Agile Transformation Consultant

• Contract Length: 3 months
• Engagement: Interim/Contract
• Status - Outside IR35
• Location - Travel to site 3 days a week in East Oxfordshire (M40)
• Focus: Agile Transformation | Operational Change | Capability Building

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Agile Transformation Consultant for an initial three-month engagement to introduce practical, sustainable Agile ways of working within a non-technical, operational business environment.

This is not a traditional Agile Coach role operating within software engineering or technology delivery. The successful consultant will work with business and operational teams that may have limited previous exposure to Agile, helping them move away from traditional, Waterfall or unstructured approaches towards a clearer, more transparent and effective way of managing work.

The objective is to deliver rapid and measurable improvement rather than implement Agile for Agile's sake. You will assess how teams currently operate, identify where work becomes overloaded or blocked, introduce appropriately lightweight Agile practices, and build sufficient internal capability for the organisation to continue without ongoing external support.

A critical measure of success will be your ability to make yourself unnecessary by the end of the three-month engagement through effective coaching, knowledge transfer and the development of internal Agile Champions.

Key ResponsibilitiesAgile Assessment & Mobilisation

• Rapidly assess existing ways of working, operational processes, team structures, workflows and delivery challenges.

• Identify bottlenecks, excessive work-in-progress, competing priorities and areas where teams are struggling to deliver effectively.

• Understand the cultural and organisational factors influencing how work is currently commissioned, prioritised and delivered.

• Establish a pragmatic baseline against which improvements can be measured.

• Develop a focused 90-day Agile improvement plan based on the organisation's immediate priorities.

Design Pragmatic Agile Ways of Working

• Determine which Agile principles and practices are appropriate for different teams rather than applying a single methodology across the organisation.

• Introduce lightweight approaches such as Kanban, Sprints, visual management, stand-ups, retrospectives and prioritised backlogs where they add genuine value.

• Adapt Agile terminology and practices for a non-technical audience, avoiding unnecessary software engineering language.

• Establish simple governance and operating rhythms that improve visibility, accountability and delivery.

• Ensure Agile practices complement the organisation's existing operating model rather than creating unnecessary additional process.

Work-in-Progress & Flow Management

A significant focus of the engagement will be improving how teams manage capacity and competing priorities.

You will:

• Help teams visualise their current workload and understand where capacity is being consumed.

• Introduce effective Work-in-Progress (WIP) limits.

• Reduce excessive multitasking and context switching.

• Identify and remove delivery bottlenecks.

• Improve prioritisation and create greater clarity around what teams should - and should not - be working on.

• Establish mechanisms for identifying blocked or ageing work.

• Help leaders understand the relationship between demand, capacity, prioritisation and delivery performance.

Coaching & Stakeholder Engagement

• Work directly with operational leaders, change teams and business stakeholders to embed new ways of working.

• Facilitate workshops, planning sessions, retrospectives and team coaching.

• Challenge established working practices constructively where they are preventing effective delivery.

• Translate Agile concepts into clear business language focused on outcomes, flow, capacity, prioritisation and accountability.

• Coach managers to lead teams effectively within the new operating approach.

• Build engagement and ownership rather than creating dependency on the consultant.

Capability Building & Handover

Sustainability is fundamental to this engagement.

The consultant will be expected to:

• Identify and develop a small number of internal Agile Champions.

• Provide practical coaching and mentoring to enable those individuals to continue supporting teams after the engagement.

• Develop lightweight playbooks, guidance and templates that can be used internally.

• Transfer facilitation and coaching responsibilities progressively throughout the engagement.

• Establish clear ownership for Agile practices before departure.

• Deliver a structured handover and exit plan.

• Ensure the organisation can continue evolving its Agile capability without relying on long-term external consultancy support.

Expected 3-Month Deliverables

By the end of the engagement, the consultant should have delivered:

• An initial assessment of current ways of working and key delivery constraints.

• A pragmatic Agile operating approach tailored to the organisation.

• Appropriate Kanban, Sprint or hybrid working practices across agreed teams.

• Clear visualisation of work, priorities, capacity and bottlenecks.

• Effective WIP limits and improved mechanisms for managing workload.

• Defined team ceremonies and operating rhythms where appropriate.

• Improved prioritisation and workflow management.

• A set of simple Agile measures demonstrating progress and effectiveness.

• Coaching and development of identified internal Agile Champions.

• Practical Agile playbooks, templates and supporting documentation.

• A clear sustainability and handover plan.

• Final recommendations for further improvements following completion of the engagement.

Essential Experience

We are looking for someone who has done this before in a genuinely greenfield environment.

You will need to demonstrate:

• A strong track record of introducing Agile ways of working from scratch.

• Previous delivery within organisations or teams operating through traditional Waterfall, project-based or relatively unstructured ways of working.

• Experience delivering Agile transformation through short-term consulting or interim assignments.

• Significant experience applying Agile within non-IT environments, such as operations, business change, central functions or professional services.

• Evidence of adapting Agile principles rather than rigidly implementing Scrum or another prescribed methodology.

• Deep understanding of Kanban, flow management, WIP limits, capacity management and prioritisation.

• Strong Agile coaching, facilitation and stakeholder management capability.

• Experience developing internal Agile Champions and transferring capability to permanent teams.

• Ability to influence senior stakeholders while remaining sufficiently hands-on to work directly with operational teams.

• A strong focus on measurable business outcomes rather than Agile maturity for its own sake.

The Consultant We're Looking For

This role will suit a senior, pragmatic Agile practitioner who is comfortable entering an organisation, quickly understanding what is and isn't working, and taking decisive action.

You are likely to have worked as an Agile Transformation Consultant, Enterprise Agile Coach, Senior Agile Coach, Ways of Working Consultant, Operational Excellence Consultant or Agile Delivery Consultant.

Most importantly, you will understand that the objective is not to turn the organisation into a textbook Agile environment. It is to introduce the minimum level of structure required to help people prioritise effectively, reduce overload, improve flow and deliver better outcomes.

This is a three-month, outcome-focused engagement, so we are particularly interested in consultants who can demonstrate rapid mobilisation, tangible improvement within weeks and a successful handover that leaves the client with sustainable internal capability.