JUSTIN KO
Buffalo
Summary
Certified Scrum Master and Program Manager with 12 years of experience leading complex, cross-functional initiatives from concept through delivery. I turn strategic priorities into clear plans, align stakeholders, and keep teams executing in fast-paced environments. I build strong relationships and lead with a servant leadership mindset-removing blockers, navigating tradeoffs, and enabling teams to do their best work. I partner across Product, Engineering, Data, and Operations to drive momentum and make data-informed decisions that deliver real impact. Known for bringing structure to ambiguity, I manage risks, improve coordination, and keep workstreams aligned and accountable. I communicate clearly at all levels and ensure teams have the clarity and focus needed to deliver. Passionate about facilitating growth at every level by expediting execution, improving team planning and prioritization, and fostering data-informed practices by leveraging relationship and data based approaches.
Overview
12
12
years of professional experience
Work History
Scrum Master II
M&T Bank
Buffalo
06.2024 - Current
- Coordinated 11 agile teams (80+ members) and third-party vendor across Engineering, Product, Legal, Compliance, Risk, Finance, and Operations
- Collaborated with Product Owners and Tech Leads to drive enterprise agile transformation across teams with varying maturity levels
- Led joint maturity assessments, PI Planning, backlog refinement, WSJF prioritization, and enforced DoR/DoD standards to improve team alignment
- Developed story mapping and technical debt governance frameworks to standardize practices and align delivery with enterprise objectives
- Delivering zero-downtime migration from legacy in-house escrow platform to modern vendor-supported solution supporting thousands of customers and millions in secured transactions
Senior Scrum Master
New York Times
New York
06.2022 - 06.2024
- Championed agile frameworks in a waterfall enterprise; led first successful adoption outside isolated teams, enhancing customer-focused delivery practices across the organization
- Agile facilitator & advisor to Customer Care leadership: orchestrated cross-functional (Engineering, Product, Design, Operations) visioning and roadmap alignment, creating a unified, customer-outcome-focused enterprise backlog
- Mentored leaders on agile mindset and psychological safety; coached Product Owners on backlog health; empowered teams (agents, developers, designers) to self-organize retrospectives and resolve issues, fostering ownership and continuous improvement culture
Senior Scrum Master
Caesars Digital
Jersey City
09.2021 - 06.2022
- Delivered high-stakes sports betting products on regulated launch dates by hybridizing Scrum/Kanban with waterfall-style phase gates and risk controls, maintaining agile principles of transparency and rapid feedback while ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
- Pioneered agile adoption in legacy waterfall organization by embedding core principles (empiricism, servant leadership, iterative planning, psychological safety, customer focus); bridged leadership and delivery teams for transparent, collaborative roadmap co-creation, enhancing engagement and reducing handoff delays while fostering culture of rapid value delivery and continuous improvement.
- Guided cross-functional teams in adopting Agile methodologies and best practices.
- Led Agile ceremonies to improve team collaboration and engagement.
- Mentored junior Scrum Masters to improve team dynamics and performance.
Scrum Master I
M&T Bank
Buffalo
09.2018 - 09.2021
- Led Scrum Master role for co-located and offshore teams delivering regulated online account opening services for banking products; facilitated core Scrum ceremonies and release planning, leveraging JIRA/Confluence for workflow management, impediment removal, and transparency.
- Partnered with Release Train Engineers to implement organization's first SAFe framework; collaborated with leadership to align customer, engineering, and regulatory priorities, achieving team buy-in and adoption of scaled agile practices in a previously waterfall environment.
- Coached teams, Product Owners, and stakeholders on Scrum/Kanban during transition from Waterfall to SAFe; utilized servant leadership to promote psychological safety, conflict resolution, and continuous improvement, enhancing predictability and delivery cadence.
Quality Control Lead
True Brands
Seattle
10.2016 - 08.2018
- Coordinated quality and flow of 3,000+ item inventory through collaboration with Sales, Development, Manufacturing, and global vendor teams.
- Partnered with international inspection teams to ensure consistent quality standards across regions and maintain operational continuity.
- Enhanced communication with vendors and distribution teams, resulting in faster turnaround time and quicker issue resolution.
- Utilized customer returns and feedback to inform product improvements, leading to design updates, packaging changes, and optimized vendor relationships.
- Built a centralized database of FDA regulatory test results, improving visibility and streamlining internal Sales workflows.
Project Manager
UL
Fremont
02.2015 - 10.2016
- Managed and tracked 12 concurrent testing projects, delivering timely status updates to clients and leadership to ensure alignment.
- Built and executed structured testing plans, aligning engineers and technicians through daily status coordination meetings.
- Identified blockers in real time and communicated risks and delays to stakeholders to maintain transparency and momentum.
- Synthesized updates from lab teams into clear project status reports for clients, enhancing communication and transparency.
- Executed process improvements, such as standardized status templates, to enhance team efficiency and clarify workflows.
Youth Program Director
Salvation Army
Sunnyvale
04.2014 - 02.2015
- Oversaw operations of afterschool programs, ensuring delivery, quality, and coordination among staff and stakeholders.
- Launched SAT program that improved student scores by an average of 200 points.
- Reduced program launch time by 60% by redesigning enrollment processes, documentation, and operational workflows.
- Recruited, hired, and trained 20+ staff to align teams on operational standards, policies, and effective program execution.
- Expanded program participation by 20% through partnerships with schools and targeted community outreach initiatives.
Education
Master of Science - Organizational Leadership
Fordham University - Gabelli School of Business
New York, United States06-2022
Bachelor of Arts - Child and Adolescent Development (Teaching)
San Jose State University
San Jose, CA05-2014
Skills
- Scrum/Kanban methodologies
- Agile framework application
- Enterprise agile coaching
- Agile transformation support
- Agile maturity assessments
- RTE collaboration
- Backlog refinement processes
- Story mapping techniques
- Definition of ready/done criteria
- Jira project management
- Risk analysis and management
- Team coaching techniques
- Cross functional team builder
- Diversity and inclusion initiatives
- Servant leadership and conflict resolution
- Communities of practice development
Timeline
Scrum Master II
M&T Bank
06.2024 - Current
Senior Scrum Master
New York Times
06.2022 - 06.2024
Senior Scrum Master
Caesars Digital
09.2021 - 06.2022
Scrum Master I
M&T Bank
09.2018 - 09.2021
Quality Control Lead
True Brands
10.2016 - 08.2018
Project Manager
UL
02.2015 - 10.2016
Youth Program Director
Salvation Army
04.2014 - 02.2015
Master of Science - Organizational Leadership
Fordham University - Gabelli School of Business
Bachelor of Arts - Child and Adolescent Development (Teaching)
San Jose State University