Darwin Technologies, a Marsh Mc Lennan Hub, is seeking candidates for the following position based in the Cluj-Napoca office:

Head of Agile Delivery

Our scaled Agile Delivery Methodology is transforming our IT teams in cohorts of Pods and Squads. If a Squad is defined as the smallest number of people required to deliver product functionality to market then a Pod is the smallest number of Squads required to deliver a complex product or collection of integrated products to market. Pods exist to create Products and services that deliver on business focused Missions. Some portfolios of product have multiple Pods, which need a Head of Agile Delivery.

Role Overview

In Product Delivery Engineering, our mission is to revolutionize the collaboration between our Mercer business and IT teams, enabling them to unlock the advantages of rapid and secure software delivery to the market. To achieve this, we are implementing our Agile at Scale Delivery model. As a Head of Agile Delivery, you will be responsible for overseeing from 2 to 5 Pods while ensuring the successful delivery of working software to production.

We will count on you to:

• Facilitate the software delivery Pods ensuring there are smooth and efficient processes for getting software through from requirements to working in production;
  
• Work with other departments and coach/mentor department leads to grow their Agile skills and find the best strategy to implement Agile practices customized on their project and teams
  
• Involvement in Agile community to customize and educate towards an Agile mindset in order to facilitate easier and natural adoption of its principles;
  
• E2E Delivery of a group of software Products;
  
• Be a leader for between 2-5 pods: around 30 – 150 people;
  
• Have an Enterprise mind-set, be able to foster collaboration, break down silos, identify and work to remove blockers;
  
• You will be a recognised Agile Expert intimately familiar with the processes and practices required for successful and sustainable delivery;
  
• Solid understanding of Software Development, Architecture, Test Engineering and Security best practice in an Agile environment;
  
• Responsible for the holistic costs of the pods, its resources, infrastructure and licensing;
  
• Support the full lifecycle of products and we operate on the philosophy that the work comes to the team as you will need to consider tech debt, obsolescence, security and modernisation;
  
• Ensure our Agile at scale governance and ceremonies are in place and effective across all Pods
  
• Own the Continuous Improvement backlog for the portfolio as this is the key mechanism by which we deliver improvements for the following: time to market, efficiency and quality ;
  
• You will manage or execute Value Stream Identification and Mapping in your portfolio, and implement any change to improve the organization of teams as a result
  
• In addition to your day to day Senior Pod leadership activities you will be assigned 1 or more workstream leadership opportunities that will deliver cross-functional benefits to our organisation
  
• An agile expert practitioner with evident appreciation and experience
  of agile scaling frameworks;
  

What you need to have:

• Significant organisational Agile transformation experience and be able to demonstrate proven strategies as Mercer has a complex technological landscape and a large portfolio of revenue generating applications. We also have significant security processes and legislative requirements to protect our customers and their data;
  
• Previous experience of senior Agile Programme management (Solutions Train Engineer, Senior Tribe Lead or Lean Portfolio Manager role);
  
• Experience of a wide range of Technology roles is desirable, ideally with some form of development engineering or senior Agile Programme management background;
  
• Expected to have a broad technical understanding to support your Agile credentials from software architecture through test, Dev Ops practices, security and operational run;
  
• A metrics driven approach to delivery analysis and drive out systems and processes that help define and report on the metrics we believe to be important;
  
• Excellent stakeholder management skills as we work to transform the Mercer IT and Business into a truly Agile organisation you will need to influence and coach senior executives, many of whom will be new to Agile;
  
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills both in English and Romanian, making sure the right amount of challenge and support is given to the teams in order to keep the motivation alive and deliver best results;
  
• Pods and squads are distributed globally and utilise a mix of permanent and partner staff who work largely remotely so experience of working with and motivating distributed teams is vital;
  
• Financially astute as you will instil Financial Management Disciplines into your team and be accountable for Engineering Delivery spend reporting and tracking;
  
• Be collaborative, inquisitive and interested in technology and best practices;
  
• People and goals oriented - customizing practices and mindset in order to align to the common goal while having in mind to continuously develop that intrinsic motivation which helps build performing teams and a sustainable long-term pace;
  
• Rounded and holistic understanding of Agile Methodologies such as SAFe, Spotify or Scrum@Scale, plus ICP-ACC Certifications or their equivalent;
  
• Experience of Value Stream Identification and Mapping;
  

OUR BENEFITS & CULTURE

• An opportunity to work in a fast-growing, innovative company with lots of room for progression and career growth;
  
• A fail-friendly environment that encourages learning and initiative;
  
• A yearly budget and the opportunity to build your flexible benefits package (up to 20% of your annual salary);
  
• 30+ days off (25 legal days off, 1 extra day off on your birthday, public holiday replacement days, extra buy/sell from your benefits budget);
  
• Performance Bonus scheme
  
• Matching charity contributions, charity days off, and the Pay it Forward charity challenge;
  
• Core benefits - Pension, Life and Medical Insurance, Meal Vouchers, Travel Insurance;
  
• We champion flexible working, and our mission is to help you find YOUR work-life balance, whether that's standard working, flextime working, or working from home.
  

As a company we are committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections, and professional development benefits of working together in the office. Our teams will jointly identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which the full team will be together in person. This unwavering policy is carefully crafted to enhance team unity, inspire creativity, and foster meaningful interactions between our colleagues, to help build our culture and local communities.

Founded over 20 years ago, Darwin's main ambition was to change the world of benefits. Fast forward to the present day and it is leading the way as a cornerstone benefits technology product in the Marsh Mc Lennan, (MMC), Tech portfolio. MMC are now building out their EMEA Technology Hub in Cluj, Romania.
MMC is a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City with businesses in insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance services, talent management, investment advisory, and management consulting. It comprises the businesses of Marsh, Mercer, Guy Carpenter, JLT, Oliver Wyman and Darwin.
The regional hub will contain teams of Application Developers, Business Analysts, Project/Program Managers, and other technology roles that require time zone overlap with clients in EMEA. As a regional hub we are equipped to scale our vast technical expertise through a variety of outputs, while helping to unleash our potential as one company, to effectively meet today's emerging challenges through the brilliant technology we build and deliver together.