Sera Hayes Email & Phone Number

Coached and mentored teams on agile best practices, conducted training sessions + workshops to enhance understanding of agile principles and a continuous improvement philosophy. Utilized Agile & Project Management approaches (including Scrum and Kanban) to support the successful delivery of roadmap initiatives while also advocating for team health. Supported the prioritization, refinement, and maintenance of product backlogs in Jira. Navigated competing priorities and collaborated with development teams + stakeholders to resolve delivery impediments/risks. Identified, utilized, and educated around metrics (change lead time, cycle time, deploy frequency) to expose patterns or challenges and enable continuous improvement decisions with teams and leadership. Organized team building meetings and events, including team working agreement sessions to encourage conversations around team processes while fostering collaboration, self-organization, and team empowerment. Developed training materials/decks and presentations (in person and virtual) around effective leadership, communication, project planning, and facilitation practices, supporting Agilists and delivery teams.Created cohesion and alignment at varying levels by being embedded within delivery teams while also communicating product initiative status updates to stakeholders across the organization. Facilitated conversations at various organizational levels using collaboration tools such as Mural and Miro, fostering transparency, teamwork, and flexibility.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Developed and maintained production schedules for multiple projects, tracking cross-team dependencies to ensure alignment. Earned Scrum Master certification and applied Scrum practices/principles across multiple delivery teams, regularly facilitating backlog refinement, sprint planning, daily standups, sprint/delivery reviews, and team retrospectives. Facilitated decision-making conversations around process + defining product scope and business requirements for new products. Bridged communication gaps across siloed teams and created opportunities for cross-team collaboration. Partnered with the Director of Project Management, Product Managers, and Sales teams to provide frequent delivery updates to stakeholders, reiterating roadmap goals and tracking progress against key deliverables. Proactively sought out methods to remove roadblocks and improve focus in order to expedite the delivery of new product initiatives to the market.

Greater Chicago Area

Led multiple concurrent client-specific projects with cross-functional teams, ensuring organization, timeliness, and budget adherence. Owned end-to-end project lifecycle including pricing/contracting, staffing, project kickoff, milestone planning/scheduling, risk analysis, execution, monitoring, and successful launch. Acted as the day-to-day liaison between clients and internal teams, facilitating deliverable reviews/status conversations while fostering clear communication, positive collaboration, goal alignment, and seamless project execution. Drafted and negotiated client, vendor, and freelancer contracts. Owned relationships and logistical project coordination with vendors (voice talent, sound designers, translators).

Worked collaboratively with a publishing team to develop content for children's books and apps. Improved efficiency throughout the publishing process by establishing due dates, keeping detailed records, and negotiating timely turnarounds to ensure that projects stayed on schedule. Day-to-day liaison and brand manager between PIL and children's licensing partners including Sesame Workshop, Nickelodeon, HIT Entertainment, Mattel, DC Comics, DreamWorks Animation SKG, The Jim Henson Company, Kids II, and Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Auditioned + negotiated budgets with outside contributors including illustrators, voice talent, and programmers for digital projects. Established positive, productive working relationships with hired talent. Oversaw the music licensing process by negotiating terms and per-unit rates for projects that included licensed songs or lyrics. Led the development of licensed children’s apps by identifying, communicating, and resolving technical and creative needs. Key collaborator in the research + development of app marketing and social media strategies.

Handled general office responsibilities involving communication, filed/organized financial documents, maintained financial data using Microsoft Excel

Assisted patrons with research by locating specific texts and documents. Photographed works of art for the art collection inventory, organized library archives, and updated inventory using Microsoft Office and FileMaker

Researched new media and specific works of art in the Museum Library, catalogued art pieces/entered information into the Museum System (wrote descriptions, identified related works, provenance, dimensions, signatures, marks, inscriptions, citations)