Release Train Engineer (RTE) Lead

Rapid Strategy is a mission-first cybersecurity and IT consulting firm supporting federal, state, and commercial organizations. We deliver innovative solutions that strengthen governance, improve interoperability, and enable secure modernization at scale.

We are seeking a Release Train Engineer (RTE) Lead to support enterprise Agile programs and drive the success of a large-scale health IT and modernization initiative. The RTE Lead will serve as a servant leader and coach, ensuring effective program execution, value delivery, and continuous improvement across Agile Release Trains (ARTs).

Key Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary Release Train Engineer for one or more ARTs, guiding teams in the effective adoption of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
• Facilitate PI (Program Increment) Planning, ART syncs, and system demos, ensuring alignment with business objectives and technology goals.
• Partner with Product Management, System Architects, and Business Owners to define vision, roadmap, and program backlog.
• Identify and remove impediments that block delivery at the program and ART level.
• Coach leaders, teams, and Scrum Masters in Lean-Agile practices to build high-performing teams.
• Support dependency management and risk mitigation across multiple Agile teams.
• Drive continuous improvement, capturing metrics, KPIs, and feedback loops for better delivery outcomes.
• Ensure compliance with program governance, cybersecurity requirements, and organizational standards.
• Communicate effectively with executive stakeholders, providing visibility into delivery progress and challenges.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of IT program/project management experience, with at least 3+ years serving as an RTE or Agile Program Manager.
• Strong expertise in SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) with experience leading large ARTs or solution trains.
• Proven track record facilitating PI Planning, system demos, and retrospectives across distributed teams.
• Experience coordinating with technical leadership (System Architects, Developers, Security Engineers) to deliver secure, compliant solutions.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to align business and technical priorities.
• Strong understanding of Agile tools (Jira, Rally, VersionOne, Azure DevOps, etc.).
• Excellent communication and servant leadership skills.

Preferred Certifications

• SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) Certification
• SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) or SAFe Agilist (SA)
• PMP, PMI-ACP, or similar program management certifications