Agile Lead

The Agile Lead will play a pivotal role at the heart of DLA Piper's Platform and Product teams by:

• Leading and ensuring the successful delivery of change initiatives within Platform and Product backlogs to maximise business value, and in alignment with the DLA Piper's agile framework.
• Continually improving individual and team Agile practices, performance, processes and ways of working.
• Leading, mentoring and coaching team members to support the necessary cultural, skills and capability shift required to adopt Agile ways of working across DLA Piper.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Lead the planning, execution and delivery of Platform or Product change through adoption of the DLA Piper Agile delivery framework.
• Use experience and influence to support the adoption and optimisation of Agile ways of working by instilling knowledge and developing processes and practice within teams, and constructively challenging traditional ways of working/attitudes/behaviours.
• Remove impediments/barriers to enable the team’s progress.
• Work with the team to ensure the focus is on delivering regular high-value increments/outcomes that meet the Definition of Done.
• Champion an outcome-focused approach and support the team to understand and measure how deliverables align with business and team goals, values, and objectives.
• Foster a safe and inclusive environment for all team members where everyone can have a voice, be engaged, contribute, learn, and constructively challenge.
• Ensure the team has agreed ways of working that are understood, visible, and open to challenge, improvement, and evolution.
• Guide and coach the team through a process of continuous improvement to optimise their working practices and delivery outcomes: using metrics/data to drive improvement.
• Actively work with and coach the team to break down silos, share knowledge, and enable and develop the required skills to solve shared problems, meet shared goals and work as an empowered, collaborative, cross-functional team.
• Manage and provide regular and appropriate levels of reporting on progress and support required.
• Be an advocate and champion for the adoption of Agile and DevOps/modern engineering practices within and across Product and Platform teams, engaging with wide-ranging stakeholders at all levels and through various communications channels, to foster an understanding of Agile, its benefits and required cultural/mindset shift.
• Engage with other Agile Leads, Platform/Product owners, Agile Coaches and other key stakeholder within and outside IT to ensure alignment and consistency of agile working practices across the change portfolio.

About you

• A passionate advocate and role model for Agile values, principles, mindset and adoption, with the ability to inspire, lead and coach others to follow.
• Extensive and proven experience as an Agile leader within a variety of delivery environments and agile frameworks: with the ability to motivate, influence, inspire and serve teams.
• A deep understanding of a range of agile methodologies, frameworks and practices (e.g., Scrum, Kanban).
• A proven Agile practitioner, with extensive experience of working in Agile Delivery Teams and/or as Scrum Master or Agile Lead.
• Experience of working, coaching and leading across multiple Agile teams concurrently, with knowledge and experience of implementing working at scale.
• The influencing, communication and facilitation skills to drive real, measurable change at the organisational level with an ability and persevere to remove blockers.
• Experienced coach, mentor, trainer and educator: with the ability to help and encourage individuals to improve and optimise performance for agility, building a culture of safety, inclusion and continuous learning.
• Assertive about adherence to Agile processes and practices, but with a proven ability to shape and tailor those to fit the needs of the organisation – not apply 'off the shelf' methods and solutions or "force fit" approaches.
• Team goal definition and backlog management experience. Supporting the team to guide and understand the need for clear and concise Product/Platform Backlog items and, facilitating stakeholder collaboration as requested or needed.
• Outcome-focused, with an understanding of the importance of delivering value early, enabling fast feedback loops and making decisions based on data, and experience in establishing these practices.
• Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Understanding the perspectives and emotions of team members to build trust and foster a positive team culture. Should be empathetic listeners and be able to navigate conflicts with sensitivity.
• Willing to pitch in and apply themselves to tasks that support the team's broader goal, even if those tasks fall outside of their core remit.
• Client/customer-focused; always acting in the customer’s best interests, considering their needs and translating from technical concepts into relatable concepts.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams in a dynamic, agile, DevOps environment.

About Us

We're a global law firm helping our clients achieve their goals wherever they do business. Our pursuit of innovation has transformed our delivery of legal services. With offices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, we deliver exceptional outcomes on cross-border projects, critical transactions and high-stakes disputes.