Agile Delivery Lead – Role Specification and Professional Requirements

Role Purpose

The Agile Delivery Lead is accountable for the coordinated delivery of complex technology and product initiatives across multiple cross-functional teams. The role provides program-level oversight while reinforcing agile principles, delivery discipline, and continuous improvement practices. The Agile Delivery Lead ensures that strategic objectives are translated into executable plans, delivery risks are actively managed, and outcomes are achieved predictably, sustainably, and with appropriate quality controls.

The role operates at the intersection of product strategy, engineering execution, and organizational governance, combining servant leadership, facilitation, and program management capability.

Organizational Context

Reports to: Head of Delivery, Director of Engineering, or equivalent senior leader
Works closely with: Product Management, Engineering Leadership, Architecture, QA, Security, Operations, and Business Stakeholders
May provide leadership or functional oversight to: Scrum Masters, Delivery Managers, or Program Coordinators

Career Framework

Typical Prior Experience

Senior or Lead Scrum Master
Technical Program or Delivery Manager
Senior Product Owner or Product Manager with delivery accountability

Progression Opportunities

Director or Head of Delivery
Agile Program or Portfolio Director
Senior Technology or Engineering Leadership roles

Related Lateral Roles

Enterprise or Organizational Agile Coach
Product Operations or Product Strategy Lead

Core Responsibilities

Delivery Leadership and Coordination

Provide end-to-end delivery leadership across one or more value streams, coordinating multiple agile teams to ensure alignment with agreed business objectives and delivery milestones.
Translate strategic roadmaps into executable increments of work, ensuring dependencies, sequencing, and capacity constraints are understood and managed.
Facilitate program-level planning events, including quarterly planning and roadmap alignment sessions.
Enable cross-team coordination through structured synchronization forums to manage dependencies, resolve conflicts, and maintain delivery flow.

Agile Practice and Continuous Improvement

Act as a servant leader and coach to Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and delivery teams, reinforcing agile values and effective delivery practices.
Support the pragmatic application of agile and scaled agile frameworks, tailoring approaches to organizational maturity and delivery context.
Lead structured retrospectives and health assessments to identify improvement opportunities and track measurable outcomes over time.
Promote a culture of continuous improvement, learning, and accountability across delivery teams.

Risk, Dependency, and Governance Management

Own program-level risk, issue, and dependency management, ensuring visibility, mitigation planning, and timely escalation where required.
Establish and maintain delivery governance forums and reporting cadences appropriate to stakeholder needs.
Produce transparent delivery artifacts, including milestone plans, dependency maps, risk registers, and delivery forecasts.

Metrics, Reporting, and Predictability

Define and monitor delivery performance indicators, including flow, predictability, quality, and throughput measures.
Interpret delivery metrics to identify trends, constraints, and improvement opportunities.
Provide concise, evidence-based reporting to senior stakeholders to support informed decision-making.

Stakeholder and Cross-Functional Collaboration

Partner closely with Product Management to ensure alignment between delivery capacity and product priorities.
Collaborate with Engineering, QA, Platform, and Operations teams to support reliable release and deployment practices.
Maintain effective engagement with business stakeholders, facilitating clear communication regarding scope, trade-offs, risks, and delivery expectations.

Release, Quality, and Compliance

Coordinate release planning and execution, including sequencing, readiness assessment, and post-release review.
Work with security, compliance, and quality teams to ensure delivery outcomes meet applicable regulatory, privacy, and operational standards.
Support the adoption of continuous delivery and DevOps-aligned practices to improve speed, quality, and resilience.

Resource and Financial Oversight

Support capacity planning and resource allocation across delivery teams.
Contribute to delivery-related budget planning and cost management, including tooling and vendor expenditure.
Coordinate with third-party vendors where delivery dependencies exist, ensuring alignment with program objectives and timelines.

Organizational Enablement

Support onboarding and integration of new teams or delivery structures.
Contribute to the development and maintenance of delivery playbooks, standards, and shared documentation.
Participate in organizational change initiatives related to agile transformation, operating model evolution, or delivery maturity improvement.

Required Skills and Competencies

Technical and Professional Skills

Strong practical knowledge of agile delivery frameworks (Scrum, Kanban) and scaled delivery approaches (e.g., SAFe, LeSS, Nexus).
Program and delivery management experience across multiple teams and complex initiatives.
Proficiency with agile delivery tools and reporting platforms (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps, Rally).
Experience defining and interpreting delivery metrics and performance indicators.
Working understanding of modern software delivery practices, including CI/CD and DevOps principles.
Risk and dependency management at program or portfolio scale.
Ability to engage effectively with technical stakeholders and understand architectural and delivery trade-offs.
Experience with release planning, governance processes, and stakeholder reporting.

Behavioral and Leadership Competencies

Strong facilitation and communication skills, including engagement with senior stakeholders.
Servant leadership and coaching capability.
Ability to navigate ambiguity and balance competing priorities.
Collaborative and relationship-oriented approach to cross-functional work.
Structured problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Resilience and adaptability in dynamic delivery environments.
Commitment to quality, transparency, and continuous improvement.

Education and Experience Requirements

Education

Minimum

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred

Postgraduate education or professional certifications related to agile delivery, program management, or leadership.

Experience

Typically 5–10+ years of experience in technology or product delivery roles.
Demonstrated experience leading agile teams and coordinating delivery across multiple teams or programs.
Experience operating in complex, fast-paced environments with evolving priorities.
Exposure to scaled agile delivery and enterprise-level delivery governance is preferred.

Role Summary

The Agile Delivery Lead is a senior delivery role responsible for enabling consistent, high-quality outcomes across complex initiatives. The position requires a balanced combination of delivery discipline, agile leadership, stakeholder engagement, and systems thinking. Success in the role is measured by delivery predictability, team effectiveness, and the ability to align execution with strategic intent while supporting continuous organizational improvement.