Senior Manager, Release Management

Phaidon International is partnering with a leading global provider of vacation
ownership, rental, and resort experiences, who are known for their vacation club
memberships, timeshare properties, and luxury travel options across a portfolio
of high-end resorts and destinations. With a strong focus on customer service,
they offer flexible vacation solutions such as points-based systems and
exchange programs while operating under multiple well-known hospitality
brands.

They are currently undergoing a technology transformation, with a focus on
modernization to improve relationships with customers and further expand their
accessibility across all experiences and destinations. The goal is to be a
technology leader in hospitality, and they are looking for individuals eager to
bring their expertise to the organization long-term.

Under the new leadership of their CIO, the team has been
reinvigorated and are primed for growth across their entire Global Technology
organization including Engineering & Operations, Data Platforms & Engineering,
Artificial Intelligence, Information Security, Privacy, Infrastructure, Products &
Platforms, Delivery Office, and the Office of the CIO. The business intends to
double it's spending on Technology across the organization for each of the next
3 years. This is your opportunity to be a part of the journey and drive innovation
through technology adoption.

Job Summary

The Senior Manager of Release Management plays a crucial role in ensuring the smooth delivery of all project and production support updates across GT systems. This position collaborates closely with the Project Management Office (PMO), Engineers, and Developers to offer guidance and oversee compliance during the release process for both testing and production environments.

This role's primary responsibility is to guarantee that all releases are well-planned and deployed efficiently into production. This includes creating deployment plans, coordinating with project and production support teams, and ensuring all personnel involved are aligned and well-prepared. By effectively managing the release process, this role enables the seamless integration of changes across multiple functional areas.

The Senior Manager will also work to improve the release candidate lifecycle, streamline processes, and automate build/deployment steps where possible, while ensuring proper notifications are communicated throughout the process.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead complex quantitative and qualitative analysis for business processes and projects.
• Respond to and resolve non-routine product support requests with moderate to significant risk.
• Collaborate across teams to manage deployment releases to controlled environments, including test and production.
• Own individual work while contributing to team, department, and business success.
• Support senior leadership in optimizing product lifecycle processes and providing training to less experienced staff.
• Foster a culture of recognition and celebrate team achievements.
• Contribute to department planning and help achieve results within the established budget and scope.
• Continuously work to improve personal skills and knowledge for better performance.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Specific Expected Contributions

• Ensure all development products and services adhere to the organization's Release Management policies across all business lines.
• Work alongside Change Management and Application Support teams to implement changes during monthly application maintenance releases.
• Evaluate and coordinate release schedules to minimize conflicts and risks.
• Organize and manage urgent change release deployments.
• Ensure the availability of resources necessary for deployments.
• Develop and communicate detailed deployment plans, including validation and production certifications.
• Ensure compliance with standard operating processes (SOPs) related to release management.
• Send out release notifications in a timely manner.
• Address and escalate issues or conflicts to resolution.
• Collect and address any incidents or problems during deployment windows.
• Stay up-to-date with system specifications and documentation.
• Maintain necessary documentation for PCI and SOX audits.
• Assist with SOX quarterly self-assessments and support the SOX audit process.
• Ensure PCI compliance within Release Management.
• Track and support metrics associated with Release Management.
• Help maintain application baselines in test environments through updates to applications, configurations, and databases.
• Regularly review and update Release Management policies to ensure they align with audit requirements.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of new release management tools, and help with updates to existing ones, including systems like Cherwell Service Manager and ALM.
• Provide ongoing support and training to team members to ensure adherence to release management processes.
• Leverage necessary tools for workflow management, version control, and build automation within Change Management, Development Operations, and Quality Assurance teams.