As a Project Manager or Scrum Master at St. Charles Trading, your day-to-day activities will center around driving execution, fostering collaboration, and maintaining process integrity. You are the custodian of the delivery workflow, ensuring that engineering teams can focus on building high-quality software with minimal distractions.

Your primary responsibilities will include:

• Facilitating core Agile ceremonies, including daily stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog refinement, and sprint retrospectives, ensuring they remain productive and time-boxed.
• Actively identifying, tracking, and removing blockers and external dependencies that threaten sprint commitments or roadmap timelines.
• Partnering with Product Owners to ensure the product backlog is healthy, prioritized, and estimated, with clearly defined acceptance criteria.
• Analyzing delivery metrics to provide transparent, data-driven progress updates to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Coaching engineering teams on self-organization, continuous improvement, and the optimal application of Scrum and Kanban principles.
• Collaborating with other project managers and Scrum Masters to manage program-level dependencies and contribute to the broader organizational Agile community of practice.

We look for candidates who possess a strong blend of technical delivery expertise, analytical capability, and interpersonal leadership. The ideal candidate is a self-starter who can walk into an ambiguous environment and establish structure, clarity, and trust.

Technical & Professional Qualifications

• Agile Certifications – Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Professional Scrum Master (PSM I/II), or PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) is highly preferred.
• Methodology Expertise – Deep, hands-on experience managing teams using both Scrum and Kanban frameworks, with a clear understanding of when to apply each.
• Tooling Proficiency – Advanced proficiency with industry-standard project management and ALM tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Azure DevOps) to configure workflows, dashboards, and reports.
• Metrics Fluency – Demonstrated ability to calculate, analyze, and report on key delivery metrics, including velocity, throughput, cycle time, and burn-up/down charts.

Experience & Soft Skills

• Professional Experience – Typically requires 3–5 years of experience managing software development projects or serving as a dedicated Scrum Master in a fast-paced environment.

• Stakeholder Management – Proven track record of successfully collaborating with Product Owners, software architects, and business directors.

• Facilitation & Coaching – Exceptional active listening, facilitation, and conflict-resolution skills, with a demonstrated ability to coach teams toward self-organization.

• Must-have skills – Strong proficiency in Jira/Confluence, solid understanding of Agile metrics calculation, and experience managing multi-team dependencies.

• Nice-to-have skills – Experience working in supply chain, commodity trading, or logistics technology environments; SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) certifications.

Q: How difficult is the interview process for this role?
A: The process is moderately difficult to challenging. While behavioral questions are straightforward, the technical and process rounds require deep, practical knowledge of Agile metrics, Kanban workflows, and roadmapping. You cannot rely on theoretical definitions alone.

Q: What is the balance between process orientation and behavioral questions?
A: Both are heavily evaluated. However, some interview rounds lean heavily on process orientation and metrics calculation. You must be able to demonstrate that you can implement structured, disciplined delivery processes while maintaining a supportive, people-first leadership style.

Q: What is the typical timeline from the initial screen to an offer?
A: The entire process generally takes between 2 to 4 weeks. The team is highly responsive, and successful candidates are often extended offers very quickly following the final round of interviews.

Q: Will I need to manage multiple teams simultaneously?
A: Yes, depending on the department and project scale, you may be responsible for supporting 1 to 2 cross-functional teams, requiring excellent time management and context-switching abilities.

To set yourself apart during the St. Charles Trading interview process, keep these practical, insider tips in mind:

• Master the math: Do not assume you can gloss over metrics. Practice explaining exactly how to calculate metrics like velocity, lead time, and cycle time, and be prepared to discuss how you use those numbers to coach your team.
• Showcase your adaptability: While process is important, we value pragmatism. Share examples of times you had to bend the rules of a framework to solve a real-world delivery challenge or accommodate a unique team dynamic.
• Prepare for a fast-paced panel: The panel round can feel intense, as multiple stakeholders will be evaluating you simultaneously. Keep your answers structured, address the specific question asked, and maintain high energy throughout.
• Structure your stories: When answering behavioral questions, always use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Ensure you spend the majority of your time explaining the specific actions you took and the measurable results achieved.

The Project Manager / Scrum Master role at St. Charles Trading represents an exceptional opportunity to drive high-impact initiatives within a dynamic, fast-growing company. By serving as a facilitator, coach, and analytical guide, you will directly influence how our engineering teams build and deliver the technology that powers our global operations.

To maximize your chances of success, focus your preparation on mastering Agile delivery analytics, refining your situational leadership stories, and practicing concise, structured communication for the panel interview. Demonstrating a healthy balance of process discipline, analytical capability, and emotional intelligence will make you a highly competitive candidate.

The salary range provided reflects the competitive compensation structure at St. Charles Trading. Your specific offer will depend on your depth of experience, technical certifications, and performance throughout the interview process. Take the time to explore additional interview insights, community reviews, and preparation resources on Dataford to ensure you walk into your interviews with complete confidence. Good luck!