Release Train Engineer – FDA Food Safety Data Exchange

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Maryland.

📋 Description

• The RTE oversees all Program Increment planning events, ensuring coordination of capacity, sequencing, and feature prioritization across the ART in accordance with program management, customer directives, and COR guidance.

• The RTE consistently updates the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) on a weekly basis, manages release-level Project Process Agreements (PPAs) in line with FDA EPLC requirements, and guarantees that all sprint plans reflect realistic team capacity and precise task-level estimates.

• The RTE prepares and sustains release plan summaries, JIRA/ALM release plans aligned with sprint-level efforts, and sprint status dashboards for the FDA Government IT PM's review.

• The RTE acts as the main integration point for all internal and external teams with dependencies related to the program.

• The RTE proactively identifies cross-team obstacles, facilitates their resolution, and escalates impediments to executive leadership as required.

• The RTE encourages participation from all affected teams in end-to-end integration, regression, and UAT testing cycles for every FSDX release.

• The RTE leads all ART-level ceremonies, encompassing PI planning, System Demos, Inspect and Adapt workshops, and Scrum of Scrums.

• The RTE mentors individual Scrum Masters and team-level Agile practices, cultivates a culture of inspection and adaptation, and drives measurable improvements in velocity across the ART.

• The RTE monitors and reports sprint burn rates, compares planned versus actual story point delivery, and tracks release velocity trends, escalating potential overages to the Government IT PM immediately upon detection.

• The RTE assists the Project Manager in creating bi-weekly status reports, Monthly Status Reports (MSRs), and Monthly Financial Reports (MFRs) with accurate sprint metrics, burn rates, and risk indicators.

• The RTE upholds the program-level Risk Management Plan, the RACI chart, and the Change Request Log, ensuring all items are tracked to closure and represented in subsequent governance reporting.

• The RTE maintains the program risk register and leads proactive risk identification, prioritization, and mitigation planning across all workstreams.

• The RTE conducts cross-team risk reviews during weekly status meetings and ensures newly identified risks are promptly communicated to FDA stakeholders.

• The RTE facilitates the integration of agency-approved AI tools and DevSecOps practices into the ART's delivery pipeline, reinforcing the program's commitment to utilizing AI for enhanced development efficiency, automated testing, intelligent workflow optimization, and documentation.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in Agile program delivery, including at least 3 years in a RTE, Agile Coach, or Senior Scrum Master role on a program involving multiple concurrent Agile teams.

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or a related field (Master's degree preferred).

• Proven experience in leading Agile Release Trains (ARTs) utilizing the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe); certification as a SAFe Release Train Engineer (SAFe RTE) or SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) is required.

• Demonstrated ability to deliver complex federal IT programs with numerous external team dependencies, regulatory compliance requirements, and established governance processes (EPLC, EVM, CPIC, or equivalent).

• Experience in managing program-level release planning, IMS development, sprint tracking, and burn rate reporting utilizing JIRA, Confluence, and/or ALM tools.

• Strong facilitation, conflict resolution, and servant leadership skills; capacity to align stakeholders across governmental, contractor, and state partner organizations.

• Demonstrated experience in risk management, change management, and dependency tracking within a multi-team program environment.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; capable of preparing and presenting executive-level briefing materials and status reports.

🏝️ Benefits

• Comprehensive Health Benefits (Medical, Dental and Vision)

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) & Health Savings Account (HSA)

• Retirement Plan with 4% match and discretionary match at year end

• Paid Time Off (PTO): 15 days of PTO accrued per year; 7 holidays + 3 Floating holidays; 2 Innovation days (paid training days)

• Short Term and Long-Term Disability

• Paid Parental Leave

• Paid Jury Duty leave

• Life and AD&D Insurance

• Critical Illness Insurance

• Training and Development

• Wellness Incentives & Discount programs

• Employee Referral Program

• Annual Charity Donation Match