Lead Change and Release Manager

The Lead Change & Release Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and governing software releases and production change activity across JetBlue’s technology organization. This role ensures technology changes are sequenced safely, communicated effectively, and executed with minimal disruption to JetBlue’s customer and crewmember experiences. Operating as “Production Air Traffic Control,” this role serves as the central point of visibility for enterprise release activity, aligning Engineering, Infrastructure, Product, and Operational stakeholders to support production readiness, risk-based decision-making, and operational stability. This role is not responsible for deploying builds or managing CI/CD pipelines. Reporting to the Senior Manager, Technology Change & Release Management, this role partners closely with Technology leadership and delivery teams to improve release predictability, strengthen Change governance, drive organizational adoption of Release Management standards, and support the continued evolution of JetBlue’s Change & Release Management Center of Excellence. Essential Responsibilities:

• Manage the enterprise release calendar, deployment windows, and production change schedule to support operational stability and business priorities
• Coordinate release planning and production change activity across technology and operational teams to ensure visibility, alignment, and production readiness
• Identify and manage cross-team dependencies, operational risks, and scheduling conflicts associated with production releases
• Sequence and coordinate technology changes to minimize customer impact and reduce operational risk across production environments
• Serve as the central coordination point for enterprise release activity, ensuring alignment between technology changes, operational priorities, and business events
• Ensure production releases meet established readiness standards, including implementation planning, rollback preparedness, validation activities, and support coordination
• Support risk-based release decision-making during operational events, production instability, or elevated risk periods
• Facilitate communication and coordination across stakeholders during release execution, operational events, and release escalations
• Maintain release management documentation, reporting, and enterprise release visibility artifacts
• Provide leadership visibility into release schedules, production risks, operational constraints, and deployment readiness
• Track and analyze release management metrics and trends to improve release predictability, operational stability, and governance effectiveness
• Drive adoption of enterprise change and release management standards across technology teams
• Identify opportunities to improve release management processes, operational transparency, and cross-team coordination
• Other duties as assigned

Do you have experience in Stakeholder relationship building?, Do you have a High school diploma or GED?, * Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field; OR demonstrated capability to perform job responsibilities with a High School Diploma/GED and at least four (4) years of previous relevant work experience

• Five (5) years of related experience in release management, technology delivery, production operations, enterprise application support, or related technology functions
• Experience coordinating production releases or technology change activity across multiple systems and teams
• Experience working within Agile or modern software delivery environments
• Familiarity with ITIL Change and Release Management processes and terminology
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to work across technical and non-technical teams
• Demonstrated ability to manage operational risk, cross-team dependencies, and competing priorities in complex environments
• Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills
• Available for occasional overnight travel (10%)
• Must pass a pre-employment drug test
• Must be legally eligible to work in the country in which the position is located
• Authorization to work in the US is required, this position is not eligible for visa sponsorship

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

• Experience coordinating enterprise release calendars, production deployment schedules, or large-scale cross-functional initiatives
• Experience working in high-availability, customer-facing production environments
• Familiarity with enterprise change governance, operational readiness, or production risk management practices
• Proficiency with tools such as Jira, Confluence, ServiceNow, and/or Jira Service Management for Change & Release Management
• Experience supporting or improving release management tooling, workflows, or operational reporting processes
• Strong interpersonal and influencing skills with the ability to drive alignment across multiple teams and stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives, build stakeholder alignment, and drive coordinated execution across multiple teams and business areas
• Familiarity with Agile software delivery practices and modern release management workflows
• Experience supporting operationally sensitive or highly regulated environments such as airline, transportation, financial services, or similar industries
• Ability to tailor communication to both technical and non-technical audiences

Crewmember Expectations:

• Regular attendance and punctuality
• Potential need to work flexible hours and be available to respond on short-notice
• Able to maintain a professional appearance
• When working or traveling on JetBlue flights, and if time permits, all capable crewmembers are asked to assist with light cleaning of the aircraft
• Must be an appropriate organizational fit for the JetBlue culture, that is, exhibit the JetBlue values of Safety, Caring, Integrity, Passion and Fun
• Promote JetBlue’s #1 value of safety as a Safety Ambassador, supporting JetBlue’s Safety Management System (SMS) components, Safety Policy and behavioral standards
• Identify safety and/or security concerns, issues, incidents or hazards that should be reported and report them whenever possible and by any means necessary including JetBlue’s confidential reporting systems (Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) or Safety Action Report (SAR))
• The use of ChatGPT or any other automated tool during the interview process will disqualify a candidate from being considered for the position.

Equipment:

• Computer and other office equipment

3.93.9 out of 5 stars Long Island City, NY 11101 Hybrid work $118,800 - $177,100 a year, Pulled from the full job description

• Employee stock purchase plan
• Health insurance
• 401(k) matching
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• RSU, * The base pay range for this position is between $118,800 and $177,100 per year. Base pay is one component of JetBlue’s total compensation package, which may also include performance bonuses, restricted stock units, as well as access to healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan and company match, crewmember stock purchase plan, short-term and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, free space available travel on JetBlue, and more.