Where Scrum Masters Still Defend a Strong Rate
Scrum master pricing has a wide spread because the role itself has split. At one end, ceremony-facilitator scrum masters are competing against tooling and PM/EM hybrids who absorb the work; at the other end, senior multi-team scrum masters who genuinely coach teams toward delivery health are paid like engineering managers. Rate positioning depends entirely on which version of the role you actually do.
The premium goes to scrum masters who can run multiple teams, coach on technical agility (CI/CD, trunk-based development, testing pyramids), and partner with product on flow metrics. PSM III, A-CSM, and SAFe Scrum Master credentials help in procurement; demonstrated delivery outcomes matter much more in independent work.