Director Release Engineer

Title: Director Release Engineer Location: Chicago, IL (Onsite) Position: Full-time

Note: Looking For an Independent Visa Holder

Supervisory Responsibilities:
Manage a team

Qualifications:
The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the primary functions.
[Required] 10+ years of previous release and/or project management experience, (Solid understanding of project management principles preferred)
[Required] Expert knowledge of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Agile delivery methods
[Required] Strong collaboration and partnership skills to work with Development, infrastructure, operations and business teams
[Required] Expert experience working in an Agile environment
[Required] Expert troubleshooting skills
[Required] Have a flexible mindset with the ability to change as knowledge and conditions change, whether those changes are technical or business driven
[Required] Willingness to support and execute the current release and deployment model in parallel to developing automation of the processes
[Required] Strong collaboration and partnership skills to work with Development, infrastructure, operations and business teams
[Required] Excellent oral and written communication skills, ability to effectively communicate with all levels of management and the business
[Required] Excellent listening skills

Technical Skills:
[Required] Experience with source control tools such as SVN
[Required] Knowledge of DevOps and automation software such as Harness or similar. Excellent understanding of overall CICD pipelines and implementation.
[Required] Experience with Microsoft Office desktop tools (Word, Excel and Power Point)
[Required] 5+ years of previous Change and Release experience, (solid understanding of SDLC, ITIL and the Change and Release Management cycle)
[Required] Expert knowledge of the ServiceNow platform including the Change and Release modules
[Required] Solid understanding and experience of AWS, cloud computing, middleware and database technologies

Education and/or Experience:
[Required] Bachelor s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science or related field or an equivalent combination of education and work experience
[Preferred] Master s degree
[Required] 15+ years of experience
[Required] Experience in the financial industry
[Required] Expert experience working in an agile environment
[Required] Experience leading a team

Certifications:
ITIL

What you ll do:
This role will direct one or more teams that will work closely and collaboratively with Product Owners, Development, QA, Technical and Business teams to lead a sustainable Change and Release process.
This role will have full responsibility for the release management life cycle, including but not limited to understanding individual and team specific release requirements, ensuring streamlined releases result in cadenced, organized, and successful outcomes.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each primary duty satisfactorily.
Direct one or more team(s) responsible for the establishment, documentation, and maintenance of Change and Release management processes and procedures
Be accountable for the end-to-end release process
Coordinate the scheduling of Change and Releases and maintain the release calendar
Work with technical and business teams to prioritize and scope scheduled releases
Manage risks and resolves issues that affect release scope, schedule and quality
Direct and participate in release meetings
Ensure accurate weekly release reporting
Direct the team(s) responsible for the creation and managing of release branches
Work with development and source code management to understand impacts of branches and code merges
Be accountable for Go-Live activities including the execution of the deployment Plans
Direct automation and the development of scripts and automation tools used to continuously improve the release process
Work with other technical team members to resolve all release related issues
Direct release review/retrospection meetings, gather feedback and ensure improvements are incorporated for future releases
Drive and direct continuous improvement through trend reporting analysis and metrics management |Serve as an advocate for release management, communicating release management processes and procedures throughout the company and assisting teams with adoption
Continually work towards making improvements in the release process
Stay current on trends and regulations to ensure effectiveness and compliance
Other job-related duties as assigned