How to write a scrum master CV (with template and example)

Updated 24 July 2023

A scrum master is a management professional who implements the scrum framework, guiding and coaching the team through the framework. If you have experience using the Agile framework, you can apply for scrum master positions to advance your career. A well-written and compelling CV can help highlight your scrum qualifications and experience and create a positive impression on hiring managers. In this article, we discuss various steps to writing a scrum master CV and provide both a template and an example.

How to write a scrum master CV

Below are steps to help you craft a compelling CV:

1. Summarise your career in the Agile framework

A compelling professional summary highlights the best features of your career journey and briefly presents the qualifications you have as a scrum master. Carefully select verbs that describe your relevant skills and work experience. You can mention how many years of experience you have as a scrum master and highlight various achievements in your career. You can also mention scrum-related certifications and notable industries or companies where you held a position as a scrum master.

Make your professional summary brief and clear enough to encourage the recruiter to read the rest of your CV. This portion of the CV usually comes below your contact information and rarely exceeds two or three sentences. You can compile a list of interesting career details you believe emphasises your strengths as a scrum master and carefully summarise them into a few sentences in your professional summary.

2. Detail your relevant team management skills

Recruiters often want to know if you have the abilities that predict success in effectively using Scrum to manage projects and team activities. As a scrum master, a recruiter may want to know if you're flexible, persistent, optimistic and encouraging. They may also require you to be an excellent communicator, leader and coach with empathy and attentiveness to the needs of your team.

Ensure you know the skills required for each position. Then, list your skills and select only the ones that match the requirements in the job description. These skills often comprise hard skills that relate specifically to your position as a scrum master and soft skills that include interpersonal attributes required to succeed at your job. This section of your CV can come after the professional summary in a skill-based CV or after the work experience in a traditional CV.

3. Describe your experience in using Agile frameworks

Scrum masters manage projects, which makes the role a senior-level position that requires enough work experience. So, recruiters may be most interested in your work experience section. They often want to know where you worked, how many years of experience in the industry and the remarkable achievements you made in your previous positions. Ensure your work experience justifies the claims made in your professional summary and shows the recruiter how you excelled in leading your team and using the scrum framework to complete projects.

Your work experience separates you from other candidates. Every applicant for the position of scrum master may have the same skills, but they often won't have the same work experience. This section of the CV reveals each applicant's professional background and shows the recruiter whose qualifications match the job description. Ensure to highlight the duties in your past positions that align with the requirements in the job description and use relevant keywords and active verbs to present them.

4. Include your other relevant qualification

You often require a university degree to secure a managerial position, such as a scrum master. Start this section with your most recent education, which can be an MBA in management or other postgraduate or graduate qualification. You can also mention awards you received from a notable club if they're necessary to showcase certain qualities relevant to the position. If you held any leadership position in school, which demonstrates your leadership skills, include them in this section.

You can include your scrum master or project management credentials, if you have any, in the credentials section of your CV. This section may also include courses in Scrum that offer certification and even those that don't. These certifications include Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Professional Scrum Master Level I (PSM I) and Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM). Include the title, certifying body and expiration date, if applicable, when adding your certifications.

5. Mention notable managerial achievements

You can boost your CV by including notable projects you've led your team to complete in previous positions or prominent awards you've won in your field. These achievements may involve developing and leading a team, ensuring team productivity, facilitating regular scrums and planning sprint reviews and meetings. Substantiate your claims here with numbers and percentages that detail your accomplishments.

Be detailed but concise by choosing the strongest verbs to state your accomplishments. Include the budget size, project type and client if possible. If you're mentioning your awards, include the title, the year you received it and a brief description if relevant. This section can show recruiters how much you excelled in the past and convince them of the value you bring to their company if given the position.

6. Review your CV

Reviewing your CV before sending it to your potential employer can help you correct all minor errors. Ensure that it has the proper format, spacing, font size and consistent alignment. Proofread your CV for grammar, spelling and punctuation and ensure not to exclude any relevant details. You can get a professional associate or career counsellor to review your CV and offer meaningful recommendations.

If you want to apply for multiple scrum master positions, tailor your CV for each job by aligning your skills with the details in the job description. Don't use the same CV for every scrum master job application. Look for specific keywords relevant to each company and include them in your CV. Also, try to keep your CV as brief as possible. When editing, remove any redundancies. Make it easy for recruiters to get the essential details at a glance.

CV template for a scrum master

You can use this template to help you create your scrum master CV:

[Full Name]

[Phone number] | [Email address] | [City]

Professional Summary

[Two to three sentences highlighting years of experience, relevant skills, education or certifications and achievements as a professional.]

Work Experience

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City]

(Strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome or quantified results.
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]
[Company Name] | [City]

[Job duty]
[Job duty]
[Job duty]

Skills

[Relevant skill] | [Relevant skill] | [Relevant skill] | [Relevant skill]

Education

[Degree and major], [Name of school or university]

[Certification Name], [Host organisation] - [Year completed or expiration date]

CV example for a scrum master

You can use the following example as a guide when writing your scrum master CV:

Sam Harris

08787 323232 | sam.harris@jobmail.com | Southhill Lake, London

Professional Summary

Insightful and innovative Scrum Master with nine years of leadership experience building and guiding technology teams to achieve successful outcomes. Highly skilled in developing efficient teams, including software development, quality assurance and software engineering, to create a cooperative work environment. A Disciplined Agile Scrum Master with excellent process development, analysis, project management, security planning, risk mitigation and leadership skills.

Work Experience

Scrum Master | September 2015–Current
JJKV Software Technology Inc. | London

mentor a cross-functional team of 25 resources to deliver quality products which have led to over £5M in revenue
implement Kanban principles as a scrum master, reducing the cycle period by 40% and increasing team throughput in less than ten weeks.
identify risk issues throughout the strategy and present them to the board level
develop a web scraping programme in Python that includes over 15,000 company description and stock quotes and enrich internal data and increase research efficiency by 55%
contribute to team ceremonies to evaluate team health, performance, capacities and work items

Scrum Master | May 2013–August 2015
KVM Technologies| London

trained and directed staff in using Agile frameworks
employed and updated Jira, Confluence, SharePoint and Kanban boards
inspired team in Agile to achieve successful project delivery

Skills

Education

BSc (Hons) in Information Technology, The University of Yorkshire

Disciplined Agile Scrum Master (DASM), Scrum Alliance - 2020

Professional Scrum Master Level I (PSM I), Scrum Alliance - 2018

Please note that none of the companies, institutions or organisations mentioned in this article are affiliated with Indeed.

Disclaimer: The model shown is for illustration purposes only, and may require additional formatting to meet accepted standards.

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How to write a scrum master CV (with template and example)