Release Train Engineer (RTE) — FDA Food Safety Data Exchange (FSDX 2.0)

PRECISE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS INCORPORATED•Rockville, MD

14d•$115,000 - $130,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Precise Software Solutions, Inc. is seeking an experienced Release Train Engineer (RTE) to support a FDA modernization program. This is a high-visibility, senior Agile leadership role responsible for orchestrating the delivery of a major federal system modernization initiative — the consolidation of two legacy regulatory data exchange systems into a single, unified cloud-native platform deployed on FDA AWS GovCloud. The RTE serves as the servant leader and coach for the Agile Release Train (ART), facilitating program-level planning and execution, managing cross-team dependencies, and driving continuous improvement in alignment with the FDA Enterprise Performance Life Cycle (EPLC) and Precise's Precise Way® Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) methodology. The successful candidate will operate across multiple concurrent workstreams — including Development, Modernization, and Enhancement (DME) and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) — while coordinating closely with FDA stakeholders, downstream contractor teams, and state regulatory partners. Must be local to Rockville, MD for occasional on site visits. This position is contingent upon a contract award.

Requirements

Minimum 5 years of experience in Agile program delivery, including at least 3 years in a RTE, Agile Coach, or Senior Scrum Master role on a program with multiple concurrent Agile teams.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or a related field (Master's degree preferred).
Demonstrated experience leading Agile Release Trains (ARTs) using the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe); SAFe Release Train Engineer (SAFe RTE) or SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) certification required.
Proven experience delivering complex federal IT programs with multiple external team dependencies, regulatory compliance requirements, and formal governance processes (EPLC, EVM, CPIC, or equivalent).
Experience managing program-level release planning, IMS development, sprint tracking, and burn rate reporting using JIRA, Confluence, and/or ALM tools.
Strong facilitation, conflict resolution, and servant leadership skills; ability to align stakeholders across government, contractor, and state partner organizations.
Demonstrated experience with risk management, change management, and dependency tracking in a multi-team program environment.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to prepare and present executive-level briefing materials and status reports.
All personnel assigned to this program must be U.S. citizen/GC holder and must successfully complete a background investigation at the Tier 2 / Moderate Risk (Public Trust) level, as required by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the FDA.
Personnel must complete all required FDA security paperwork, including the FDA Non-Disclosure Agreement (Form 3398), and submit to fingerprinting and identity verification through the FDA Personnel Security Office.
All personnel are required to complete mandatory FDA information security awareness, privacy, and records management training prior to beginning work and annually thereafter.
Personnel in positions with significant security responsibilities must also complete role-based training commensurate with their access and responsibilities.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting FDA, HHS, or other federal health agency IT programs; familiarity with FDA EPLC processes, PPA development, and EPLC stage gate governance strongly preferred.
Experience with cloud modernization programs on AWS GovCloud, including coordination of FedRAMP ATO activities.
Familiarity with DevSecOps practices, CI/CD pipeline coordination (Jenkins, GitLab), and AI-assisted development workflows.
Experience supporting or leading system modernization/replatforming programs involving legacy Oracle systems and cloud migration.
PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.
Familiarity with Section 508 compliance requirements and security frameworks (FISMA Moderate, NIST SP 800-53).

Responsibilities

Leads all Program Increment planning events, coordinating capacity, sequencing, and feature prioritization across the ART in alignment with program management, customer direction and COR guidance.
Maintains the Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) on a weekly basis.
Manages release-level Project Process Agreements (PPAs) in accordance with FDA EPLC requirements.
Ensures all sprint plans reflect realistic team capacity and accurate task-level estimates.
Prepares and maintains release plan summaries, JIRA/ALM release plans mapped to sprint-level effort, and sprint status dashboards for review by the FDA Government IT PM.
Serves as the primary integration point across all internal and external teams with dependencies on the program.
Proactively identifies cross-team blockers, facilitates resolution, and escalates impediments to executive leadership when necessary.
Drives participation from all impacted teams in end-to-end integration, regression, and UAT testing cycles for every FSDX release.
Facilitates all ART-level ceremonies, including PI planning, System Demos, Inspect and Adapt workshops, and Scrum of Scrums.
Coaches individual Scrum Masters and team-level Agile practices, fosters a culture of inspect and adapt, and drives measurable velocity improvements across the ART.
Tracks and reports sprint burn rates, planned versus actual story point delivery, and release velocity trends, escalating potential overages to the Government IT PM immediately upon detection.
Supports the Project Manager in preparing bi-weekly status reports, Monthly Status Reports (MSRs), and Monthly Financial Reports (MFRs) with accurate sprint metrics, burn rates, and risk indicators.
Supports the Executive Leadership Briefing packages on a weekly, bi-weekly, or ad hoc basis as directed by the COR, summarizing program health, critical risks, schedule status, and decisions required.
Maintains the program-level Risk Management Plan, the RACI chart, and the Change Request Log, ensuring all items are tracked through closure and reflected in subsequent governance reporting.
Maintains the program risk register and leads proactive risk identification, prioritization, and mitigation planning across all workstreams.
Facilitates cross-team risk reviews during weekly status meetings and ensures newly identified risks are surfaced to FDA stakeholders immediately.
Coordinates mitigation strategies for high-probability, high-impact risks including downstream team alignment delays, Oracle end-of-support deadlines, FedRAMP ATO dependencies, and evolving BRIDGE program requirements.
Facilitates the integration of agency-approved AI tools and DevSecOps practices into the ART's delivery pipeline, supporting the program's commitment to leveraging AI for development efficiency, automated testing, intelligent workflow optimization, and documentation.
Tracks AI utilization metrics, cost-benefit outcomes, and timeline improvements in coordination with the technical team and reports these to the Government per SOW requirements.