Agile Practice Owner

Next Horizon is here. Fueled by investments in talent and technology, our bold strategy to transform is nearly complete.  

At Gore Mutual, we’ve always set ourselves apart as a modern mutual that does good. Now, we’re proudly building on that legacy to transform our company—and our industry—for the better. 

Our path forward sharpens our focus on business performance, driven by leading technology, innovation and an agile, high-performing culture. With Gore Mutual and Beneva announcing their intent to merge in 2026, we’ll be uniting two well-established, financially strong, and trusted brands to become the strongest mutual insurer in Canada, ensuring Canadians have purpose-driven insurance options for generations to come. Come join us. 

This role is intended to help evolve the way business and IT collaborate at Gore by supporting the adoption of a more Agile delivery model.It requires someone who can first build a deep understanding of the team, the dynamics and constraints within which we operate, and the strengths we possess, and then lead the organization through a realignment toward a more responsive approach. This shift will emphasize more frequent releases, greater involvement of the business throughout the end-to-end delivery process, and higher quality outcomes with reduced waste. Serving as a catalyst for cultural and operational change, the role will guide Gore into the next phase of its evolution as a modern mutual powered by an industry-leading technology stack, ensuring that business and technology move forward together to deliver sustainable value at speed and scale.

What will you do?

Owner of the Agile practice at Gore

• Defines the roadmap to achieve an agile maturity that is agreed with IT SLT 
• Build support for each phase of the roadmap across business and technology teams so that there is buy-in from these functions to advance the practice 
• Implement the roadmap in an agreed timeframe 
• Act as a change agent to foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and transparency. 

Agile Education 

• Work with teams across functions to articulate the vision for agile at Gore and the elements that enable that vision to include: 
  • responsibilities for individual roles and teams  
  • provide clarity on how much time is required from each member of the team to support each part of the delivery train e.g. requirements, development 
  • agile ceremonies – how they are run, what they achieve and a measure of their success 

• Create a curated training set of materials to onboard individuals to the Gore version of Agile, or create and deliver a training course to achieve this objective. 
• Support individuals in their pursuit of agile training 

Maturity Assessment :Introduce maturity assessment process that is updated quarterly to measure progress 

• Clearly define each stage of maturity on the path to target state 
• Support pods in completing the assessment 
• Identify actions for each pod based on the assessment to enable progression to the next level 

Escalate organizational impediments on progress to IT SLT based on data from the maturity assessment 

Mentorship : Mentoring for team members involved in the agile delivery​​ 

• Provide focused coaching for key roles in the agile practice e.g. scrum master, product owner 

​​Scrum Master for incubator pod​ 

Take on this day-to-day responsibility to try out work processes that can be refined and subsequently adopted by the larger pods, for example: 

• What is the optimal pod size for the level of business support available? 
• How can user stories be broken down into sufficiently small pieces so that they can be delivered as part of a two-week sprint 
• Use this pod to demonstrate the impact of greater agile maturity on delivery in a measurable way. 
• Highlight any organizational impediments that block the advancement of agile maturity within this pod. 

What will you need to succeed?

• Undergraduate degree in Information Technology, Project Management or relevant field.
• The ideal candidate will bring 5–10 years of experience in Agile practice roles and a proven track record of leading a comparable Agile transformation to completion at an organization of similar or larger scale. Experience within the property and casualty insurance sector is preferred, though backgrounds in other areas of financial services will also be considered. Importantly, the candidate will have remained with the organization for at least a year following the completion of the transformation, demonstrating commitment to embedding lasting change.
• Prior to serving as a SAFe Agile Practice Owner, the candidate would have worked as a Scrum Master for 2–4 years, building a strong foundation in Agile delivery.
• Additional experience in other Agile roles, such as Product Owner, will be viewed as an advantage.
• Beyond Agile leadership, prior hands-on experience as a developer, tester, or business analyst will further strengthen the candidate’s ability to bridge business and technology and drive meaningful outcomes.
• The successful candidate will demonstrate deep expertise in enterprise Agile strategy and governance, with proven leadership in the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) supported by relevant certifications.
• Prior experience in strong executive stakeholder management capabilities, coupled with exceptional communication and facilitation skills that enable alignment across business and technology.
•  Experience in organizational change leadership is essential, ensuring the ability to guide teams and leaders through complex transformations.
• A solid grounding in DevOps and Agile engineering practices will further strengthen their ability to drive high-quality delivery outcomes. Industry knowledge, particularly within insurance or broader financial services, will be highly valued, alongside a commitment to data-driven decision making that ensures transparency, accountability, and measurable success.

#LI-Hybrid

Accessibility for applicants

Gore Mutual Insurance Company is committed to providing accommodations for people with disabilities during all phases of the recruiting process, including the application process.

If you require accommodation because of a disability, we will work with you to meet your needs. Contact us and a human resources representative will consult with you to determine an appropriate accommodation.

Should you request an accommodation during the interview process, please notify your Talent Acquisition Consultant.