Kiran Kumaar Venkatesan, Project Manager in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
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Kiran Kumaar Venkatesan

Verified Expert  in Project Management

Project Manager

Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Toptal member since January 21, 2025

Expertise
Jira Project ManagementKanban Project ManagementSAFe Project ManagementScrum Master ConsultingAgile Project Management
Bio

Kiran is a results-driven and detail-oriented IT professional with 8+ years of experience in Agile methodologies. He delivers high-quality software solutions and excels at cross-functional team leadership and collaboration. He is a Certified ScrumMaster and an expert in implementing Agile values and principles, fostering teamwork, and removing impediments as a servant leader. Kiran also leverages Agile practices and technical skills to drive innovation and support business growth effectively.

Project Highlights

Verizon MyBusiness
Facilitated Scrum events, ensuring efficient collaboration and progress tracking toward sprint goals, leading to a 30% reduction in meeting durations and increased the focus on value delivery.

Expertise

  • Confluence
  • Jira
  • Slack
  • Sprint Planning
  • Sprint Retrospectives
  • Sprint Reviews
  • Stakeholder communication
  • Team collaboration

Work Experience

Associate Scrum Master

2018 - PRESENT
Cognizant
  • Reduced meeting duration by 30% and increased the focus on value delivery by expertly facilitating Scrum events, ensuring efficient collaboration and progress tracking toward sprint goals.
  • Improved team productivity significantly by implementing Agile and Scrum practices and coaching the scrum team to be self-organized and self-reliable.
  • Ensured a safe work environment where team members were comfortable raising concerns and suggesting improvements.
  • Facilitated stakeholder collaboration to define clear product goals and roadmaps and ensure development efforts aligned with business objectives and customer needs.
  • Managed Jira activities, including board creation, workflows, filters, dashboards, and reports, improving project visibility and reporting capabilities by 15%.

Programmer Analyst

2018 - 2021
Cognizant
  • Planned and maintained test cases in qTest and tracked defects in Jira.
  • Facilitated daily standups for the scrum team to resolve conflicts and achieve sprint goals.
  • Performed cross-browser testing, user-role testing, mobile responsive testing, and API testing using Swagger and Eureka.
  • Supported test data management using Oracle SQL and Jira.
  • Conducted root cause analysis for every sprint using Kibana Logs and ensured a 20% reduction in defect density in consecutive releases.

Software Engineer

2016 - 2018
Eliga
  • Prepared and executed test cases of scope user stories and tracked defects in Jira.
  • Supported the scrum team through the weekly pilot launch in an alt-prod environment.
  • Ensured the application adhered to the UI/UX standards and given SEO guidelines.

Project History

Ezlynx

Executed test cases for user stories, tracked defects in Jira, and supported weekly pilot launches in an alt-prod environment.

I designed and executed test cases of scope user stories, tracked defects in Jira, and supported the scrum team through the weekly pilot launch in an alt-prod environment. I also handled device compatibility and responsive design testing on iPad, iPhone, and desktop and ensured the application adhered to UI/UX standards and SEO guidelines.

Verizon MyBusiness

Facilitated Scrum events, ensuring efficient collaboration and progress tracking toward sprint goals, leading to a 30% reduction in meeting durations and increased the focus on value delivery.

I created a safe work environment where team members could comfortably raise concerns and suggest improvements. Additionally, team productivity significantly improved after I implemented Agile and Scrum practices and coached the scrum team to be self-organized and self-reliable.

Verizon CRM

Managed test cases, tracked defects, led scrum standups, and conducted cross-browser, mobile, and API testing.

I designed and maintained test cases in qTest, tracked defects in Jira, and facilitated daily standups, enabling the scrum team to resolve conflicts and achieve sprint goals on time. I also executed cross-browser testing, user-role testing, mobile responsive testing, and API testing using Swagger and Eureka.

Education

2022 - 2023

High School Diploma in Business Administration

SVKM's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies - Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

2011 - 2015

Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering

Sona College of Technology - Salem, Tamil Nadu, India

Certifications

NOVEMBER 2024 - PRESENT

Enterprise Design Thinking - Team Essentials for AI

IBM

NOVEMBER 2024 - PRESENT

Scrum Foundation Professional Certification - SFPC

Certiprof

AUGUST 2024 - PRESENT

Generative AI Overview for Project Managers

Project Management Institute (PMI)

AUGUST 2024 - PRESENT

JPMorgan Chase & Co. Agile Job Simulation on Forage

Forage

MAY 2024 - PRESENT

AI & Agility: A Comprehensive Introduction

Scrum Alliance Inc.

JANUARY 2024 - JANUARY 2026

Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)

Scrum Alliance Inc.

Skills

Tools

Jira, Slack, Miro, Confluence, Kibana, Trello

Paradigms

Kanban, Scrum, Agile, Design Thinking

Other

Sprint Planning, Sprint Retrospectives, Sprint Reviews, Stakeholder communication, Coaching, Team collaboration, Complex Problem Solving, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), User Stories, Capacity Planning, Continuous Improvement, Backlog Management, Functional Testing, Oracle SQL, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Java, Selenium WebDriver, Engineering, Business Management, Mobile App Testing, Regression Testing, Stakeholder Engagement, Cisco Jabber, Project Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), QA Testing

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