Planning Specialist / Release Train Engineer

Job Description

Why this job matters

The Release Train Engineer (RTE) / Planning Specialist is liable for driving planning, execution, and value delivery across Agile squads within a Tribe. Acting as a servant leader and coach, this role ensures alignment between strategy and execution, manages risks, escalates impediments, and fosters collaboration and continuous improvement across squads and stakeholders.

What you’ll be doing

• Backlog & Sequencing Management: Manage Tribe-level backlogs and facilitate sequencing of work to optimize development and resource utilization.
• Program Coordination: Contribute to program-level planning by creating timelines, milestones, and cadence for increments and releases. Develop reports and analyses documenting program activities and progress.
• Quarterly Planning & Alignment: Drive readiness for quarterly planning by synthesizing vision, roadmap, and backlogs across teams. Encourage collaboration to ensure alignment between strategy and execution.
• Stakeholder Communication: Facilitate communication and coordination with stakeholders and customers during feature definition and delivery.
• Coaching & Expertise: Coach teams on backlog refinement, slicing for value, feature/capability estimation, and roll-up to Epics.
• Continuous Improvement: Promote a culture of continuous improvement using feedback and metrics (quality, delivery rate, etc.) to identify opportunities.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: mount strong working relationships between engineering and business teams.
• Dependency & Risk Analysis: Conduct analysis to identify dependencies and risks across value streams and technology domains.
• Leverage Jira for planning and tracking: Ensure effective management of Tribe-level activities using Jira boards and reports to maintain transparency and alignment across teams.
• Mentorship: Mentor team members, acting as a technical resource to improve overall team capability.
• Knowledge Sharing: Champion emerging trends and best practices in release planning and Agile delivery.
• Roadmap & Outcome Definition: Coordinate with stakeholders to drive roadmap exercises, define outcomes and continuously improve delivery models for faster value realization.

Skills Required

• Strong understanding of SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) principles and Agile methodologies.
• Expertise in Quarterly or Program Increment (PI) planning, backlog management and release coordination.
• Excellent facilitation, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to analyze risks, dependencies and metrics to drive informed decisions.
• Strong experience in Jira, Confluence or any other industry standard project management tool for issue tracking.
• Strong problem-solving and continuous improvement mindset.

Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) certification preferred.
• 12+ years of experience in Agile delivery, with at least 3-4 years in an RTE or similar role.

Our leadership standards

Looking in:
Leading inclusively and Safely
I inspire and build trust through self-awareness, honesty and integrity.
Owning outcomes
I take the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation.

Looking out:
Delivering for the customer
I execute brilliantly on clear priorities that add value to our customers and the wider business.
Commercially savvy
I demonstrate strong commercial focus, bringing an external perspective to decision-making.

Looking to the future:
Growth mindset
I experiment and identify opportunities for growth for both myself and the organisation.
Building for the future
I build diverse future-ready teams where all individuals can be at their best.

About us

BT Group was the world’s first telco and our heritage in the sector is unrivalled. As home to several of the UK’s most recognised and cherished brands – BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet, we have always played a critical role in creating the future, and we have reached an inflection point in the transformation of our business.

Over the next two years, we will complete the UK’s largest and most successful digital infrastructure project – connecting more than 25 million premises to full fibre broadband. Together with our heavy investment in 5G, we play a central role in revolutionising how people connect with each other.

While we are through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, meaning we can reward our shareholders for their commitment and patience, we are absolutely focused on how we organise ourselves in the best way to serve our customers in the years to come. This includes radical simplification of systems, structures, and processes on a huge scale. Together with our application of AI and technology, we are on a path to creating the UK’s best telco, reimagining the customer experience and relationship with one of this country’s biggest infrastructure companies.

Change on the scale we will all experience in the coming years is unprecedented. BT Group is committed to being the driving force behind improving connectivity for millions and there has never been a more exciting time to join a company and leadership team with the skills, experience, creativity, and passion to take this company into a new era.

A FEW POINTS TO NOTE:

Although these roles are listed as full-time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

We will also offer reasonable adjustments for the selection process if required, so please do not hesitate to inform us.

DON'T MEET EVERY SINGLE REQUIREMENT?

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.