Agile Project Manager

About Everest:  

Everest Group, Ltd. (Everest), is a leading global reinsurance and insurance provider, operating for nearly 50 years through subsidiaries in North America, Latin America, the UK & Ireland, Continental Europe and Asia Pacific regions. Throughout our history, Everest has maintained its discipline and focuses on creating long-term value through underwriting excellence and strong risk and capital management. Our strengths include extensive product and distribution capabilities, a strong balance sheet, and an innovative culture. Our most critical asset is our people. We offer dynamic training & professional development to our employees. We also offer generous tuition/continuing education reimbursement programs, mentoring opportunities, flexible work arrangements, and Colleague Resource Groups.  

About the Role:

Description:

The Agile Project Manager (APM) is responsible for leading, managing, and delivering projects in an agile environment, ensuring that teams adhere to agile principles and values while meeting project goals and stakeholder expectations. The APM facilitates collaboration, removes impediments, manages timelines, and ensures effective communication between stakeholders, developers, and Product Owners.

Key Responsibilities

• Project planning and execution: plan, manage, and deliver projects using agile, hybrid, or traditional methodologies, ensuring flexibility and adaptability to project needs.
• Develop and maintain project schedules, timelines, and resource allocations using agile processes such as Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF).
• Track and communicate project/initiative progress to stakeholders.
• Understand business value drivers, supporting creation of or linked to OKR’s (Objectives and Key Results)
• Responsible for IT and delivery governance, effectively run Steerco’s, presenting delivery performance and prioritization options and influencing and enlisting management buy-in
• Effective stakeholder management: build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders, ensuring their needs and expectations are met and exceeded through effective communication and collaboration.
• Be able to prepare, own and manage IT Budget using tools such as PPM.
• Facilitate and optimize agile ceremonies, such as daily stand-ups, sprint planning, sprint reviews, and retrospectives, to maximize team productivity and engagement.
• Collaborate with the Product Owner to manage the backlog and guide team priorities.
• Proactively identify and address risks and impediments hindering project/team progress and collaborate with team to develop mitigation strategies and ensure a smooth workflow.
• Removes obstacles, protects focus, prioritizes work, and mitigates risks to drive improvement and value.
• Track and analyze team performance using KPIs and metrics, providing coaching and mentorship to foster a culture of continuous improvement and high performance.
• Work with cross-functional teams to drive continuous improvement in processes.
• Facilitate team preparation for quarterly planning and ensure alignment with business goals (SAFe).
• Encourage effective communication and cooperation among team members and stakeholders.
• Manage project/product financials.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong foundation in project management principles, including scope, time, cost, quality, communication, risk, procurement, and stakeholder management.
• Effective Communication and Consultancy Mindset: Clear and concise communication within the team and with stakeholders, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
• Hands-on understanding of the why and how-to for lean/agile methodologies, including use of ALM tools such as Jira, Confluence and Tempo to track/report on work.
• Work effectively in hybrid software delivery environment.
• Facilitation and coaching
• Continuous Improvement: Strong commitment to continuous improvement, fostering a culture of ongoing learning, feedback loops, and process enhancements.
• Negotiation and consensus building
• Agile and traditional PM methodologies
• Stakeholder management
• Risk & dependency management.
• Adaptability, data orientation, and strong communication skills
• Time management & prioritization
• Team Collaboration: Ability to work well with others, share knowledge, and support team members.
• Curious, Continuous Improvement & Performance Culture Mindset:
• Adaptability and Flexibility: Willingness to embrace change and adapt to new information and shifting requirements.
• Self-Management: Ability to manage one's own work and time effectively without needing constant supervision.
• Leadership: Capability to guide and inspire the team, even without formal authority, fostering a positive and productive environment.
• Ability to think strategically and act tactically.

Professional Experience & Qualifications

• A degree in computer science, business, or a related discipline is advantageous though not a prerequisite.
• A strong background in Agile Project Management, Programme Management, PMO or related discipline of which leadership positions have been held.
• Experienced in Agile and waterfall delivery models & leading best practice.
• Proficient in the use of jira, including managing teams and delivery metrics.
• Insurance industry or London Market experience is advantageous but not a prerequisite.
• Experience working with contemporary financial services core information systems and information technology especially relative to Underwriting Workflow, Administration, Financial Reporting, Business Intelligence, and Data Warehouse.
• Experience with vendor management and global delivery model.
• Demonstrated ability to function in a fast-paced, high-performance environment.
• Leading teams to successful outcomes and strategic planning and OKRs
• Negotiating with vendors, contractors and others.