Release Train Engineer, Hotel Operations Technology

Be part of building the World’s leading Travel Innovation Platform! The Release Train Engineer (RTE) is a leader and coach for the Agile Release Train (ART) who possesses a strong understanding of Agile and can execute and manage Agile processes. Organizes and facilitates ART events and assist the teams in delivering value. Communicates with stakeholders, escalate impediments, helps manage risks, and drive relentless improvement.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Required:

• 5+ years overseeing release cadences and aligning solutions, changes, and features to a release calendar
• 3+ years working with DevOps teams and IT to develop a strategy with continuous integration and automation based on industry best practices
• Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience/certifications
• 8+ years progressive work related experience with demonstrated proficiency in multiple disciplines / technologies / processes
• 5+ years facilitating interaction and appropriate communication between scrum teams, architecture, and UX
• 3+ years managing teams and / or significant complex initiative as Release Train Engineer
• 5+ years aligning with Product Managers and Enterprise Architects to provide an aligned delivery framework and promote a cohesive and scalable strategy

In addition , the ideal candidate will posses at least 3+ years demonstrated technical experience in some or all of the following areas:

• Supporting organizations using a defined DevOps execution model
• Managing/ facilitating the execution of ART processes
• Providing oversight and guidance to Agile teams in terms of release planning, cross-team coordination, and dependencies management
• Defining controls and release phase gates for production and non-production environments
• Optimizing the flow of current application delivery through ART by applying Kanban principles and using other program management tools
• Using an SAFe Agile delivery model in order to streamline and improve CI/CD processes and delivery
• Facilitating PI planning and delivery
• Supporting robust reporting and tracking mechanism tools, i.e. Jira

Preferred:

• Experience in developing and implementing strategic IT technologies and related processes, procedures, and decision support.
• Graduate Degree in a technical discipline
• Experience in developing technology roadmaps and strategies
• Experience with Hospitality or adjacent industries with emphasis on operations/service delivery
• SAFe Release Train Engineer or SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) certification

CORE WORK ACTIVITIES

• Identifies resource gaps across the teams and ART and makes recommendations to portfolio leaders
• Maintains agile tools and dashboards to track progress towards PI objectives and flow of value
• Manage and optimize the flow of value through the ART using various tools, such as the Program and Solution Kanbans, etc
• Escalate and track impediments and work to resolve escalated issues
• Drives ART delivery and continuous improvement by utilizing ART retrospective, assessment and metrics to identify areas of opportunity
• Mastery of complex facilitation and dependency management technique to steer contributors through all the necessary ART ceremonies including program increment planning, demos, reviews.
• Coach leaders, teams, and Scrum Masters in Lean-Agile practices and mindsets
• Creates a compelling vision, clear direction and strategy for the team
• Facilitate PI Planning readiness by fostering a Continuous Exploration process which drives the synthesis of a Vision, a Roadmap, and Backlogs, and through Pre- and Post-PI Planning events
• Improve the flow of value through value streams by improving and assessing the practices associated with DevOps and Release on Demand in the Continuous Delivery Pipeline
• Provide input on resourcing to address critical bottlenecks Encourage collaboration between teams and System and Solution Architects/Engineering Work with Product Management, Product Owners, and other stakeholders to help ensure strategy and execution alignment

• Collaborate with key stakeholder groups to validate the effectiveness of standard processes and continuously improves process quality.
• Support the development of behavioral change management, communications and training as needed to drive process and tool adoption, implementation and compliance.
• Work with Marriott teams to ensure that process-related activities address company needs.

• Ensure capabilities are developed and resources are aligned to support the strategy
• Creates and sustains a work environment that drives associate engagement and enables business success
• Generates enthusiasm and understanding of the department’s vision and how each role contributes to the achievement of that vision
• Ensures appropriate processes are in place and executed to drive collaboration and alignment within the team and with the broader IT organization

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities

• Strong technical aptitude and experience leading teams in delivering quality technology solutions
• Knowledge of Application Development and Infrastructure technology best practices such as automation, CI/CD pipelines, etc.
• Hands on and comfortable with rolling up the sleeves to get the work done; at the same time well versed in building consensus and getting work done through others
• Servant leader with strong coaching and mentoring skills
• Must have a solid grasp of how to scale Lean and Agile practices, and understand the unique opportunities and challenges associated with facilitating and continuously aligning a large technology program
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with peers and team members
• Excellent personal organizational skills and prior experience using Agile management tools such as Jira/Confluence