Release Manager

As a Release Manager within the Digital Data & Cloud Organization (DDCO) you will lead the planning coordination and governance of software releases across multiple product teams and applications. Your role will be pivotal in ensuring releases are prioritized compliant and delivered successfully while minimizing operational risk and business disruption.

You will work closely with Scrum Masters Delivery Leads Product Owners Engineering Leads QA teams and Change Advisory Boards (CAB) to manage release schedules resolve cross-team dependencies secure required approvals and maintain deployment readiness. You will establish and enforce release governance standards oversee change management processes maintain release checklists and provide leadership visibility into release risks delays and deployment outcomes.

Collaborating with business stakeholders and global leadership you will help drive operational excellence through predictable well-governed release execution while fostering continuous improvement across release and change management practices.

This position will align within ICC and report to the DDCO Delivery Lead for strategic direction and day-to-day management.

How you will contribute:

• Lead the planning coordination and execution of releases across multiple product teams and applications.

• Own and maintain the enterprise release calendar ensuring alignment of priorities schedules and deployment windows.

• Partner with Scrum Masters Product Owners Engineering Leads and QA teams to identify and resolve release dependencies conflicts and risks.

• Establish and enforce release governance processes release readiness reviews and deployment checklists to ensure high-quality and compliant releases.

• Coordinate with Change Advisory Board (CAB) and Change Management teams to secure required approvals and ensure adherence to organizational policies and procedures.

• Provide proactive communication to stakeholders and leadership on release status risks escalations and deployment outcomes.

• Drive continuous improvement of release and change management processes to improve release predictability efficiency and operational stability.

• Accountable for closure of continuous improvements identified from MIM & Problems.

• Facilitate post-release reviews capture lessons learned and implement process enhancements to improve future delivery outcomes.

• Ensure release activities are executed with minimal business disruption while maintaining compliance security and operational excellence standards.

Minimum Requirements/Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Technology Software Engineering Business Information Systems or a related field . Masters degree in a similar discipline is a plus.

• 710 years of professional experience in Release Management IT Service Management Program Delivery Project Management or related disciplines.

• Proven experience managing enterprise-scale releases across multiple applications product teams and technology platforms.

• Strong understanding of Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Agile Scrum DevOps and Release Management best practices.

• Hands-on experience with Change Management processes CAB (Change Advisory Board) governance release approvals deployment planning and production release coordination.

• Experience using enterprise delivery and ITSM tools such as ServiceNow Azure DevOps Jira Confluence or similar platforms.

• Strong understanding of risk management dependency management release readiness assessments rollback planning and deployment governance.

• Experience coordinating cross-functional teams including Product Owners Scrum Masters Engineering Leads QA teams Infrastructure teams and business stakeholders.

• Proven ability to identify manage and resolve release conflicts deployment risks and scheduling challenges across multiple concurrent initiatives.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to make data-driven decisions in high-pressure release environments.

• Excellent communication stakeholder management and executive reporting skills with the ability to effectively communicate release status risks and mitigation plans to leadership.

• Knowledge of ITIL practices and experience working in regulated and compliance-driven environments is highly desirable.

• Ability to establish and continuously improve release governance processes operational procedures and delivery standards to drive release predictability and operational excellence.

• Understanding of regulated environments such as Life Sciences Healthcare Pharmaceutical or GxP-compliant organizations.

Preferred requirements:

• ITIL Foundation SAFe Scrum Master PMP or other relevant certifications in Release Change or Project Management.

• Experience working in large-scale global organizations supporting multiple product teams applications and technology platforms.

• Knowledge of DevOps CI/CD pipelines cloud technologies (Azure/AWS) and modern release automation practices.

• Strong ability to drive process improvements influence stakeholders and establish scalable release governance frameworks across the portfolio.

BENEFITS:

It is our priority to provide competitive compensation and a benefit package that bridges your personal life with your professional career. Amongst our benefits are:

• Competitive Salary Performance Annual Bonus
• Flexible work environment including hybrid working
• Comprehensive Healthcare Insurance Plans for self spouse and children
• Group Term Life Insurance and Group Accident Insurance programs
• Employee Assistance Program
• Broad Variety of learning platforms
• Diversity Equity and Inclusion Programs
• Reimbursements Home Internet & Mobile Phone
• Employee Referral Program
• Leaves Paternity Leave (4 Weeks) Maternity Leave (up to 26 weeks) Bereavement Leave (5 calendar days)

ABOUT ICC IN TAKEDA:

• Takeda is leading a digital revolution. Were not just transforming our company; were improving the lives of millions of patients who rely on our medicines every day.
• As an organization we are committed to our cloud-driven business transformation and believe the ICCs are the catalysts of change for our global organization.

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