Agile Practitioner / Coach

Role Overview

SPA is seeking an Agile Practitioner/Coach to be the primary champion for Lean-Agile and SAFe-aligned practices across government and contractor teams. You will train and mentor leaders and teams, shape portfolio/ART-level ceremonies, and tailor agile methods to mission planning and integration contexts—supporting a transition from waterfall-centric development to metrics-driven, iterative delivery integrated with DevSecOps.

Responsibilities

• Lead and sustain Lean-Agile and SAFe practices across government and contractor teams.
• Train and coach leaders and teams in agile methods.
• Help run portfolio, solution, and ART-level ceremonies (and tailor them to mission needs).
• Facilitate the transition from waterfall to iterative/incremental, cloud-oriented delivery.
• Integrate agile practices with the DevSecOps platform and program controls.
• Champion metrics-driven continuous improvement, ensuring agile execution aligns with:
  • contractual requirements
  • technical outcomes
  • the Mission Planning Enterprise “software factory” way of working.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
• At least one advanced Agile certification (e.g., SAFe SPC, RTE, or equivalent professional coaching certification).
• 7+ years experience with Agile/Scrum/SAFe on large multi-team programs, including 3+ years as an Agile Coach/RTE (or equivalent).
• Proven experience guiding government or highly regulated organizations through waterfall-to-Agile transitions and aligning increments with contractual deliverables.
• Strong familiarity with modern software practices: CI/CD, automated testing, and DevSecOps in mission-critical/safety-critical systems.
• Proven ability to facilitate cross-org ceremonies, including:
  • PI planning
  • system demos
  • retrospectives
  • backlog refinement
• Ability to coach leadership on agile governance.
• Active Secret clearance and ability to maintain it.

Desired Qualifications

• Master’s degree plus experience in mission planning or comparable weapon-system environments.
• Familiarity with software factory constructs (e.g., early-look reviews, shared code/design interfaces, enterprise collaboration on common repositories and pipelines).
• Experience using metrics and TPMs as agile leading indicators (flow metrics + technical performance metrics).
• Experience integrating agile plans with enterprise IMS, including mapping to program risk/opportunity management processes.