Release Manager – Senior

POSITION: Release Manager – Senior 
DURATION: 6 months
LOCATION: 4100 Gordon Baker Road flex with 120 Bloor
 

LOB: T&O
START DATE: ASAP

EXTENSION: possibly
FTE: high possibility
HOURS: business hours – may have sched weekend work
OVERTIME: not likely

Dress Code: DFYD

INTERVIEW DETAILS: 2 rounds
INTERVIEW AVAILABILITY (DATE/TIME): This Friday
WHAT TYPE OF INTERVIEW WILL THIS BE?: in person
INTERVIEWERS: HM and then director

GROUP/PROJECT INFO:
Do you have experience running high profile implementations of multiple projects in an integrated fashion? Are you an excellent communicator, have the ability to deal with conflicting priorities, and have experience finalizing integrated implementation plans and running playbooks?

Enterprise release management as part of T&O

CULTURE:
This is dynamic environment that is both collaborative and requires head down, independent work. The group is very diverse and very tight knit.

EVP (Employee Value proposition):
This group is very diverse and supports a diverse range of clientele.

RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE (but are not limited to):
• Facilitating cross-department coordination of release management functions, including running high profile implementations of multiple projects in an integrated fashion
• Managing complexity across business value, technology, and interaction models.
• Possessing a deep understanding and problem solving ability of IT of various scale, degree and dimension of complexity
• Anticipates and reduces complexity for others.
• Liaises with stakeholders to understand problems and opportunities, and recommends solutions to enable the organization to meet its goals
• Analyzing data and creates documents and plans in service of informing, advising, or updating stakeholders
• Tracking an enterprise-wide release calendar
• Measuring release cadence and effectiveness using common metrics across the entire portfolio
• Recommending approaches to streamline and integrate technological processes in the organization to improve overall efficiency
• Supporting the execution of key improvement initiatives using data-driven insights to deliver positive financial and customer outcomes.
• Developing, recommending and employing productivity aids in all aspects of assignments to accelerate delivery.
• Understanding the scope of complexity that exists across business value, technology, and interaction models.
• Identifying opportunities to strengthen the capability at, such as: sharing expertise to promote technical development, mentoring employees, building communities of practice and networks across technology.
• Staying abreast of industry technical and business trends through participation in professional associations, practice communities & individual learning

Also contributing to:
• Development of common strategies for release governance across multiple departments.
• Consistent release management processes.
• Common standards and formats for release playbooks and standardizing release decision-making.
• Common mechanisms for rollback and standards for capturing release-related performance indicators.

TOP SKILLS / EXPERIENCE:
• Needs to interface and communicate with project managers, test managers, development managers, IT operations, on a regular basis from initial planning through deployment.
• Must have the confidence to manage up and provide reporting as well as meeting updates to senior IT management and line of business.
• 6+ Release management exp (should have ServiceNow experience or equivalent)
• Illustrates solid leadership skills
• Is self-motivated, goal-oriented, and customer-service oriented.
• Displays the ability to prioritize effectively and multi-task
• Excellent attention to detail with a high level of accuracy
• Ability to understand complexity in environments and potential for cross impact
• Good analytical skills
• Works well in team environment and on their own
• Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office suite 2010 or higher

NICE TO HAVE SKILLS/EXPERIENCE:
• Knowledge of ITIL best practices and processes would be an asset
• FI Experience is a strong preference
• High level Software Development Life Cycle
• High Level Application Life Cycle

SOFT SKILLS:
• Possesses advanced verbal and written communication skills
• Possesses solid interpersonal skills
• Possesses advanced problem solving and analytical skills
• Possesses strong ability to negotiate and resolve conflicting issues

EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS:
• Undergraduate degree or college diploma in IT or related field
• ITIL certification is a nice to have