Agile Coach / Release Train Engineer

Job Description - Agile Coach/RTE

Milestone is seeking an experienced RTE coming from an enterprise environment to support our client's ART. Requires a Certified SAFe RTE, SPC with excellent executive level communication skills. Consultant will need hands-on experience running trains and have performed Program Incremental (PI) Planning sessions. Additional requirements include executive level reporting; tracking metrics and budgets.

Must Haves
SAFe RTE Certification
Facilitated and completed Program Incremental (PI) Planning
and budgeting.
Run trains (3-5 years).
Experience working with various Product Owners (PO)
Execute, facilitate all the ceremonies, and keep everyone on the train.
Excellent written and verbal executive level communication skills
·
Soft Skills
· Servant leader mindset - to share best practices
· Work with a very broad set of stakeholders
· Standing up varying teams, to work with differing experiences
· Strong communicator
· Active Listener
· Team Player
· Confident

Tools
· Jira; (Jira Align)
· MS Teams
· Miro
· Quip
Smartsheet

Job Summary

The Release Train Engineer (RTE) is a servant leader and coach for the Agile Release Train (ART). The RTE facilitates ART events and processes, assists teams in delivering value, and ensures alignment with Lean-Agile principles. The RTE plays a critical role in driving collaboration, removing impediments, and continuously improving processes to enable high-quality, on-time delivery of features.

Key Responsibilities

1. Facilitation and Coordination
• Facilitate Program Increment (PI) Planning, ART syncs, retrospectives, and system demos.
• Coordinate cross-team dependencies to ensure alignment and smooth delivery.
• Act as a communication bridge between stakeholders, Product Management, and Agile Teams.
2. Agile Leadership
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement by identifying bottlenecks and opportunities for optimization.
• Support Scaled Agile transformation by mentoring teams and individuals.
• Drive adherence to SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) practices and principles.
3. Program Execution
• Track and report ART progress, risks, and issues, typically using tools like Jira or ADO.
• Escalate and resolve impediments, working with stakeholders to remove obstacles.
• Ensure deliverables align with business goals and timelines.
4. Stakeholder Collaboration
• Partner with Product Management, Product Owners, and System Architects to maintain a cohesive roadmap.
• Collaborate with Scrum Masters, Team Leads, and other RTEs to ensure coordination across ARTs.
• Communicate status, risks, and dependencies to senior leadership and stakeholders.
5. Metrics and Reporting
• Monitor ART performance using metrics like velocity, predictability, and delivery lead time.
• Ensure teams are effectively estimating, planning, and meeting PI objectives.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in Agile, Scrum, or SAFe roles (e.g., Scrum Master, Agile Coach, or Program Manager).
• Certified SAFe® Release Train Engineer (RTE) preferred.

Skills and Competencies:

• Deep understanding of SAFe, Agile frameworks.
• Proven ability to lead large-scale, cross-functional, geographically distributed, Agile teams.
• Strong facilitation, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Experience with Agile tools (JIRA, ADO).