Best Career Opportunities for Scrum Masters

Scrum was developed in response to the challenges developed in software product development. The new evolution and its benefits in project management resulted in the widespread adaption of the framework and created many job opportunities for the scrum master. The scrum master will be responsible for working with the team and solving the problems in the process of product development. The role of the scrum master is dynamic, as the job includes heaps of discovery, creativity, and learning. Leading the team requires one to master the skill in a specific environment. Over time, during your learning journey, you could master the basics and skillset and be considered a master of your domain. You also find many other career opportunities as a scrum master.

Who is the scrum master?

The scrum master is the facilitator of the team focused on delivering time-bound sprints. They are committed to foundational elements of the scrum while staying flexible for opportunities to improve workflows. The scrum master will be responsible for team productivity and handles the entire communication and collaboration between the team and the leaders to deliver a successful outcome. The job of the scrum master is quite challenging and can be found in various businesses around the world. There is no rule of thumb for the educational qualification of the scrum master; however, a bachelor’s degree in IT is preferred. When you get a recognized certification through certified scrum master training, it could validate your expertise in the Scrum framework and improve your job opportunities.

Top Career Opportunities for Scrum Master

Let’s explore the top and best career opportunities for a Scrum Master in today’s competitive environment.

Entry-level scrum master

If your experience in the IT industry is less than a year, you can make it for an entry-level scrum master. The job roles include handling more minor job responsibilities while following agile practices.

Scrum Master

You can be promoted as a scrum master after you gain one year of experience. You have to implement a servant-leader style of operation. You will act as a facilitator and motivator for the team and remove the roadblocks they face during the process of production. You can expect to get a higher pay scale for the job when you complete courses like the SAFe scrum master certification course.

 Senior Scrum Master

 The senior scrum master will be appended with the job role of handling multiple teams in the organizations while maintaining harmony between them. As an old scrum master, you need to demonstrate your experience and knowledge of scrum practices and frameworks. The role will be ideal for you if you are interested in leading multiple teams with significant resources and intensive projects. Your key job responsibilities for the role include supervising sub-ordinate scrum masters, developing various product types, and removing product roadblocks.

Agile Coach

Agile coach is an executive-level job where one holds the expertise to mentor the team more than a scrum master. They need to have a sound understanding of scrum fundamentals and framework. Scrum masters who handle complex projects can choose to go for the agile coach job role, and the job role includes implementing scrum and agile frameworks across the organization. The coaches are paid more than the scrum masters because they stand responsible for spreading mastery in the agile environment. Working as a contract agile coach for short-term and medium-term projects in small organizations will expose you to more job opportunities for the profile across reputed organizations. The agile coach helps in increasing ROI through different aspects of enterprise coaching. If you are skillful in motivating and teaching agile adaption in a company, consider becoming an Agile coach.

Project manager

The project manager in the organization plays a different role compared to the scrum master. They can take the role of project manager in non-agile projects. A project manager with scrum knowledge can guide the team the right way. If you are a scrum master who finds it fascinating to recommend the team to deliver high-quality products, the role of the project manager could be the right move for you. The role gives you many other responsibilities, including making vital managerial decisions like making project budgets, planning, and execution. The scrum certifications will empower your skills and help you explore rewarding career opportunities across different industries.

Management Roles

If you are a scrum master who is quite interested in working closely with the development team and offering them seamless guidance, you can consider taking the management roles. However, you need to gain good experience as a scrum master to take up these managerial roles.

Chief Information Officer (CIO)

A good scrum master can help the team perform best of their productivity and get maximum ROI for the project. A scrum master with great experience has a chance to become CIO as well, and they are committed to motivating others to be their best.

Transformation manager

Scrum masters can be transformational managers who can identify the areas of improvement in the organization to implement necessary changes for optimizing the process to its full potential. The job role of the transformational manager includes reviewing organizational processes and offering actionable insights to close performance gaps. The transformational expert could coach customer organizations, management teams, and other scrum teams as well playing a pivotal role in organizational transformation and development.

Delivery manager

The delivery managers will be part of the agile team and are responsible for ensuring the timely completion of different stages of product development. The delivery managers are accountable for managing the workloads of the team as scheduled and removing any hurdles that could hamper the progress of work in the project.

Conclusion

The scrum master has many roles to perform in the organization, from guiding the team to helping the organization in their transition to scrum. They will enjoy a lucrative pay scale on completing certifications. Scrum certification like CSM, CSPO, PSM and SaFe scrum master will open doors for growing career opportunities that are in demand.