Description:
The IT Release Manager is responsible for managing, planning, and coordinating the deployment of software releases across the organization’s digital banking or financial services platforms. This role ensures that product updates, new features, and compliance patches are delivered safely, efficiently, and in line with financial regulations. This role will work closely with engineering, DevOps, QA, cybersecurity, and compliance teams to ensure releases meet both technical and regulatory standards, while minimizing risk to production systems.
How You’ll Make an Impact:
Release Planning & Governance
- Develop and maintain a release calendar aligned with business goals and compliance deadlines.
- Oversee end-to-end release lifecycle, from code integration to production deployment.
- Ensure all releases comply with SOC 2, ISO 27001, and relevant financial regulations.
- Conduct risk and impact assessments before each release.
- Coordinate go/no-go meetings (CAB) with product, QA, compliance, and operations stakeholders.
Execution & Delivery
- Supervise build, test, and deployment processes across multiple environments (staging, UAT, production).
- Supervise the creation and maintenance of automated CI/CD pipelines and enforce version control policies (e.g., Git Flow).
- Ensure zero-downtime or low-impact releases in high-availability systems.
- Establish rollback and recovery strategies for production issues.
Compliance & Security Oversight
- Collaborate with Information Security and Compliance teams to validate releases meet data protection and privacy standards (e.g., GDPR, PSD2, FINTRAC).
- Maintain audit-ready documentation of release activities.
- Support internal and external audits with detailed release and change records.
Continuous Improvement
- Drive automation, standardization, and observability within the release process.
- Conduct post-release reviews (retrospectives) to identify process and tooling improvements.
- Contribute to DevSecOps maturity initiatives.
Stakeholder Communication
- Act as the central liaison between product owners, development teams, and compliance officers.
- Communicate release scope, timelines, and risks clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Provide regular status reports and KPIs to senior management.
What You Bring:
- CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitLab CI, Azure DevOps).
- Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure).
- Containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Scripting languages (Python, Bash).
- Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Ansible).
Education + Experience
- 5–8 years in Release Management, DevOps, or Software Delivery within financial services or fintech.
- Experience managing releases for real-time transaction systems, mobile banking, or payment gateways.
- Familiarity with regulatory reporting and compliance change processes.