Release Manager — High-Impact Deployments (Flexible Hours)

Ministry of Justice - New Zealand; Wellington; On-site; NZD 119,000 - 163,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

4 weeks holiday leave

Flexible work hours

Online professional development portal

Access to inclusive networks

Job summary

The Ministry of Justice - New Zealand is seeking a senior Release Manager for a Fixed Term Full Time role until 31 August 2029. You will own release strategy, governance, and delivery, planning and leading high-risk releases that matter to the courts, the judiciary, and the public.

This senior role sets standards, manages go/no-go decisions, resolves competing priorities, and ensures readiness across teams, vendors and environments.

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience leading release management in large, complex technology environments.
• Proven accountability for high-risk, high-impact releases with delivery pressure.
• Ownership of release and environment management across programmes, including scheduling and readiness.
• Experience designing and enforcing release governance, standards and quality controls.
• Advanced knowledge of release methodologies, automated pipelines, auditability and rollback strategies.

Responsibilities

• Own release strategy, governance and delivery for complex changes.
• Plan and lead high-risk releases affecting courts, judiciary and the public.
• Make go/no-go decisions and resolve competing priorities across teams and vendors.
• Shape how releases are done and lift capability while protecting service stability.
• Influence and coach teams to improve release discipline and outcomes.
• Use data and insights to inform system-level decisions.

Skills

Release leadership

High-risk releases

Release governance

Release pipelines

Azure DevOps

Mentoring

Analytics

Education

ITIL qualification

PRINCE2 or Agile qualification

Tools

Azure DevOps

Job description

The Ministry of Justice - New Zealand is seeking a senior Release Manager for a Fixed Term Full Time role until 31 August 2029. You will own release strategy, governance, and delivery, planning and leading high-risk releases that matter to the courts, the judiciary, and the public.

This senior role sets standards, manages go/no-go decisions, resolves competing priorities, and ensures readiness across teams, vendors and environments.