Job Description
We are seeking a seasoned Senior Release Manager to orchestrate the end-to-end release lifecycle for a high-stakes, multi-year IT transformation program.
In the highly regulated environment of global banking, you won’t just be 'pushing code'; you will be the primary gatekeeper of stability, ensuring that complex deployments across legacy mainframes and modern cloud microservices occur without disrupting critical financial services.
The ideal candidate balances the technical rigor of DevOps with the diplomatic finesse required to manage senior stakeholders, regulatory compliance, and cross-functional dependencies.
Core Responsibilities
- Release Orchestration: Lead the planning, scheduling, and controlling of the software build through different stages and environments, across multiple workstreams (e.g., Core Banking, Payments, Digital Front-end).
- Strategic Planning: Maintain the Integrated Release Calendar, aligning program milestones with the bank’s enterprise-level 'no-fly zones' and peak trading periods.
- Risk & Governance: Conduct rigorous Go/No-Go readiness reviews. Ensure every release meets stringent internal audit standards and external regulatory requirements (e.g., BCBS 239, GDPR, DORA).
- Stakeholder Management: Act as the central point of contact between Development, QA, Infrastructure, and Business Operations. You will translate technical risks into business impact for C-suite updates.
- Environment Management: Coordinate with infrastructure teams to ensure environment availability and data masking compliance for staging and UAT.
- Incident & Post-Release Support: Lead 'Command Center' activities during deployment weekends and facilitate Post-Implementation Reviews (PIRs) to drive continuous improvement.
Technical Skills & Qualifications Requirement Description
Experience 10+ years in Release Management, with at least 3 years in a Tier 1 or 2 Bank.
Methodologies Deep expertise in ITIL v4, Agile (Scrum/SAFe), and traditional Waterfall.
Tech Stack Proficiency with Jira, Confluence, ServiceNow, and CI/CD orchestration tools (Jenkins, GitLab, or Azure DevOps).
Domain Knowledge Familiarity with banking protocols (ISO 20022), payment rails, or trading platforms.
Automation Proven track record of transitioning manual release processes to automated, 'one-click' deployments.
Soft Skills: The 'Banking Blueprint'
- Grace Under Pressure: You can maintain a calm, decisive demeanor when a production deployment hits a snag at 3:00 AM on a Sunday.
- Negotiation: The ability to say 'No' to a high-priority feature if the risk to the bank’s ledger is too high.
- Precision: An obsession with detail—in a bank, a misplaced decimal point or a missed firewall rule can have systemic consequences.