We’re 1st Central, a market-leading insurance company utilising smart data and technology at pace. Rapid growth has been based on giving our 1.4 million customers exactly what they want: great value insurance with an excellent service. And that’s the same for our colleagues too; we won Insurance Employer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards 2024 and our Glassdoor score is pretty mega too!
We’re on the hunt for experienced Release Train Engineers (RTEs) to join our Technology and Data team.
The Release Train Engineers (RTE) will be responsible for the orchestration and facilitation of the Agile Release Trains (ARTs) that deliver strategic initiatives across the Value Stream. This role ensures the consistent, timely, and high-quality coordination of cross-functional teams to deliver business value aligned with the value stream’s objectives .
You'll champion agile best practices and principles across the Value Streams, actively removing impediments, managing risks, and driving continuous improvement. You’ll work closely with Portfolio Leads, Product Owners, Architects, Business Owners, and other stakeholders to ensure alignment, transparency, and delivery of outcomes that support the broader portfolio strategy.
Collaboration is key, you'll coordinate with other RTEs across value streams and domains to manage risk, coordinate dependencies, align delivery timelines, and ensure seamless integration of change initiatives.
This role requires strong relationship management across technical, business, and executive levels. The RTE will thrive in a dynamic environment, drawing satisfaction from enabling teams to deliver impactful, customer-centric solutions that advance the organisation’s strategic goals.
We value flexible working arrangements, so you can choose to work remotely or maybe you live within a commutable distance from one of our offices in Salford Quays, Manchester, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, or Guernsey, and want to work in the office occasionally.
Core skills were looking for to succeed in the role:
* Leadership Skills: Exceptional leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
* Critical and Systems Thinker : You’ll a nticipate downstream impacts, connect the dots across teams and value streams, and makes data-informed decisions to optimise flow and alignment at scale
* Lean Thinking: Ability to identify issues, analyse options, and implement effective solutions.
* Skilled facilitator & Coach : Guide teams and stakeholders through Agile ceremonies and continuous improvement
* Experienced in coordinating concurrent initiatives with efficiency
* Ability to communicate risks, issues, and dependencies at all levels of the organisation
* Agile & SAFe Expertise: Deep understanding of Agile principles, methodologies and practices
* Strong conflict management and feedback skills
* Change Management : Lead through organisational change with empathy and clarity
What’s involved:
* Agile Release Train Management: Oversee and coordinate the progress and performance of Agile Release Trains (ARTs) aligned to the value stream, ensuring effective delivery of strategic initiatives.
* Value Stream Portfolio Management:
* Planning and Execution: Facilitate Quarterly Increment (QI) planning sessions and manage the execution of plans, ensuring milestones and objectives are met across the ARTs.
* Continuous Improvement: Drive a culture of continuous improvement within the ARTs, enhancing team performance, delivery cadence, and product quality.
* Agile Process Facilitation: Ensure consistent application of lean-agile methodologies across the value stream, facilitating key ceremonies and fostering a collaborative, high-performing environment.
* People-first servant leader: empowers teams, builds trust, and fosters a culture of collaboration and growth
* Risk and Dependency Management: Proactively identify, track, and mitigate risks and interdependencies that could impact delivery across the value stream and wider portfolio.
* Stakeholder Communication: Act as the primary liaison between cross-functional teams, stakeholders, and leadership, ensuring clear, timely, and transparent communication.
* Reporting and Metrics: Provide regular updates on ART progress, challenges, and achievements. Champion the use of data and metrics to inform decisions and improve delivery performance.
* Coaching and Mentoring: Support and mentor Portfolio Leads, Product Owners, team members, and wider business to strengthen agile capability and maturity across the value stream.
* Agile Best Practice Advocacy: Promote and embed agile principles and best practices to optimise delivery flow and maximise value realisation.
* Cross-Team Coordination: Facilitate alignment and synchronisation across multiple ARTs and teams to ensure cohesive and integrated delivery of value stream outcomes.
Experience and Knowledge
* Proven experience as a Release Train Engineer or in a similar agile delivery leadership role, ideally within a value stream or large-scale transformation context.
* In-depth understanding of Agile principles and methodologies, with hands-on experience applying the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) in complex delivery environments.
* Extensive experience leading high-performing agile teams, whether as a Scrum Master, Agile Delivery Lead, or RTE.
* Demonstrated ability of collecting, analysing, and interpreting performance metrics to drive transparency, identify trends, and support continuous improvement through data-driven insights and reporting.
* Strong working knowledge of agile delivery tools, preferably Azure DevOps, with the ability to leverage them for planning, tracking, and reporting.
* Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple teams and manage dependencies across a value stream or programme of work.
Skills
* Leadership Skills: Exceptional leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
* Critical and Systems Thinker : Anticipate downstream impacts, connects the dots across teams and value streams, and makes data-informed decisions to optimise flow and alignment at scale
* Lean Thinking: Ability to identify issues, analyse options, and implement effective solutions.
* Skilled facilitator & Coach : Guide teams and stakeholders through Agile ceremonies and continuous improvement
* Experienced in coordinating concurrent initiatives with efficiency
* Ability to communicate risks, issues, and dependencies at all levels of the organisation
* Agile & SAFe Expertise: Deep understanding of Agile principles, methodologies and practices
* Strong conflict management and feedback skills
* Change Management – Leads through organisational change with empathy and clarity
Qualifications
* Certification: SAFe Release Train Engineer certification is advantageous .
* Relevant Agile/Lean certification
Behaviours
* Commercially focussed and results driven
* Self-motivated and enthusiastic
* Acts as a role model and motivates others
* Embraces, embeds and incorporates the Company values
* An organised and pro-active approach
* Ability to lead and influence
* A flexible approach and positive attitude
* Takes initiative to make decisions
* Drives relentless improvement through retrospectives and feedback loops
So, if you’re up for the challenge and would like to join our vibrant and busy team, we want to hear from you today.
What can we do for you?
People first. Always. We’re passionate about our colleagues and know the best people deserve an extraordinary working environment. We owe it to them so that’s what we offer. Our workplaces are energetic, inspirational, supportive. To get a taste of the advantages you’ll enjoy, take a look at all our perks in full here .
Intrigued? Our Talent team can tell you everything you need to know about what we want and what we’re offering, so feel free to get in touch.
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