Value Stream Coach

Location: New York, United States

Why Join Guardian Life?

At Guardian Life, we're more than an insurance company—we're a legacy of protection, innovation, and employee empowerment. For over 160 years, Guardian has been a leader in financial security, life insurance, disability insurance, and retirement solutions. Our Digital and Technology (D&T) organization is at the forefront of a transformative journey, leveraging cutting-edge Agile practices, Lean principles, and modern engineering to drive business growth and customer-centric outcomes.

Join a collaborative culture where your expertise as a Value Stream Coach can make a real impact. Work with passionate teams in the heart of New York, enjoy hybrid flexibility, and contribute to initiatives that optimize workflows, enhance value delivery, and foster continuous improvement. Guardian offers unparalleled professional development, mentorship opportunities, and a commitment to work-life balance. Be part of a company recognized as a Best Place to Work by leading publications, with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Role Description

Guardian’s Digital and Technology (D&T) organization is undergoing a transformation to drive the growth and future strategy of the business. As a Value Stream Coach, you will be a part of this exciting shift! As part of the coaching team, you will guide teams to optimize their workflows to deliver maximum value. Your focus is on building capability, elevating business and delivery performance, and fostering a continuous improvement culture. You will coach individuals and teams on dependency management, best practices, and alignment to objectives and key results (OKRs). You will be a critical partner to your Value Stream Leader, Product and Technology leaders, and team members to advance the teams’ maturity and performance through targeted coaching plans and initiatives.

You are a change agent and facilitator, driving organizational focus on value delivery, flow, and business outcomes. The ideal candidate will be highly collaborative, influential, and driven about creating impactful change for the organization.

Detailed Responsibilities

Facilitate Value Stream Events

• Lead and facilitate key value stream events such as PI Planning and Value Stream Syncs.
• Drive continuous exploration and backlog refinement ahead of PI Planning to maintain readiness and clarity.
• Ensure alignment and transparency across teams and stakeholders.

Coach Teams and Leaders

• Guide teams and leaders to deliver end-to-end value across the value stream with a focus on customer outcomes.
• Coach teams and leaders in designing effective value stream structures and collaborative practices that minimize hand-offs, clarify product ownership, and define team outcomes with precision.
• Provide guidance on business process improvements to enhance operational efficiency.
• Provide coaching to Value Stream leadership, Product Managers (PDMs), Product Owners (POs), and team coaches on product-platform principles, agile skills, and mindset shifts.
• Role model coaching practices and support Value Stream Team Coaches in leveraging digital tools and data for transparency and performance improvement.

Champion OKRs and Strategic Alignment

• Champion the use of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to align team efforts with value stream goals and measure performance. Ensure OKRs cascade effectively from value stream to team level.
• Ensure strategy, portfolio investments, and execution are connected, tying work to business priorities and outcomes.
• Play a critical role in portfolio planning and demand management. Facilitate dependency management and stakeholder engagement within and across value streams to reduce delivery risks.

Contribute to the Center of Excellence

• Contribute to Communities of Practice and mentor Value Stream Team Coaches.
• Be an active member of the CoE, helping define, adopt, and evolve standards and practices based on collective feedback.

Own Tooling Standards and Governance

• Define, update, and commit to maintaining standards across key tooling platforms (e.g., JIRA, Confluence, SPM).
• Ensure consistent usage and alignment to best practices across teams and value streams.

Promote Flow and Engineering Practices

• Identify and address bottlenecks, dependencies, and waste to improve flow and speed of value delivery.
• Partner with engineering leaders to champion modern software development practices such as building automation, deployment automation, unit test coverage, and shift-left testing.
• Promote CI/CD pipelines, unit testing, and shift-left testing in partnership with engineering and technology leaders.

Required Skills

Excel as a Value Stream Coach with these essential skills:

• Expert facilitation of PI Planning and value stream events
• OKR implementation and strategic alignment
• Agile coaching at scale (SAFe, LeSS preferred)
• Dependency and bottleneck management
• JIRA, Confluence, and SPM tooling expertise
• Lean principles and flow optimization
• Modern engineering practices (CI/CD, automation)
• Influential leadership and change management
• Data-driven performance metrics
• Product-platform model knowledge

Education & Experience

• 8–10 years of experience in roles such as Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer, or Agile Coach.
• Expertise with product-platform model constructs; Value Stream experience preferred.
• Deep understanding of Agile methodologies, Lean principles, and their application at scale.
• Ability to identify and help value stream teams overcome impediments to flow and progress.
• Proficiency in using data and metrics to track progress and identify areas for improvement.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to effectively convey concepts and facilitate collaboration.
• Proven track record as an influential coach with demonstrated success in organizational transformation.

Compensation Overview

Competitive base salary range: $118,980 - $195,465 per year, depending on experience and qualifications. Total compensation includes performance-based incentives, bonuses, and equity opportunities.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with generous company match
• Paid parental leave and family benefits
• Professional development stipend and tuition reimbursement
• Hybrid work model with flexible hours
• Wellness programs, gym memberships, and mental health support
• Generous PTO, holidays, and volunteer time off
• Employee stock purchase plan and financial planning services

Guardian Life is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Apply today to shape the future of value stream management at Guardian!