Agile Coach

Join Barclays as an Agile Coach and play a key role in the GTIS–CTO transformation programme, driving the adoption of agile ways of working across multiple technology-aligned business areas. You will support teams at all levels, ensuring alignment with CtB transformation goals. The role focuses on coaching, mentoring, and guiding teams through SAFe practices, enabling PI planning and agile ceremonies, and fostering continuous improvement to enhance delivery efficiency and adaptability. The ideal candidate brings strong experience across the full SAFe framework, a solid background in agile delivery, and proven expertise working within technology environments.

To be successful in this role, you will need the following:

• Expertise in Business Agility & SAFe implementation across multiple organisational layers. Demonstrated capability to coach at Teams, Teams of Teams (ToT), and Portfolio levels, aligning ways of working and governance to PI cadence, flow principles & value breakdown for early & iterative value delivery.
• Proven ability to coach multiple product and delivery teams at scale, improving flow, predictability, and performance through Agile maturity assessments, targeted coaching, and best practices such as WIP limits, smaller batch sizes, and flow management.
• Strong focus on embedding customer-centric product delivery, promoting a product mindset, lean principles, and outcome-based planning, and translating technical work into clear epics, features, and stories aligned to DoR/DoD.

Some other highly valued skills may include:

• Experience working in complex change environments with Programme–Product interaction, ensuring alignment while maintaining team empowerment and end-to-end ownership across organisational boundaries.
• Good understanding of infrastructure, platform, or engineering practices, with the ability to support “built-in quality,” MVP-aligned architecture, and effective collaboration with engineering leadership.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and contribute to governance forums, using data (e.g. WSJF, KPIs, OKRs) to drive prioritisation, decision-making, and continuous improvement.
• SAFe, Scrum, ICAgile (product management or coaching), or similar Agile certifications.

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

The successful candidate can be based in Knutsford (Radbroke Hall), Northampton (Pavilion Drive), or Glasgow Campus.

Purpose of the role

Guides teams, leaders, and organizations in adopting and optimizing Agile practices.To foster an Agile mindset, enhance team performance, and drive continuous improvement by coaching teams in Agile methodologies, facilitating collaboration, and removing barriers to efficiency.Align Agile practices with organisational goals and support long-term, sustainable Agile transformations.

Accountabilities

• Mentor and coach: Guide teams and leaders on Agile principles, practices, tools, and methodologies in alignment to the Business Unit’s strategic needs and delivering value to the client/customers.

• Facilitate Colleague Development:Coach and Develop colleagues to embed Agile ways of working, championing an Agile mindset and behaviors to drive cultural change.

• Build High-Performing Teams: Help teams identify and address impediments to Agile execution and foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning.

• Continuous Improvement: Use data and metrics to identify opportunities for improvement and growth.

• Cross Business Collaboration: Collaborate with other Agile Coaches, share best practice and contribute to a network of Agile champions across Business Units.

• Agile Adoption: Own the Agile coaching strategy to continually improve maturity levels across the organisation by embedding best practices.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures.

• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements.

• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others.

• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions.

• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.

• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.

• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.

• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.

• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.

• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.

• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.

• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.