Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Timeline
Generic

Mala Bhatnagar

Princeton,NJ

Summary

Certified Scrum Master with over a decade of experience empowering teams and facilitating agile adoption. Skilled in implementing Agile frameworks like Scrum and Kanban, transitioning teams from traditional Waterfall methodologies. Proficient in optimizing backlogs for business value through Rolling Wave planning, ensuring project transparency and stakeholder trust. Proactively identifying bottlenecks, implementing action items, and fostering collaboration with cross-functional teams. Adept at executing leadership throughout team evolution stages, championing self-organization and self-sufficiency.

Overview

20
20
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Scrum Master

CGI/CIGNA
06.2022 - Current
  • Leading two Agile teams focused on data analytics platform development, achieving a 15% improvement in data accuracy.
  • Partner with stakeholders to prioritize the product backlog, ensuring timely and high-impact feature delivery.
  • Facilitate all core Scrum ceremonies—daily stand-ups, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives—to foster alignment, transparency, and continuous improvement.
  • Mentor and coach teams on Scrum principles, Agile best practices, and cross-functional collaboration within data analytics contexts.
  • Collaborate closely with developers and analysts to translate complex business needs into actionable technical requirements.
  • Support ETL and data integration efforts to ensure end-to-end data quality and pipeline reliability.
  • Champion knowledge sharing and stakeholder engagement across project life cycles to drive value delivery and user trust.
  • Enforce WIP limits within the SAFe framework to optimize flow and reduce context-switching.
  • Lead effective Product Backlog Refinement meetings to enhance alignment between development teams and Product Owners.
  • Forecast sprint and release outcomes with balance between certainty and adaptability for effective stakeholder planning.
  • Encourage generalizing specialists within teams, reducing bottlenecks and elevating cross-functionality.
  • Promote self-organization and emerging leadership to address complexity with scalable, team-led solutions.

Scrum Master

CGI/Fannie Mae
12.2021 - 05.2022
  • Delivered multiple concurrent work streams in a fast-paced enterprise Agile environment using JIRA, Rally, and MS Project.
  • Served as an Agile SME, guiding teams through iterative development and ensuring alignment with business objectives.
  • Partnered with business and technical stakeholders to remove impediments, drive delivery, and maintain transparency.
  • Led Scrum ceremonies and Agile rituals across cross-functional teams.
  • Communicated sprint commitments to stakeholders and backlog owners to ensure shared expectations.
  • Produced and analyzed Agile metrics (velocity, burndown, cumulative flow) to identify trends and improve team performance.

Scrum Master

Cummins
02.2020 - 11.2021
  • Spearheaded Agile adoption across delivery teams, fostering a culture of cross-functional collaboration.
  • Facilitated PI planning sessions and coordinated inter-team dependencies using SAFe principles.
  • Developed PI objectives and supported linking user stories to features in a structured and traceable way.
  • Conducted ART syncs to drive alignment across Agile Release Trains.
  • Created and maintained Feature- and PI-level burndown charts and dashboards to ensure transparency.
  • Enabled SAFe readiness through feature decomposition and dependency resolution workshops.
  • Drove stakeholder value by delivering high-quality increments early and often, based on priority.

Scrum Master

Sammons Financial Group
05.2017 - 11.2019
  • Coached and mentored Scrum teams transitioning from waterfall to Agile delivery.
  • Guided Product Owners in converting business roadmaps into Epics, Features, and User Stories.
  • Ensured team motivation and iteration goal alignment through frequent feedback loops.
  • Promoted stakeholder knowledge sharing and trust by facilitating continuous communication and feedback cycles.
  • Integrated rolling-wave planning techniques in SAFe to improve predictability while staying adaptable.
  • Conducted Inspect & Adapt sessions and improved processes across organizational boundaries.
  • Managed collaboration and dependencies during PI Planning across multiple Agile teams.
  • Tracked progress using PI metrics like predictability measures, Portfolio Roadmaps, and burn charts.
  • Maintained Agile artifacts and information radiators to visualize work and support Agile maturity.

Scrum Master

Coca-Cola Refreshments
01.2015 - 02.2017
  • Drove adoption of Agile practices and workflows, establishing consistent team norms and Scrum processes.
  • Led backlog grooming, sprint planning, and estimation sessions using Planning Poker and MoSCoW prioritization.
  • Supported product increment delivery through effective Sprint Review facilitation and DoD enforcement.
  • Removed team-level and organizational impediments to maintain momentum and reduce blockers.
  • Conducted high-engagement retrospectives using Sad-Mad-Glad and other facilitation techniques.
  • Maintained Agile boards and visual tracking tools to monitor work-in-progress and completed deliverables.
  • Fostered collaboration using tools like JIRA and Confluence for user story mapping, backlog management, and reporting.

Business Analysts

CAT
01.2012 - 12.2014
  • Gathered and documented functional and technical requirements across manufacturing systems.
  • Supported process analysis and improvement projects, bridging business stakeholders and IT.

Process Analyst

BVBA Bank
05.2005 - 06.2011
  • Led process reengineering initiatives to optimize core banking operations.
  • Developed business process models, reducing inefficiencies and aligning operations with compliance standards.

Education

Master of Business Administration - MBA - Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General

National Institute of Personnel Management
New Delhi, India
01.2000

Bachelor of Science - Economics and Computation

Delhi University
New Delhi, India
01.1996

Skills

  • Agile Frameworks: Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, Scaling Agile
  • Delivery Practices: TDD, BDD, ATDD, Value-Driven Delivery, WIP Optimization
  • Agile Facilitation: Sprint Planning, Retrospectives, PI Planning, Backlog Refinement
  • Team & Culture: Psychological Safety, Conflict Resolution, Self-Organizing Teams
  • Tools: JIRA, Rally, VersionOne, Confluence, Azure DevOps
  • Project Visibility: Information Radiators, Agile Metrics, Risk Identification & Mitigation
  • Requirement Management: Epics, Features, Stories, Rolling Wave Planning

Certification

  • Professional Scrum Master II, https://www.scrum.org/user/906140
  • SAFe Scrum Master (SSM 5.0), https://www.credly.com/go/Q9TSiaeMyailSjxM9X5pKA

Timeline

Scrum Master

CGI/CIGNA
06.2022 - Current

Scrum Master

CGI/Fannie Mae
12.2021 - 05.2022

Scrum Master

Cummins
02.2020 - 11.2021

Scrum Master

Sammons Financial Group
05.2017 - 11.2019

Scrum Master

Coca-Cola Refreshments
01.2015 - 02.2017

Business Analysts

CAT
01.2012 - 12.2014

Process Analyst

BVBA Bank
05.2005 - 06.2011

Master of Business Administration - MBA - Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General

National Institute of Personnel Management

Bachelor of Science - Economics and Computation

Delhi University

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