Release Manager

Why Wyndham?

By joining Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, you will play an integral role in our mission to make hotel travel possible for all. You’ll be part of the largest hotel franchise company in the world, where we strive to deliver the best value to our owners and guests. Most importantly, you’ll be entrusted to live our unique Count on Me culture, set by our core values of integrity, accountability, inclusive, caring and fun. At Wyndham, we provide all team members the opportunity to grow through best-in-class training and career development, leadership training, mentorship opportunities and educational support.  Supporting our team members is a top priority, which is why we offer competitive compensation and benefits, vacation, team member appreciation days, workplace flexibility and much more.  At Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, we value and embrace a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion that supports team members of all backgrounds and experiences. We can’t wait to welcome you!

The Role

The Release Manager is responsible for overseeing the entire software release process, encompassing planning, coordinating development, deployment, scheduling, and controlling the delivery process. The Release Manager must ensure that quality standards are met, risks are mitigated, and effective communication with stakeholders is maintained throughout the release cycle. Acting as the central point of contact for all release-related activities, this role requires a strong understanding of both development and operations to manage the release schedule and guarantee a seamless transition to production. Key responsibilities include planning, testing, tracking, release, deployment, communication, and risk management.

What you'll do

Key responsibilities of a Release Manager:
Release planning:
Creating detailed release plans, including timelines, milestones, dependencies, and resource allocation. 

Stakeholder management:
Communicating release plans and updates to key stakeholders, including development teams, QA, operations, and product management. 

Risk management:
Identifying potential risks throughout the release process and developing mitigation strategies. 

Quality assurance:
Ensuring that releases meet quality standards by coordinating testing activities and monitoring defect resolution. 

Release coordination:
Managing the release process, including scheduling deployments, coordinating handoffs between teams, and resolving release-related issues. 

Release monitoring:
Tracking release progress, identifying potential problems, and managing incidents post-release. 

Communication facilitation:
Acting as a communication bridge between development, operations, and other stakeholders. 

Release documentation:
Maintaining comprehensive release documentation including release notes, change logs, and deployment procedures. 
 

You'll be successful if you have

• Release management skills: Ability to plan, schedule, coordinate, execute, and monitor complex project deliveries
• Strong communication skills: Effectively communicating with technical and non-technical stakeholders 
• Technical knowledge: Understanding of software development lifecycle, deployment processes, and relevant tools 
• Problem-solving skills: Identifying and resolving issues quickly and efficiently 
• Risk management expertise: Proactively identifying and mitigating potential risks 
• Agile methodology knowledge: Familiarity with Agile principles and practices 
• Ability to work under pressure
• Intellectually sharp, capable, and flexible.
• Ability to make incisive and knowledgeable decisions promptly.
• Good verbal and written communication skills
• Good presentation skills
• Good decision-making skills 
• Analytical person at a tactical and functional level.
   

Required Qualifications/Experience

• MS/BS in Computer Science/Information Technology or related field and/or equivalent experience
• 7+ years of release management experience leading production releases of large-scale, complex, multi-team, and long-running projects
• Strong leadership presence and influencing skills
• Able to forge cross-functional partnerships and drive organizational processes, technology portfolio, and operational results
• Strong experience leading multi-site and/or offshore, and contractor resources
• Strong experience working on large-scale, enterprise-wide projects
• Strong experience in SDLC, change management, release management processes, and methodologies
• Strong working experience in Release tools such as Plutora, Cloudbees CDRO
• Strong working experience in Management tools such as Jira and Confluence
• Experience in working with DevOps and Agile methodologies
• Knowledge of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CD/CI) pipelines
• Project management experience
• Team management skills