Senior Agile Program Manager – Scale Delivery & Lead Teams in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
Seniority & Market Positioning: Requiring 8+ years total and 5+ in Agile environments, this is a senior-to-principal level role. Senior Agile Program Managers at scaled organizations command $110k–$160k USD in North America, €70k–€110k in Western Europe. The lack of posted salary is a flag — worth probing in screening calls.
Skills You'll Build: This role is a strong accelerator for anyone targeting Director of PMO, VP of Delivery, or Chief of Staff tracks. Key high-demand competencies you'll deepen include:
- SAFe/LeSS scaling framework leadership (RTE-level experience)
- Executive stakeholder management and OKR reporting
- Cross-functional program governance in distributed environments
- Agile tooling expertise (Jira Align, Azure DevOps dashboards)
Culture Signals: The description's emphasis on "hands-on, not status-reporting" and "decisions, not just updates" suggests a results-driven culture that values accountability over process theater — a green flag for practitioners who dislike bureaucracy.
Green Flags: Clear, well-written job description; emphasis on coaching and continuous improvement; breadth of scope across engineering, product, and design teams provides rich cross-functional exposure.
Potential Red Flags: No salary range disclosed; headquarters section is blank, suggesting possible early-stage or lean org; "comfort with ambiguity" language may indicate evolving organizational structure. Certifications like SAFe RTE are listed only as "nice to have," which is realistic and not a red flag.
Headquarters: Remote (Anywhere in the World)
We're looking for an experienced Agile Program Manager to lead delivery across multiple cross-functional teams working toward a shared set of business outcomes. You'll sit at the intersection of strategy and execution: translating roadmap priorities into coordinated, predictable delivery, keeping dependencies visible, and making sure the right people are making the right decisions at the right time.
This is a hands-on program role, not a status-reporting one. You'll own the cadence, the plan, and the risks across several Agile teams, and you'll be the person stakeholders trust to tell them where things really stand.
What You'll Do
- Lead end-to-end delivery of a multi-team program, coordinating three or more Agile teams (Scrum, Kanban, or hybrid) toward shared quarterly objectives.
- Run program-level planning, including quarterly/PI planning, roadmap alignment, capacity planning, and release planning.
- Identify, map, and actively manage cross-team dependencies, risks, and blockers, escalating early and with clear options.
- Facilitate program ceremonies such as Scrum of Scrums, program syncs, system demos, and retrospectives, and make sure they produce decisions, not just updates.
- Partner with Product Owners and Product Managers to keep backlogs prioritized, refined, and aligned to business value.
- Build and maintain program-level reporting: delivery health, burn-up/velocity trends, OKR or objective progress, and RAID logs, tailored for both team-level and executive audiences.
- Drive continuous improvement in delivery practices, tooling, and team workflows, coaching teams and leaders on Agile principles where needed.
- Manage stakeholder communication across engineering, product, design, business, and leadership, keeping expectations aligned as scope and priorities shift.
- Track program budget, resourcing, and vendor or third-party deliverables where applicable.
What You Bring
- 8+ years of experience in program or project management, with at least 5 years leading delivery in Agile environments.
- Proven track record managing multi-team programs (not just single-team Scrum) from planning through release.
- Deep, practical knowledge of Scrum and Kanban, plus experience with at least one scaling framework (SAFe, LeSS, Scrum@Scale, or similar).
- Strong command of Agile tooling such as Jira, Jira Align, Azure DevOps, Rally, or equivalent, including building dashboards and program-level reporting.
- Excellent facilitation skills: you can run a 50-person planning event as comfortably as a tense 1:1 escalation.
- Clear, concise written and verbal communication in English, with the ability to tailor the message for engineers and executives alike.
- Experience working with distributed or remote teams across time zones.
- Comfort operating with ambiguity: you can stand up structure where there is none and adapt it as the program evolves.
Nice to Have
- Agile or program management certifications such as SAFe RTE, SAFe SPC, PMI-ACP, PgMP, PMP, CSM/CSP, or ICAgile.
- Experience with Agile transformations or introducing scaled frameworks into an organization.
- Background in software, SaaS, data, or digital product delivery.
- Familiarity with OKRs and value-stream or portfolio management.
- Experience in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare, insurance, public sector) where Agile delivery coexists with compliance requirements.
- Budget and vendor management experience on programs with multiple delivery partners.
To apply: https://weworkremotely.com/remote-jobs/toptal-agile-program-manager
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this Agile Program Manager role truly fully remote with no location restrictions?
What Agile frameworks and tools are required for this role?
Is a SAFe certification required to apply?
What level of seniority is expected, and how much experience is needed?
Is there any salary or compensation information available for this position?
