IT Release Specialist

Summary

The IT Release Specialist is responsible for developing, managing, and maintaining a structured release strategy that aligns with business objectives, ensuring smooth deployments, adherence to governance standards, and enhanced communication across teams.

Main Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a structured, repeatable release strategy aligned with business objectives.
• Create and manage release calendars, timelines, and windows for predictability and coordination.
• Coordinate release activities across development, QA, operations, and business teams.
• Ensure compliance with governance, change control, and ITIL risk management practices.
• Conduct release readiness checks, including validation and risk assessment.
• Ensure all release components are fully tested and validated for system stability.
• Define, document, and standardize release processes, roles, and responsibilities.
• Implement and enhance automation with CI/CD pipelines and version control.
• Oversee deployment execution across environments for compliant releases.
• Apply progressive rollouts and feature flags to mitigate risks.
• Track key release metrics such as deployment frequency and failure rates.
• Monitor real-time release performance and address issues impacting user experience.
• Communicate release scope, risks, and post-deployment outcomes to stakeholders.
• Manage expectations on release prioritization, capacity, and commitments.
• Lead post-release reviews to capture lessons learned and implement process improvements.
• Maintain feedback loops to enhance reliability and improve release predictability.

Key Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field.
• ITIL Certification (Foundation or higher).
• Strong understanding of ITIL processes, DevOps practices, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with release management tools (ServiceNow, Jira, Azure DevOps).
• Excellent communication, coordination, and problem-solving skills.
• Experience in cloud environments (AWS, Azure).

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of Agile and Waterfall methodologies.
• Attention to detail and strong organizational skills.
• Ability to influence and collaborate across teams.
• Proactive approach to risk identification and mitigation.

Other Details

Team Structure: Liaison between development, QA, operations, and business stakeholders. Context: Handling multiple releases and ensuring adherence to governance.