Project/Program Manager IT 5

Job Description: The IT Release Manager plans, coordinates, and executes software releases across multiple teams and environments, managing the delivery process from development and testing through production deployment. This role requires 5-7 years of relevant experience and a strong background in release coordination, CI/CD, SDLC, risk management, and cross-functional communication. The Release Manager works closely with development, cybersecurity, QA, operations, product owners, Scrum Masters, and business stakeholders to ensure releases meet quality, compliance, readiness, and business requirements., * Plan and coordinate release schedules, deployment calendars, milestones, and dependencies across multiple development teams and product lines.

• Manage release pipelines, deployment automation, and environment coordination.
• Serve as a central point of coordination across development, cybersecurity, QA, operations, product owners, infrastructure, and business teams.
• Validate release readiness, including security, testing, change-management, approval, and quality gates.
• Prepare upcoming changes for CAB or other applicable governance reviews.
• Identify release blockers, assign ownership, drive resolution, and escalate issues that may affect release dates.
• Confirm deployment, rollback, contingency, runbook, and communication plans before releases.
• Provide leadership and stakeholders with concise updates on release status, risks, decisions, and schedule impacts.
• Monitor deployments and coordinate decisions when a release must be delayed, stopped, or rolled back.
• Ensure appropriate technical teams are engaged when deployment issues arise and coordinate incident response as needed.
• Confirm release completion, document follow-up items, and facilitate post-release reviews or retrospectives when needed.
• Track release metrics and recurring issues to improve schedules, checklists, governance, documentation, processes, and team handoffs.
• Gather, clarify, refine, and document business requirements to maintain stakeholder alignment and improve delivery outcomes.
• Ensure releases comply with applicable organizational policies and regulatory requirements., * Coordinate complex software releases that span development, cybersecurity, QA, operations, infrastructure, and business teams.
• Work directly with team leads, product owners, Scrum Masters, technical teams, and business stakeholders.
• Contribute to meaningful process improvements across release schedules, governance, documentation, and cross-team handoffs.
• Gain broad exposure to release management activities spanning planning, readiness assessment, deployment, risk management, incident response, and post-release review.

Work Environment

• 100% onsite in Irving, TX.
• Monday through Friday, 1st shift.
• Potential travel of 0-25%, including travel to the Peoria location.
• Collaborative environment involving leads, product owners, Scrum Masters, development, cybersecurity, QA, operations, infrastructure, and business stakeholders.

• 5-7 years of experience working in this capacity; no degree is required.
• One or more of the following certifications: ITIL 4 Foundation, ITIL 4 Practitioner: Release Management, PMP, CAPM, or CSM.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to bridge technical and business teams and maintain alignment on release schedules, risks, and impacts.
• Project management experience coordinating release calendars, dependencies, runbooks, and deployment schedules.
• Risk management experience identifying blockers and deployment risks, managing issues, and ensuring effective rollback plans are established.
• Experience with CI/CD and automated build, testing, and deployment pipelines.
• Strong knowledge of SDLC, software testing, Git, and release/version management.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms and Infrastructure-as-Code tools supporting consistent environments.
• High attention to detail, strong organizational management skills, and the ability to hold stakeholders accountable.
• Must be a local candidate able to work onsite in Irving, TX., * Bachelor’s degree.