Sr. Release Manager

Release Manager – RQ00793 6 month contract 3 days onsite Downtown TO (direct Subway Access) Must Haves: Minimum 10 years of experience in IT Service Management, Release Management, Change Management, Project Delivery, or related disciplines. Experience developing enterprise-wide governance frameworks, operating models, standards, procedures, and service management processes. Demonstrated experience establishing or maturing Release Management practices within large, complex public-sector or enterprise organizations. Ability to analyze existing processes, identify gaps, and develop practical recommendations for process standardization and continuous improvement. Knowledge of software development and deployment lifecycles, including CI/CD, DevOps, Agile delivery, and operational support models. Qualifications and Experience: • Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, or related field. • Minimum 10 years of experience in IT Service Management, Release Management, Change Management, Project Delivery, or related disciplines. • Demonstrated experience establishing or maturing Release Management practices within large, complex public-sector or enterprise organizations. • Proven experience working across multiple business units and technology teams with varying delivery methodologies, governance models, and operational processes. • Experience developing enterprise-wide governance frameworks, operating models, standards, procedures, and service management processes. • Strong understanding of technology delivery lifecycles, including Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid, DevOps, and operational change practices. • Experience facilitating stakeholder workshops, process assessments, and consensus-building activities with diverse groups. • Proven ability to influence stakeholders and drive process adoption in environments with limited standardization. • Experience creating executive-level reports, dashboards, presentations, and governance materials. • Excellent verbal and written communication, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement skills. • Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively within cross-functional teams. Technical Capabilities: • Strong knowledge of ITIL principles and service management best practices, including Release Management, Change Management, Incident Management, Problem Management, Configuration Management, and Service Request Management. • Experience designing and implementing release governance, release planning, deployment coordination, dependency management, and risk management processes. • Knowledge of software development and deployment lifecycles, including CI/CD, DevOps, Agile delivery, and operational support models. • Experience working with enterprise service management and project delivery tools such as ServiceNow, Jira, Azure DevOps, or equivalent platforms. • Ability to analyze existing processes, identify gaps, and develop practical recommendations for process standardization and continuous improvement. • Experience developing metrics and reporting frameworks to measure release performance, process compliance, operational effectiveness, and service quality Deliverables • Develop and implement a standardized enterprise Release Management framework, including governance, processes, procedures, roles, and responsibilities. • Produce Release Management templates, intake forms, release plans, deployment checklists, governance artifacts, and supporting documentation. • Establish an enterprise release calendar, release governance model, risk management approach, and release reporting framework. • Conduct assessments of current release practices and provide recommendations and implementation plans for process improvements. • Develop training materials, knowledge transfer documentation, and guidance to support organizational adoption of Release Management practices. • Deliver regular status reports, performance metrics, and recommendations to leadership to support continuous improvement and long-term operational sustainability. The Release Manager will: ·        Develop, implement, and operationalize a standardized Release Management framework, processes, procedures, templates, and governance controls. ·        Assess current-state release and deployment practices across multiple business and technology teams and recommend improvements to achieve consistency and compliance. ·        Collaborate with project, product, operations, infrastructure, and vendor teams to establish release planning, coordination, scheduling, risk management, and deployment practices. ·        Facilitate release governance activities, including release assessments, release calendars, dependency management, risk reviews, approval processes, and deployment readiness reviews. ·        Define and implement release metrics, dashboards, reporting, and performance measures to support operational transparency and continuous improvement. ·        Develop and maintain release management artifacts, including intake processes, release plans, deployment checklists, governance documentation, and operating procedures. ·        Provide guidance, coaching, and training to project and operational teams on Release Management processes, roles, responsibilities, and best practices. ·        Work closely with Change Management, Project Management, Service Management, and technical teams to align release activities with organizational objectives and service delivery requirements.