Change & Release Leader (Hybrid)

Halfords Careers; Redditch; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Car allowance

Annual discretionary bonus

Pension

Life assurance

25 days annual leave + bank holidays

Hybrid working

Job summary

Halfords is seeking a Change & Release Manager to lead governance, coordination, and continuous improvement of technology change across the business. You will chair CABs, coordinate releases, and ensure changes are assessed, approved, and communicated with the right balance of control and agility in a retail environment.

In this role you’ll work with Technology and the wider business to remove barriers to delivery, shape change and release practices, and drive meaningful organisational change.

Qualifications

• Significant experience managing Change and Release processes within a large, complex enterprise environment, ideally within retail or another customer-facing organisation.
• Expert understanding of Change Management, Release Management, ITIL, and operational governance principles.
• Proven ability to balance risk management and control with the need to deliver technology change at pace.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to challenge and influence senior leaders when required.
• Experience chairing governance forums and managing competing priorities across multiple teams and programmes.
• A continuous improvement mindset, with a track record of enhancing processes, simplifying governance, and driving better outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the organisation’s Change Management framework, ensuring technology changes are assessed, prioritised and delivered with the right level of governance, control and risk management.
• Coordinate release planning across technology teams, ensuring changes are scheduled effectively to minimise operational risk and service disruption.
• Champion safe, efficient technology delivery by embedding change processes that support modern ways of working while maintaining appropriate operational oversight.
• Lead change governance activities, facilitating advisory forums and ensuring risks, dependencies and operational readiness are clearly understood and managed.
• Provide clear and timely communication of planned changes and releases, giving stakeholders visibility of upcoming activities and potential business impacts.
• Drive operational readiness for technology releases, ensuring new and enhanced capabilities are supported through appropriate testing, validation and cross-functional coordination.

Skills

Change management

Release management

ITIL

Stakeholder management

Governance

Continuous improvement

Job description

Halfords is seeking a Change & Release Manager to lead governance, coordination, and continuous improvement of technology change across the business. You will chair CABs, coordinate releases, and ensure changes are assessed, approved, and communicated with the right balance of control and agility in a retail environment.

In this role you’ll work with Technology and the wider business to remove barriers to delivery, shape change and release practices, and drive meaningful organisational change.