Change & Release Analyst

Sword Group; Aberdeen City; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Career development

Flexible working

Private health insurance

Job summary

Sword is seeking an experienced Change & Release Manager to lead and evolve change processes for critical business applications. You will engage stakeholders, manage the CAB, and drive automation while ensuring robust planning, testing, and communications across IS functions.

The role may involve on-call duties and occasional travel. Ideal candidates will have ITIL Practitioner or higher, strong communication, and a proven ability to balance project demands with service stability in complex

Qualifications

• ITIL Change and Release mgmt experience; Practitioner level or above desirable.
• Strong change and release management principles and practices in IS context.
• Excellent communication; able to influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Analytical/problem-solving abilities to identify and resolve issues.
• Team-oriented with willingness to support others.
• Adaptable and flexible to manage multiple initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Maintain and developChange and Release management processes and governance.
• Balance project/program needs with stableService for critical applications.
• Engage with stakeholders to review change requests; act as escalation point.
• Coordinate with third parties to meet delivery expectations.
• Manage CAB schedule and governance; ensure fit-for-purpose processes.
• Measure and improve metrics (SLAs, KPIs, OKRs) for change and release.
• Pursue automation to speed decision-making and reduce errors.
• Promote CI/CD principles within IS change and release practices.
• Ensure proper planning, regression testing, and communications for changes.
• Consider health and safety and regulatory compliance in change activities.
• Document change activities and share best practices within IS.
• Chair and participate in Change & Release Governance Group.
• Benchmark process maturity and drive service improvements.
• May provide on-call rota support; occasional travel.

Skills

ITIL Change & Release

Stakeholder Engagement

Communication

Analytical Thinking

Problem-Solving

Team Player

Out-of-hours Support

Travel Flexibility

Education

ITIL Practitioner or higher

Bachelor's degree in IS/IT

Tools

ITSM tools

Job description

Sword is a leading provider of business technology solutions within the Energy, Public and Finance Sectors, dedicated to driving transformational change for our clients. We leverage proven technology, specialist teams, and extensive domain expertise to create robust technical foundations across platforms, data, and business applications. Our mission is fueled by a passion for technology as a means to solve complex business problems and achieve our clients' objectives.

About the Role:

• Accountable for change and release management process maintenance and development.
• Balancing the need of projects and programmes with ongoing stability of service for critical business applications, systems, and services.
• Actively engage with stakeholders across the organisation to review requests for change, operate as a point of interaction and escalation for information requests, outages, and root cause analysis.
• Interact with third parties as needed to ensure delivery expectations are being met in alignment with process.
• Manage and maintain the Change Approval Board (CAB) schedule and cadence to ensure it remains fit for purpose
• Continuously evaluates the performance of change and release, including the use of metrics such as SLAs, Key Performance Indicators, Outcome Driven Metrics and Objectives and Key Results.
• Pursue opportunities to increase automation and standardisation of change processes to reduce human effort and errors and increase the speed of decision making through workflows.
• Promote and support Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment (CICD) principles within the change and release management practices, enabling the IS function to respond quickly to evolving business and technology landscapes.
• Ensure all change has completed the required level of planning, including appropriate regression planning, testing and communications.
• Ensure that change management activities consider health and safety implications, complying with all relevant regulations and company policies.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation of change management activities and share best practices within the IS function.
• Chair and participate in the Change & Release Governance Group as required
• Ensure the process maturity of the change management process is benchmarked and adoption of (and commitment towards) service improvements aligned to a continuous improvement plan.
• May be required to provide out-of-hours support via an on-call rota duty manager rota.
• Occasional travel to other locations may be required.

Critical Skills:

• Relevant Experience: ITIL change and release management experience with a background in tailoring operating models, preferably within information systems or technology functions, in the oil and gas industry or similar complex environments. A recognised ITIL certification at Practitioner level or above is highly desirable.
• Change Management Expertise: Strong understanding of change and release management principles, ethodologies, and tools, with the ability to apply them in an IS context.
• Communication Skills: Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to analyse situations, identify potential problems, and develop effective solutions.
• Good team player: willingness to assist others and share expertise.
• Adaptability and Flexibility: High level of adaptability and flexibility, capable of managing multiple initiatives in a fast-paced and changing environment.

At Sword, our core values and culture are based on caring about our people, investing in training and career development, and building inclusive teams where we are all encouraged to contribute to achieve success.We offer comprehensive benefits designed to support your professional development and enhance your overall quality of life. In addition to a Competitive Salary, here's what you can expect as part of our benefits package:

• Personalised Career Development: We create a development plan customised to your goals and aspirations, with a range of learning and development opportunities within a culture that encourages growth.
• Flexible working: Flexible work arrangements to support your work-life balance. We can’t promise to always be able to meet every request, however, are keen to discuss your individual preferences to make it work where we can.
• A Fantastic Benefits Package: This includes generous annual leave allowance, enhanced family friendly benefits, pension scheme, access to private health, well-being, and insurance schemes.

At Sword we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer, ensuring that all applicants receive fair and equal consideration for employment, regardless of whether they meet every requirement. We embrace diversity in all its forms, valuing individuals regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity status, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. Your perspective and potential are important to us.