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Guardian Life · 17 hours ago

Value Stream Coach

Holmdel

Full-time

Hybrid

Senior Level, Lead/Staff

$119K/yr - $195K/yr

8+ years exp

Guardian Life is undergoing a transformation within its Digital and Technology organization, and they are seeking a Value Stream Coach to guide teams in optimizing workflows for maximum value delivery. This role focuses on coaching individuals and teams on best practices, dependency management, and aligning objectives to key results while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

DentalFinancial ServicesHardwareInsuranceLife Insurance

No H1B

Responsibilities

Lead and facilitate key value stream events such as PI Planning and Value Stream Syncs

Drive continuous exploration and backlog refinement ahead of PI Planning to maintain readiness and clarity

Ensure alignment and transparency across teams and stakeholders

Guide teams and leaders to deliver end-to-end value across the value stream with a focus on customer outcomes

Coach teams and leaders in designing effective value stream structures and collaborative practices that minimize hand-offs, clarify product ownership, and define team outcomes with precision

Provide guidance on business process improvements to enhance operational efficiency

Provide coaching to Value Stream leadership, Product Managers (PDMs), Product Owners (POs), and team coaches on product-platform principles, agile skills, and mindset shifts

Role model coaching practices and support Value Stream Team Coaches in leveraging digital tools and data for transparency and performance improvement

Champion the use of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to align team efforts with value stream goals and measure performance

Ensure OKRs cascade effectively from value stream to team level, maintaining alignment across all layers

Ensure strategy, portfolio investments, and execution are connected, tying work to business priorities and outcomes

Play a critical role in portfolio planning and demand management. Facilitate dependency management and stakeholder engagement within and across value streams to reduce delivery risks

Contribute to Communities of Practice and mentor Value Stream Team Coaches

Be an active member of the CoE, helping define, adopt, and evolve standards and practices based on collective feedback

Define, update, and commit to maintaining standards across key tooling platforms (e.g., JIRA, Confluence, SPM)

Ensure consistent usage and alignment to best practices across teams and value streams

Identify and address bottlenecks, dependencies, and waste to improve flow and speed of value delivery

Partner with engineering leaders to champion modern software development practices such as building automation, deployment automation, unit test coverage, and shift-left testing

Promote modern software development practices (e.g., CI/CD, unit testing, shift-left testing) in partnership with engineering and technology leaders

Qualification

Agile methodologiesValue Stream coachingDependency managementDataMetrics proficiencyJIRAConfluenceCommunicationInterpersonal skillsCollaboration

Required

8–10 years of experience in roles such as a(n) Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer, or Agile Coach

Expertise with a product platform model constructs with Value Stream preferred

Deep understanding of Agile methodologies, lean principles and their application at scale

Ability to identify and help value stream teams overcome impediments to flow and progress

Proficiency in using data and metrics to track progress and identify areas for improvement

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to effectively convey concepts and facilitate collaboration

Proven as an influential coach with a track record of driving exceptional results through coaching teams and leaders, with experience facilitating various value stream and cross-system events, such as PI Planning and value stream syncs

Strong understanding of business, the software development lifecycle and technology deliverables