectives, and continuous improvement planning (highly desirable)
• SAFe certification (e.g. SAFe Program Consultant) is highly desirable
• Ability to foster trust, collaboration, and a strong growth mindset within teams

Personal Attributes 

• Self-motivated, proactive, and adaptable. 

• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. 

• Passion for continuous learning and improvement. 

• Comfortable working in a dynamic, fast-paced environment. 

Reporting Structure 

The Agile Practitioner reports to the Release Train Engineer and collaborates closely with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, other Release Train Engineers, and key stakeholders. 

Key Outcomes 

• Enhanced agile maturity and performance across teams and ARTs. 

• Successful administration and execution of PI Planning events. 

• Effective leadership and engagement in the Community of Practice. 

• Impactful training programmes delivered through the Agile Dojo. 

• Quarterly ART assessments completed and robust improvement plans implemented. 

• ART Retrospectives effectively facilitated, with actionable continuous improvement initiatives tracked and delivered. 

• Relentless improvement in agile practices and delivery outcomes. 

We are committed to equality of opportunity for all staff and applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships. Please note any offer of employment is subject to satisfactory pre-employment screening checks.

Experience Level

Mid Level