What Is an Agile Coach? And How to Become One

An Agile coach is a project management professional who helps scale Agile practices across a team or organization. By aligning teams or organizations with Agile values and concepts, Agile coaches enable them to be more flexible, transparent, and efficient. Agile coaches do this by introducing Agile methods and encouraging a culture and mentality shift in the workplace. Learn more about what Agile coaches do and the steps you can take to become one.

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Agile coach jobs: What does an Agile coach do?

An Agile coach helps teams and organizations adopt Agile practices. Take a look at the day-to-day tasks an Agile coach might find themselves doing:

• Plan and design the adoption of Agile across multiple teams.

• Provide training sessions on Agile frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe.

• Foster a culture of openness and psychological safety.

• Coach leaders (such as Scrum Masters, product owners, and executives) on Agile leadership practices.

• Develop an operating model or roadmap for future Agile practices.

• Lead as a role model for Agile values.

Agile coaching salary: How much Agile coaches make

In the US, an Agile coach makes a median total salary of $181,000. Reported salaries begin at roughly $149,000 and go up to $223,000 [1].

Compare this with the average annual median total salaries of similar roles:

• Scrum Master: $125,000 [2]

• Senior Scrum Master: $160,000 [3]

• Senior Agile coach: $197,000 [4]

• Enterprise Agile coach: $213,000 [5]

• Agile project manager: $138,000 [6]

• Project manager: $105,000 [7]

All salary information represents the median total pay from Glassdoor as of September 2025. These figures include base salary and additional pay, which may represent profit-sharing, commissions, bonuses, or other compensation.

How to become an Agile coach

1. Pursue Agile coach training and build Agile coaching skills.

Agile coaches often request a few key skills. These include:

• Agile and Agile frameworks: An in-depth understanding of Agile and its various frameworks will be critical in being an effective Agile coach. Common frameworks include Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe; knowledge of XP and Lean is also occasionally requested. Know what distinguishes one, the values that drive each approach, and how to apply them in a real setting.

• Communication: As an Agile coach, you’ll train other leaders and encourage entire teams or organizations to change their thinking and entrenched work habits. Knowing how to communicate effectively as a coach doesn’t stop at being able to express yourself well—it means knowing how to persuade, negotiate, inspire, and resolve conflict.

• Project management tools: You’ll need to know how to use project management tools and software enough to explain to others how to use them. These might include tools used broadly in project management, like RACI charts, burndown charts, and Gantt charts. You might use tools specific to Agile frameworks, like Kanban boards, wikis, or bug trackers.

You’ll also find several books, podcasts, and online resources to help you learn Agile and Agile scaling.

Read more: 12 Key Project Management Skills

2. Gain Agile project management experience.

Job descriptions often ask for experience in diverse Agile environments, and employers prefer those with coaching experience. Building up your resume on these fronts will put you in a good position to compete for Agile coaching jobs. You can do this in a few different ways:

• Work as a Scrum Master: Many job descriptions count experience as a Scrum Master as coaching experience. Because Scrum is the most commonly used Agile framework—63 percent of Agile adopters use Scrum or a Scrum-based hybrid according to a 2023 survey [8]—your work as an Agile coach will likely require some knowledge of Scrum methodology. Being a Scrum Master can act as an avenue to Agile coaching. If you need more clarity around how to get there, discover what it takes to become a Scrum Master.

• Work on an Agile team: As an Agile coach, you’ll want to be as familiar with how Agile works on different teams. Familiarity with Scrum will be crucial, but knowledge of other methodologies will also be useful. Try gaining exposure to Kanban, XP, and Lean methodologies, and participate in scaling Scrum or Agile practices if possible.

3. Get an Agile coach certification.

Agile coach certifications can help you become more competitive in the job market and signal to employers that you have a baseline of knowledge expected of professionals. Studying for and getting the certification can also help you learn about Agile coaching and gain new skills. 

The following certifications are commonly requested in job descriptions:

• SAFe Practitioner (SP)

• SAFe Practitioner Consultant (SPC)

• SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT)

• PMI-Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)

• ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Coaching Certification (ICP-ACC)

• ICAgile Certified Expert in Agile Coaching Certification (ICE-AC)

You can also consider getting a Scrum Master certification. Many Agile positions require you to have experience as a Scrum Master or with scaling Scrum.

• Certified Scrum Master (CSM)

• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)

• Professional Scrum Master (PSM)

• Certified Scrum Professional ScrumMaster (CSP-SM)

• Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS)

• Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach (CEC)

• Scrum@Scale

You can read through a few job descriptions to see which certifications are in demand for the type of job you want.

Is Agile coach certification worth it?

An Agile coach certification can be a valuable credential when you are looking to start a career or build on your Agile expertise. With many companies integrating Agile into their practices, you’ll be able to demonstrate in-demand knowledge and coaching skills. Additionally, you can gain leadership practice, and many certification programs offer access to a networking community where you can share ideas and find even more educational opportunities.

Begin your journey toward becoming an Agile coach with free online career resources

Explore your options for learning and career growth with Coursera’s Career Resource Hub. This curated selection of free tools can help you choose your career path, connect with learning opportunities, and begin building the skills and knowledge you need. You can also help grow your Agile coaching career with resources like:

• Find your professional path: Career Test: What Career is Right for Me Quiz

• Watch on YouTube: 5 Powerful Leadership Skills to Start Building Today or 3 Essential Scrum Roles: Who Does What?

• Subscribe to answer career questions: Career Chat on LinkedIn

You can also embark on upskilling and continual learning at your own pace while earning resume-boosting credentials with Coursera Plus. You can choose between a monthly or annual subscription, both of which grant you access to more than 10,000 flexible programs from more than 170 industry leaders. 

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