How to hire an agile coach

How to hire an agile coach, step by step

Here's a step-by-step agile coach hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an agile coach job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new agile coach
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does an agile coach do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your agile coach job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find an agile coach for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   An agile coach's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, agile coaches from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of agile coaches and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Agile Coach	Description	Hourly rate
   Agile Coach		$39-75
   Product Owner	Product owners are at the forefront of an organization's development cycle. They have various duties and responsibilities, which include ensuring that the value of products created by the development team is maximized, creating a vision and defining the goals for development projects, and working closely with all stakeholders... Show more	$34-62
   Scrum Master	A scrum master is a job that's rooted in leadership. It is the scrum master's responsibility to ensure a scrum process over the development of a project... Show more	$31-54

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Kanban
   • Agile Transformation
   • Jira
   • Metrics
   • DevOps
   • Agile Principles
   • Continuous Improvement
   • Project Management
   • Software Development
   • Agile Framework
   • Scrum
   • Agile Practices
   • Portfolio
   • Sprint Planning

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Utilize SQL procedures and triggers to validate and automate data migration.
   • Manage and implement all facets of site development from initial design and architecture.
   • Provide leadership and team level coaching on integration of technical practices, continuous integration and DevOps.
   • Design and apply a Kanban board that facilitate an economic framework to prioritize large portfolio backlog items.
   • Create dashboards, KANBAN boards.
   • Work with sales team to assist with bidding on large projects (RFP and RFI).

   More agile coach duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your agile coach job description helps attract top candidates to the position. An agile coach salary can be affected by several factors, such as geography, experience, seniority, certifications, and the prestige of the hiring company.

   For example, the average salary for an agile coach in Mississippi may be lower than in Washington, and an entry-level agile coach usually earns less than a senior-level agile coach. Additionally, an agile coach with certifications may command a higher salary, and working for a well-known company or start-up may also impact an employee's pay.

   Average agile coach salary

   $113,405yearly

   $54.52 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level agile coach salary

   $82,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average agile coach salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$145,686	$70
   2	New York	$129,827	$62
   3	Rhode Island	$126,572	$61
   4	Nevada	$121,584	$58
   5	New Jersey	$120,634	$58
   6	Oregon	$118,618	$57
   7	Alaska	$117,611	$57
   8	Massachusetts	$117,475	$56
   9	District of Columbia	$115,446	$56
   10	Pennsylvania	$115,047	$55
   11	Arizona	$114,949	$55
   12	Virginia	$114,705	$55
   13	Connecticut	$112,265	$54
   14	Delaware	$112,165	$54
   15	New Hampshire	$110,726	$53
   16	Utah	$110,342	$53
   17	Texas	$108,903	$52
   18	North Carolina	$108,654	$52
   19	Florida	$105,793	$51
   20	Maryland	$105,114	$51

   Average agile coach salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	PayPal	$157,720	$75.83
   2	Atlassian	$157,264	$75.61
   3	Bloomberg	$148,077	$71.19	14
   4	Macy's	$144,359	$69.40
   5	Citi	$141,284	$67.92	2
   6	McKinsey & Company Inc	$140,245	$67.43
   7	BNY Mellon	$138,637	$66.65	3
   8	American Red Cross	$138,225	$66.45
   9	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center	$137,473	$66.09
   10	Cisco	$137,396	$66.06
   11	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	$136,514	$65.63	38
   12	Invesco	$136,166	$65.46	2
   13	Mitchell Martin	$135,870	$65.32
   14	Kelly Services	$135,402	$65.10
   15	Kforce	$134,837	$64.83	20
   16	Innovative Consulting Group	$133,994	$64.42
   17	Best Buy	$133,438	$64.15
   18	Robert Half	$133,049	$63.97	6
   19	Populus Group	$132,658	$63.78
   20	Randstad North America, Inc.	$132,341	$63.63	4

4. Writing an agile coach job description

   A good agile coach job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of an agile coach job description:

   Agile coach job description example

   Purpose of JobThe Bank at USAA is going through a transformation and looking for an Agile Coach Senior to join our SAFe team. As an Agile Coach joining our team, you will be working in a business line to coach and transform their organization.
   
   PLEASE NOTE: We are NOT looking for Scrum Masters for this position. You need to have many years current experience as an Agile Coach at many levels within your organization.
   
   As a mighty team of 9 coaches we work to bring transparency, inspection and adaptation as a way of thinking with commitment, focus, openness respect and courage. You will be a coach at the portfolio, program and product team level, while interacting with your other team members to deliver value.
   
   Coaches and mentors agile delivery roles at the team and program levels including Scrum Masters, Product Owners, team members, Release Train Engineers, Product Managers, Architect stakeholders and managers/directors to apply agile principles, practices and frameworks in order to deliver compliant high value business capabilities. Serves as a subject matter expert on fundamental agile practices in Scrum and Kanban, dev ops and applications of principles as needed. Begins to cultivate a specialty field of coaching (portfolio, delivery, business, dev ops, etc.) Embraces servant leadership and displays behaviors that come with the key mindset shifts associated with being agile and the culture shift at USAA. Identifies opportunities for continuous operational and/or team improvements.Job Requirements
   
   PLEASE NOTE: We are NOT looking for Scrum Masters for this position. You need to have many years current experience as an Agile Coach at many levels within your organization.
   
   USAA knows what it means to serve. We facilitate the financial security of millions of U.S. military members and their families. This singular mission requires a dedication to innovative thinking at every level.
   We embrace a robust veteran workforce and encourage veterans and veteran spouses to apply. Tasks: Identifies and manages existing and emerging risks that stem from business activities and the job role. Ensures risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled. Follows written risk and compliance policies, standards, and procedures for business activities. Delivers hands-on coaching to individuals, teams, and/or programs in all aspects of Scrum and Kanban, including but not limited to daily routines, self-organization, collaboration, iterative development, managing flow and limiting work in progress (WIP). Drives continuous improvement to create higher performing programs and teams, including guiding and influencing the use of key metrics and diagnostics for improvement and decision making. Leads in the creation and delivery of Agile training for business and IT resources in alignment with USAA standards and procedures. Advances best practices in Scrum, Kanban and Scaled Agile Framework. Develops and maintains stakeholder relationships supporting agile product development. Remains informed about corporate policies and procedures, practices, industry trends and best practices concerning Agile. Works with individuals, teams, and programs to discover their needs, while ensuring alignment with the organizational strategy. Trains and mentors Agile Coach candidates. Works within the Agile communities of practice to improve processes and engagements. Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree; OR 4 years of related experience (in addition to the minimum years of experience required) may be substituted in lieu of degree. Minimum Experience: 6 years of experience performing in multiple Agile roles, to include 4 years of experience as an Agile Coach or working in a similar role in a lean or scrum environment. Strong business acumen and advanced knowledge of the software development lifecycle and methodologies. Advanced understanding of Agile risk management practices and Lean-Agile methodologies, practices, and tools (i.e. Jira/Rally). Demonstrated ability to influence change at the leadership level and team level. Previous experience in Product Ownership, as a Scrum Master or with the agile methodology, enabling enterprise-wide Agile transformation. Preferred: Scaled Agile Practitioner 5.0 or 5.1 Experience with training delivery in SAFe, Agile, and to Leaders C-Suite experience coaching Compensation: USAA has an effective process for assessing market data and establishing ranges to ensure we remain competitive. You are paid within the salary range based on your experience and market position. The salary range for this position is: $88,200 - $158,900* (this does not include geographical differential, it may be applied based on your work location) Employees may be eligible for pay incentives based on overall corporate and individual performance or at the discretion of the USAA Board of Directors. *Geographical Differential : Geographic pay differential is additional pay provided to eligible employees working in locations where market pay levels are above the national average. Shift premium will be addressed on an individual basis for applicable roles that are consistently scheduled for non-core hours. Benefits: At USAA our employees enjoy best-in-class benefits to support their physical, financial, and emotional wellness. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans, 401(k), pension, life insurance, parental benefits, adoption assistance, paid time off program with paid holidays plus 16 paid volunteer hours, and various wellness programs. Additionally, our career path planning and continuing education assists employees with their professional goals. Please click on the link below for more details. USAA Total Rewards Relocation assistance is not available for this position. #fsb USAA is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find agile coaches for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any agile coaches they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level agile coaches with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your agile coach job on Zippia to find and attract quality agile coach candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit agile coaches, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with an agile coach applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new agile coach

   Once you have selected a candidate for the agile coach position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new agile coach. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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