Ramya Poojari Salian
Charlotte,North Carolina
Summary
Results-driven SAFe Scrum Master with 8 years of experience in Program Management and Business Planning, specializing in delivering customer-centric products and features by removing impediments and enhancing team performance. Proficient in Agile methodologies, I am committed to reinforcing Agile principles and fostering collaboration across teams and stakeholders. I have demonstrated the ability to lead, motivate, and coach Scrum teams in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments, utilizing data-driven decision-making and effective stakeholder management. As a skilled communicator, I possess a passion for strategic process planning across diverse industries and technologies.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
SCRUM MASTER
Ally Financial
08.2021 - Current
- Through SDLC management Guided 4 concurrent Scrum Teams across Optum and AF with a total strength of 32 resources to onboard 14 new clients in a year, based on Agile framework and lean delivery principles
- Continually reinforce the Agile principles and values for the delivery team members and stakeholders by situational coaching
- Collaboration with product owner, cross-functional teams, and stakeholders
- Help them identify, raise and resolve impediments
- Knowledge of Lean Agile and SAFe frameworks and ability to coach team members and teams on practices like DevOps, PI planning, automation and integrated test strategies
- Participated in team-level planning, execution, and continuous improvement initiatives, driving accountability for small to moderately sized epics across the application lifecycle and addressing dependencies across teams
- Collaborated with Product Owners and Development Teams to refine, estimate, plan, and execute features and user stories in accordance with Agile Best Practices
- Championed continuous improvement through techniques such as Inspect & Adapt workshops and Root Cause Analysis; tracked and reported Agile metrics (lead time, velocity, defect leakage) to promote transparency and encourage team accountability
- Partnered with the Release Train Engineer on SAFe facilitation and execution, ensuring alignment of team goals with overall program objectives
- Achieved a 175% increase in team productivity and a 60% reduction in re-work over two Program Increments (PIs) by implementing continuous delivery practices
- Coached the teams to transition from Waterfall methodologies to Agile scrum and Kanban workflows by adopting Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-up, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospectives
- Coached 20+ teams to higher levels of maturity by improving their process and ensuring they adhered to the Scrum framework
PROGRAM MANAGER/SCRUM MASTER
PWC
10.2018 - 05.2021
- Identified improvement opportunities to enhance cost planning and implemented a Fraud Detection tool, resulting in $30M annual savings for PwC through cost-cutting and productivity initiatives at Altria Group
- Acted as the primary liaison for multi-team collaborative projects, facilitating the launch of three new programs within six months through effective communication of deliverables, dependencies, and risks
- Redesigned Labor management strategies through KPI planning, improving productivity by 4% and contributing to $19.5M in revenue growth at Altria Group
- Advocated for operational metrics overhaul, designing new KPIs that improved financial planning accuracy by 7%, enhancing leadership visibility
- Led a cross-functional team to develop and automate reporting dashboards in Tableau, providing actionable insights for field operations
- Authored data driven analysis papers to obtain the stakeholder buy-in and aid in leadership alignment
BUSINESS ANALYST
The Bank of England
04.2016 - 09.2018
- Designed and led performance and financial KPIs for Inovalon's largest clients as the Risk adjustment SME
- Owned Risk Adjustment programs for top 3 clients, accounting for 3.5M lives and 60% of firm's revenue
- Managed the largest client's Operational/Financial goals by acting as a liaison between senior leadership, Product Operations, and client
- Led content and pitch strategy around 3 major client RFPs, resulting in successful retention of key clients
- Trained and onboarded new client teams on operations, data and reporting techniques, ensuring client's better engagement and operational success
- Created a business case for migration of reporting suite from SSRS to a new and more efficient Tableau improving client satisfaction metrics by 30%
SUBMISSION OFFICER
VFS
11.2013 - 04.2016
- Managed a high-volume application center, providing administrative support and ensuring compliance with legal documentation requirements
- Supervised daily operations, schedules, and team performance to maintain critical service levels
- Assisted high-value customers in visa application processes and documentation, while generating insightful performance reports
Education
MASTERS BUSINESS MANAGEMENT - BUSINESS
Swansea Metropolitan University
07.2013
BACHELOR - BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION MANAGEMENT
Interlink College of Technology and Business
LONDON07.2012
Skills
- Agile Methodologies
- SAFe
- Scrum
- Kanban
- Continuous Delivery
- Lean
- LeSS
- Project Management Tools
- Jira
- Rally
- Asana
- Confluence
- Software Proficiency
- MS Office Suite
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Visio
- OneNote
- Outlook
- MS Project
- PowerBuilder
- Business Objects
- Technical Skills
- Wireframe Work
- Power BI
- SQL
- BDD
Certification
Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
Timeline
SCRUM MASTER
Ally Financial
08.2021 - Current
PROGRAM MANAGER/SCRUM MASTER
PWC
10.2018 - 05.2021
BUSINESS ANALYST
The Bank of England
04.2016 - 09.2018
SUBMISSION OFFICER
VFS
11.2013 - 04.2016
MASTERS BUSINESS MANAGEMENT - BUSINESS
Swansea Metropolitan University
BACHELOR - BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION MANAGEMENT
Interlink College of Technology and Business
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