Michael Mathenge

Scrum Master and Agile delivery leader with 11 years of experience across software engineering and Agile delivery, including nearly 4 years leading multi-squad delivery in regulated banking and telecom environments. Most recently led a managed-services engagement at Safaricom PLC across 3 programme areas and 4 squads, after almost 4 years as Senior Scrum Master for Equity Bank Kenya delivering 20+ major releases per year across 3 concurrent digital banking squads. Software engineering background (Java, Spring Boot, Python) with fintech and mobile-money domain experience, combining technical fluency with delivery discipline, stakeholder management and measurable delivery improvements.

Scrum Master — Managed Services - Safaricom PLC, through Andela - Nairobi, Kenya

(2026-05 - 2026-07)

Led the transition of the engineering team from staff augmentation to a Managed Services model, establishing independent delivery governance across the Business Hub, Digital Services and DevSecOps streams.

• Ran a bi-weekly sprint cadence across 4 squads (Gaming, Music, Connectivity, Content), aligned with the Digital Services Q2 delivery roadmap.
• Led the pre-development phase of the AI-Enabled Unified Checkout module, a modular commerce layer designed for 1,000 concurrent frontend users and 500 concurrent backend quote sessions.
• Introduced mandatory Definition of Ready / Definition of Done quality gates tied to performance SLAs (quote generation under 3 seconds, catalogue search under 500 ms).
• Set up a "Liquid Workforce" operating model with dedicated Jira boards and standard escalation paths, separating managed-service delivery from routine maintenance.
• Worked with Tech Tribe Leads on Statement of Work alignment and managed critical dependencies with external vendors.

Senior Scrum Master - Equity Bank Kenya (client), through Andela with Azenia Technology Limited - Nairobi, Kenya

(2022-08 - 2026-05)

Engaged through Andela with Azenia Technology Limited, an Equity Group subsidiary, delivering for Equity Bank Kenya across MySQL and .NET-based systems.

• Led Agile delivery for 3 concurrent digital banking squads (Save, Invest, Treasury), supporting products for 100,000+ retail and SME customers in a regulated core-banking environment.
• Delivered 20+ major releases per year to SIT, UAT and Production, including Fixed Deposit, Call Deposit, Joint Accounts, Classic Savings, Standing Instructions and FX journeys across Android, iOS, Web, Backend and Core Banking.
• Cut sprint spillover by 35% through disciplined backlog refinement, sprint-sized stories and clear acceptance criteria.
• Raised SIT first-pass rates by 30% through structured defect triage and ownership, and reduced rework by 20% through early requirements clarification and UAT risk management.
• Facilitated 40+ Sprint Reviews and Retrospectives a year with 35 stakeholders across Business, Technology, QA and vendor teams.
• Increased delivery capacity utilisation by 15% through sprint forecasting, backlog readiness and cross-team planning.
• Coordinated 5+ engineering disciplines through vendor exits and team transitions, and embedded INVEST/SMART standards across 20+ engineers and analysts.

Applications Developer & User Support Officer (ICT) - Postbank Kenya (Kenya Post Office Savings Bank) - Nairobi, Kenya

(2018-07 - 2022-08)

• Designed, built, tested, implemented and supported the Bank's mobile, web and desktop applications, and maintained and optimised their performance.
• Designed and coded application-embedded, scheduled and ad-hoc reporting solutions, working with system and database administrators on database integrity and security.
• Introduced Agile/Scrum practices, set up Scrum boards and an in-house Git server (Bonobo Git Server), and trained the development team in test-driven development and continuous integration.
• Led the redesign of the corporate website and added a customer chat system and web metrics, giving the Business Development team better visibility of customer needs.

Career Break — Professional Development and Job Search - Nairobi, Kenya

(2017-10 - 2018-06)

Software Developer & Scrum Master - CodePamoja - Nairobi, Kenya

(2015-09 - 2017-09)

• Facilitated all sprint events (planning, reviews, retrospectives, stand-ups) for a team of 30 engineers, including teammates in the Netherlands.
• Introduced Trello, Jira and Slack, and built and shipped applications for the Communications Authority of Kenya and The Hague University.

Career Break — Java Development Studies and Job Search - Nairobi, Kenya

(2015-02 - 2015-08)

Self-directed study of Java programming and the Spring Boot framework while actively seeking employment.

IT Consultant - Tunaweza - Nairobi, Kenya

(2014-10 - 2015-01)

Carried out database analysis as a business analyst and supported early-stage development while training in Python and Django.

Junior Software Developer - MobiKash Afrika Limited - Nairobi, Kenya

(2013-12 - 2014-09)

Developed Android applications and integrated external APIs for a fintech company delivering financial services through USSD and mobile money, applying enterprise security practices.

Java Development Studies - Self-directed - Nairobi, Kenya

(2010-11 - 2013-11)

Self-directed study of Java mobile development (J2ME) and the Spring Framework after graduation, including the Emobilis Mobile Application Development course (Jul – Aug 2013).

Bachelor of Science - Computer Science (4 years) - Catholic University of Eastern Africa (2006 - 2010)

Data Scientist: Analytics Specialist Career Path - Codecademy (2024-03 - 2024-03)

Mobile Application Development - Emobilis (2013-07 - 2013-08)