HR Systems Release Manager

Whitbread; Houghton Regis; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare: BUPA

Pension: 10% matched

Discounts: Premier Inn & Restaurant

Annual incentive: up to 20% bonus

Job summary

Whitbread is seeking an experienced Release Manager to own vendor-led releases, patches, and changes across HR, payroll and related tech platforms. Hybrid role at Whitbread Court, Dunstable (3 days/week).

You’ll coordinate end-to-end release cycles, assess dependencies and risks, and ensure testing, approvals and deployments are aligned with business needs. This role requires strong release management across complex environments, experience with Dayforce/Oracle/SAP or similar, and the ability to

Qualifications

• Strong end-to-end release management experience in complex technology environments.
• Experience with enterprise HR/payroll platforms (Dayforce, Oracle, SAP or similar).
• Ability to map dependencies, risks and test/approval requirements across releases.

Responsibilities

• Own the release lifecycle from planning to deployment across vendor releases and internal changes.
• Coordinate testing, approvals, deployments and rollback plans to minimise disruption.
• Identify dependencies and risks across connected systems and communicate with stakeholders.
• Partner with third-party vendors and technology partners to ensure commitments and timelines.
• Translate technical release information into clear updates for business stakeholders.

Skills

End-to-end release management

Stakeholder management

Vendor management

ITIL change governance

Education

ITIL/CHANGE framework awareness

Tools

ITIL

Job description

We’re looking for an experienced Release Manager to take end-to-end ownership of vendor-led releases, patches and technology changes across our HR, payroll and wider people technology landscape....

Working across Technology, People teams, suppliers and operational stakeholders, you’ll bring together the moving parts of complex releases, ensuring integrations, dependencies, testing, approvals and deployment are effectively planned and managed.

You’ll have experience working with enterprise HR and/or payroll platforms, whether that’s Dayforce, Oracle, SAP or similar. We’re not looking for expertise in one specific system. What matters is that you understand how these environments connect, where risks and dependencies can arise and, importantly, you know the right questions to ask.

Role: Release Manager
Contract Type: Full time, Permanent
Location: Whitbread Court, Dunstable (Hybrid, 3 days per week)

Why You’ll Love It Here

• Healthcare: Family BUPA healthcare
• 10% matched pension
• Discounts: Up to 60% discount on Premier Inn stays and 25% discount on our Restaurant brand
• Annual Incentive of up to 20% Bonus

Check out all our benefits here: https://www.whitbreadcareers.com/about-us/benefits/

What You’ll Be Doing

Own the release from start to finish by coordinating the end-to-end release lifecycle, bringing together vendor releases, patches and internal technology changes from initial planning through to successful deployment.

Join the dots across systems and integrations and working closely with technical teams and suppliers to understand how changes connect, identifying dependencies, integration impacts and potential risks before they become issues.

Keep our suppliers on track by working side by side with our third-party vendors and technology partners, asking the right questions, challenging where needed and ensuring commitments, quality and timelines are met.

Make sure we’re ready to release by bringing together testing, assurance, approvals, deployment and rollback plans, ensuring releases are delivered safely and with minimal disruption.

Connect technology and the business as you’ll turn complex technical and vendor information into clear updates, keeping stakeholders informed of progress, risks and key decisions.

Learn from every release by working with teams to understand issues, incidents and lessons learned, turning these into practical improvements for future releases.

What You’ll Need

• Strong end-to-end release management experience within complex technology environments.
• Experience working with enterprise HR and/or payroll platforms, such as Dayforce, Oracle, SAP or equivalent.
• A strong understanding of systems integration and dependencies, with the ability to identify impacts and risks across connected systems.
• Strong vendor and supplier management experience, with the confidence to challenge constructively and drive delivery.
• Experience of planning, managing and coordinating multiple environment releases across development, test, staging and production environments.
• Good knowledge of ITIL-based change management and governance, including risk, approvals and Change Advisory Board processes.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical information and keep technical and business teams aligned.

Be part of our Technology Team at Whitbread

Through collaboration, passion and hiring the smartest minds, our Technology team builds products and services that are used by 38,000 of us at Whitbread and millions of guests. Everything from an eCommerce website that handles £2 billion in transactions per year, applications that are scalable across our 1,200 hotel and restaurants, devices that enable our teams and guests to have a seamless experience, all whilst keeping data secure. Together we’re building the hotel of the future.

We believe that everyone is unique and there should be no barriers to entry and no limits to ambition. We are committed to being an inclusive organisation that values diversity and welcomes your application whatever your background or situation.

Under-represented groups such as women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities & members of the LGBTQIA+ community (those who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans and non-binary or those who use a different LGBTQIA+ term), are strongly encouraged to build a career with us. Speak to us about workplace adjustments, part-time and flexible working. Where possible we will support this.