Senior Director - Release Management

Main Purpose

The Senior Director of Release Management will lead the release management function across sectors for TS&ES. This role is responsible for overseeing the planning, scheduling, and coordination of software releases across multiple platforms and environments.

This scope of the role is to lead the global releases for all existing and current enterprise applications (e.g., downtime/cutover planning) for all sectors, (PBNA, PFNA, AMESA/APAC, Europe, LATAM) in TS & ES for SAP.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in release management, strong leadership skills, and a proven track record of managing complex release processes in a fast-paced, global environment. And would have delivery management/governance experience.

He/she will serve as a trusted advisor; builds and maintains relationships with other executives to understand business needs; ensures cost-effective delivery of services to meet those needs, responds with agility to changing business priorities.

Leadership & Strategy:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive release management strategy that aligns with the organizations goals and objectives.
• Lead and mentor a team of release managers, ensuring continuous improvement and professional development.
• Collaborate with senior leadership to define and prioritize release initiatives.
• Continually build and develop critical capabilities and skills necessary to enable workforce effectiveness and recruit/retain top talent.
• Release Planning & Coordination:
• Oversee the end-to-end release process, including planning, scheduling, and coordinating releases across multiple platforms.
• Ensure all releases are delivered on time, within scope, and with high quality.
• Manage risks and resolve issues that affect release scope, schedule, and quality. Escalates issues as appropriate, communicates risks, impacts and potential conflicts of changes for the planned releases.
• The Release Management responsibilities also include building the in working closely with the Sector DSO and Sector Release managers and centralizing view of all releases. Leads the effort of defining the strategic direction for release management tools to ensure the process requirements of release management are built in.
• The Release Manager will assist in managing projects and interdependencies to ensure milestone adherence to ensure the integrity of the release can be measured.
• Forward Plan the release windows and cycles across a portfolio
• Measure and monitor progress to ensure application releases are delivered on time and within budget, and that they meet or exceed expectations.
• Coordinate release content and effort based on the service request backlog, pending service requests, third party applications, or operating system updates.
• Communicate all key project plans, commitments, and changes including requirements, QA plans, schedule, and scope changes.
• Manage relationships and coordinate work between different teams at different locations.
• Conduct Release Readiness reviews, Milestone Reviews, and Business Go/No-Go reviews.
• Weekly Release Reporting
• Communicate release details and schedules to the Business and Sector DSO as required.
• Negotiate, plan and manage all release activities.
• Work with release engineers to understand impacts of branches and code merges.
• Maintains the release schedule for all core services and ensure alignment across key partners and vendors.
• Continually work towards making improvements in the release process
• Lead and co-ordinate the Go-Live activities including the execution of the deployment Plans and checklists.
• Develops scripts and automation tools used to build, integrate, and deploy software releases to various platforms.
• Participate in meetings to discuss release scope and/or roadblocks
• Maintains a release repository and manages key information such as build and release procedures, dependencies, and notification lists.
• Process Improvement:
• Designs and executes global release mgmt. processes and tools.
• Continuously improve release management processes and tools to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
• Implement best practices for release management, including automation and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices.
• Monitor and report on release metrics to drive improvements and ensure alignment with business objectives.
• Manages and ensures adherences to Service mgmt. Standards

Stakeholder Management:

• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders,
• Communicate release plans, status, and issues to stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Ensure alignment between release management and other business functions.
• Creates a sense of purpose/meaning for the team that generates followership beyond their own personality and engages others to the greater purpose for the entire organization.

Qualifications:

• Education & Experience:
• Bachelors degree in computer science, Information Technology, or a related field (masters degree preferred).
• Overall 20+ years of experience in IT, with a focus on release management roles. With at least 10+ years of experience in release management, and at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Strong leadership skills with experience in managing cross-functional teams and external vendors.
• Proven experience managing complex release processes in a global organization.
• Formal training in project management practices preferred.
• Advanced knowledge of software development lifecycle
• Demonstrated effective leadership and analytical skills.
• With strong communication and organizational skills with the ability to deal with ambiguity while juggling multiple priorities and projects at the same time. Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholder.
• Advanced written and verbal communication skills are a must.

Skills & Competencies:

• Strong leadership and experience in managing global teams.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Deep understanding of release management processes and best practices.
• Experience with release management tools and technologies, including CI/CD pipelines. And ChARm etc
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong financial management experience with proven ability to manage annual budget.