Graca Orwa
Aurora,Colorado
Summary
Scrum Master with a proven track record in enhancing team performance and collaboration within enterprise agile release trains. Expertise in partnering with product owners to prioritize backlogs, mitigate risks, and foster team accountability. Skilled in leading agile transformation initiatives that elevate team maturity and operational effectiveness across organizations.
Overview
1
1
Certification
10
10
years of professional experience
Work History
SAFe Delivery Lead & Team Coach
FedEx Express
Memphis, TN
09.2023 - Current
- Facilitate all Scrum ceremonies — Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Reviews, Retrospectives, and Backlog Grooming — for multiple cross-functional teams within enterprise-scale Agile Release Trains, maintaining a consistent, high-quality delivery cadence.
- Work closely with Product Owners to ensure a continuously prioritized and well-refined backlog — translating business priorities into actionable sprint work and keeping teams aligned with product vision and goals.
- Remove organizational blockers and proactively manage dependencies and risks impacting delivery timelines — serving as the primary escalation point for development teams to resolve impediments that threaten sprint commitments.
- Drive adoption of Agile best practices and process improvements — coaching team members on Scrum framework and Kanban principles to enhance delivery speed and quality.
- Foster collaboration across cross-functional teams including Development, QA, Product, and Operations — cultivating accountability, ownership, transparency, and high performance among globally distributed team members.
- Track sprint progress, velocity, burn-down charts, and Agile performance metrics using Jira and Azure DevOps — maintaining Agile dashboards and reporting that provide full transparency into delivery health for stakeholders and leadership.
- Lead enterprise-scale Agile transformation initiatives — coaching and mentoring a team of Project and Program Managers to strengthen organizational agile maturity across the delivery function.
- Coordinated SDLC phases from requirements and estimation to testing, change control, and deployment.
- Apply exposure to DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines to support technical delivery decisions and improve deployment consistency and release quality across the program.
SAFe Scrum Master III & Delivery Lead
FedEx Express
Memphis, TN
05.2023 - 09.2023
- Managed Scrum Master responsibilities for multiple teams within Agile Release Trains — facilitating all sprint ceremonies and driving continuous improvement, accountability, and prioritization across complex, concurrent programs.
- Partnered with Product Owners to maintain a prioritized, actionable backlog and ensure clear sprint alignment with product roadmap and organizational delivery standards.
- Identified and removed blockers, managed risks, and resolved conflicts across cross-functional teams — sustained delivery momentum and stakeholder confidence during complex release cycles.
- Tracked KPIs, sprint velocity, and milestone achievements — delivered structured status reports and Agile performance dashboards to stakeholders and executive leadership, enhancing visibility into team progress.
- Coached and mentored development teams on Agile principles and Scrum best practices — strengthened team self-management capabilities and cultivated a positive, high-performance team culture.
SAFe Scrum Master II
FedEx Express
Memphis, TN
02.2022 - 04.2023
- Facilitated multiple concurrent Agile teams as Scrum Master by leading sprint ceremonies, coaching on core Scrum and Kanban principles, and driving continuous delivery improvement across on-premises and cloud-based technology programs.
- Facilitated cross-functional IT partnerships to manage dependencies and mitigate delivery risks, enabling successful project outcomes while shielding teams from external distractions.
- Managed day-to-day operations and release coordination, ensuring SLAs through collaboration with service providers and third-party vendors across distributed teams.
- Coordinated legacy application decommissioning initiatives, applying Agile processes to manage scope, dependencies, and stakeholder communication throughout SDLC.
Agile Project Manager & Product Owner
Nurse Family Partnership
Denver, CO
06.2020 - 02.2022
- Served as Product Owner for in-house software — managed backlog grooming, sprint planning, and stakeholder communication to deliver value in structured 2-week sprint cycles.
- Led all project phases from agile methodology design through execution, testing, change management, and release — ensuring transparency in project status, risks, and dependencies throughout the full SDLC.
- Eliminated organizational roadblocks and provided constructive feedback to cross-functional teams — strengthened collaboration among product owners, engineers, and business stakeholders for seamless delivery.
- Collaborated with Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, and Delivery Leads to facilitate a successful enterprise-wide Agile transformation across multiple departments — promoting adoption of Scrum principles, practices, and continuous improvement culture.
IT Project Manager
City of Greeley
Greeley, CO
05.2019 - 06.2020
- Led cross-functional teams to deliver IT projects on time and within budget.
- Led IT project lifecycles through Microsoft Project, coordinating timelines, milestones, and cross-functional resources to align delivery with organizational objectives and technical requirements in distributed team environments.
- Coordinated project schedules, resources, and stakeholder communications effectively.
- Developed project documentation including plans, timelines, and status reports.
Engineering Project Manager
ICRAF Colorado
Colorado
05.2016 - 08.2018
- Led cross-functional teams to execute engineering projects efficiently.
- Managed project timelines and resources to ensure alignment with goals.
- Communicated project updates to stakeholders and team members regularly.
- Led project management for multi-disciplinary teams, applying systematic delivery planning, dependency management, and stakeholder communication to ensure successful completion of complex initiatives.
Education
Master of Science - Engineering
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO04-2019
Bachelor of Science - Environmental Science
Kenyatta University
Nairobi, Kenya12-2011
Skills
- Agile coaching and mentoring
- Scrum facilitation
- Backlog refinement
- Product owner collaboration
- Blocker removal
- Sprint tracking
- Continuous delivery
- Kanban methodology
- Jira management
- Azure DevOps expertise
- Confluence documentation
- Cross-functional teamwork
- Stakeholder engagement
Certification
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
- SAFe 5 Scrum Master
- SAFe 5 Practitioner
- SAFe 5 Lean Portfolio Manager
- PMP Certified
- PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
- Certified AWS Cloud Practitioner
- CAPM
Languages
English
Native/ Bilingual
Swahili
Native/ Bilingual
Accomplishments
- Cracker Jack Award by FedEx for Excellent Delivery Results
- BravoZulu Award By FedEx for Excellent SAFE Performance & PI Planning
Timeline
SAFe Delivery Lead & Team Coach
FedEx Express
09.2023 - Current
SAFe Scrum Master III & Delivery Lead
FedEx Express
05.2023 - 09.2023
SAFe Scrum Master II
FedEx Express
02.2022 - 04.2023
Agile Project Manager & Product Owner
Nurse Family Partnership
06.2020 - 02.2022
IT Project Manager
City of Greeley
05.2019 - 06.2020
Engineering Project Manager
ICRAF Colorado
05.2016 - 08.2018
Master of Science - Engineering
Colorado State University
Bachelor of Science - Environmental Science
Kenyatta University