Scrum Lead

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

We are seeking an experienced and passionate Scrum Master to serve as a servant leader, agile coach, and delivery facilitator for one or more cross-functional software development teams. The Scrum Master will be responsible for enabling teams to deliver high-value products through Agile best practices, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, removing impediments, and driving collaboration across business and technology stakeholders.

The ideal candidate combines deep Agile expertise with strong leadership, coaching, facilitation, and problem-solving skills. This individual will partner closely with Product Owners, Engineering Leaders, Business Stakeholders, Data Science, Data Engineering, and Development teams to improve team effectiveness, delivery predictability, and business outcomes.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Serve as a Scrum Master for one or more Agile teams, ensuring effective adoption of Scrum principles, values, and practice
• Act as a servant leader and coach, enabling teams to become self-organizing, cross-functional, and high-performing
• Guide teams in Agile maturity and continuously drive process improvements
• Coach Product Owners, stakeholders, and team members on Agile methodologies, Lean principles, and best practices
• Promote a culture of accountability, transparency, collaboration, and continuous learning
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies like Sprint Planning, Daily Standups, Sprint Reviews, Sprint Retrospectives, Backlog Refinement Sessions
• Ensure ceremonies are productive, outcome-focused, and aligned with business priorities
• Foster healthy team discussions and decision-making processes
• Partner with Product Owners to maintain a healthy, prioritized, and well-defined backlog
• Ensure sprint goals are clear, realistic, and aligned with organizational objectives
• Monitor sprint execution and proactively identify risks, dependencies, and blockers
• Facilitate timely resolution of impediments to maintain team flow and productivity
• Support teams in achieving predictable and sustainable delivery
• Metrics, Reporting & Continuous Improvement
  • Track and analyze Agile metrics
  • Use data and insights to drive meaningful conversations and continuous improvement initiatives
  • Establish dashboards and reporting mechanisms to provide visibility into team performance and delivery health
  • Facilitate retrospectives that result in measurable improvements
• Stakeholder Collaboration
  • Serve as a bridge between engineering teams, product teams, business stakeholders, and leadership
  • Facilitate effective communication and alignment across multiple teams and departments
  • Manage cross-team dependencies and support planning across multiple Agile teams
  • Provide regular updates on delivery status, risks, and mitigation plans
• Risk & Dependency Management
  • Identify, document, manage, and resolve project risks and impediments
  • Coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to address dependency-related challenges
  • Escalate critical issues appropriately while maintaining ownership of resolution efforts
• Agile Transformation & Organizational Impact
  • Champion Agile mindset adoption across the organization
  • Support organizational Agile transformation initiatives
  • Mentor new Scrum Masters and team members
  • Contribute to Agile Communities of Practice and knowledge-sharing initiatives
• Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so

Required Qualifications:

• Graduate degree or equivalent experience
• Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Professional Scrum Master (PSM), SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), or equivalent certification
• 7+ years Experience in enterprise-scale Agile environments
• Experience supporting technology, data, analytics, or AI/ML teams
• Exposure to PI Planning, ART events, and SAFe practices

Success Measures:

• Improved sprint predictability and delivery reliability
• Effective removal of team impediments
• Solid stakeholder satisfaction and communication
• Increased Agile maturity and self-sufficiency of supported teams
• Demonstrated continuous improvement through measurable delivery outcomes

At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone-of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income-deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes - an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.