Release Manager

KellyMitchell Group; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 62,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

ESOP

401K

Job summary

KellyMitchell is seeking an experienced Release Manager to support strategic cybersecurity and infrastructure initiatives within a highly regulated financial services environment. You will plan, coordinate, and govern release activities across multiple workstreams to ensure secure, compliant, and predictable deployments.

This contract role, based in Chicago with a hybrid work model, requires strong enterprise release management experience and cross-functional coordination across technology,

Qualifications

• Experience managing enterprise technology releases in complex environments.
• Strong understanding of release management, change management, governance, and risk controls.
• Experience coordinating releases across multiple teams, vendors, and stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent releases while maintaining visibility and control.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and execute integrated release plans across multiple cybersecurity and infrastructure initiatives
• Coordinate release activities through planning, build, testing, validation, deployment, and post-release support phases
• Manage release calendars, dependencies, and scheduling conflicts across concurrent projects
• Partner with Change Management teams to ensure releases meet governance, audit, and compliance standards
• Identify, assess, and mitigate release risks, including environment readiness, dependency management, and rollback planning
• Prepare and maintain release documentation, deployment plans, release notes, and back-out procedures
• Serve as the central coordination point between security, infrastructure, application, and project teams
• Facilitate stakeholder communications before, during, and after production releases
• Support governance reviews and communicate release readiness, risks, and go/no-go decisions

Skills

Release management

Communication

Stakeholder management

Regulatory/compliance knowledge

Risk management

Cross-team coordination

Governance

Tools

ServiceNow

Azure DevOps (ADO)

Jira

Job description

Job Summary

Our client, a leading financial services provider, is seeking an experienced Release Manager to support strategic cybersecurity and infrastructure initiatives within a highly regulated financial services environment. This individual will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and governing release activities across multiple workstreams to ensure secure, compliant, and predictable deployments. The ideal candidate brings strong experience managing enterprise releases, change control processes, risk mitigation, and cross-functional coordination across technology, security, and infrastructure teams. This position is W-2 only. We do not work with third-party firms or C2C arrangements for this role.

Contract Details

Duration: Contract through January 2027 with potential extension opportunities

Location: Chicago, IL

Work Model: Hybrid

Core Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and execute integrated release plans across multiple cybersecurity and infrastructure initiatives
• Coordinate release activities through planning, build, testing, validation, deployment, and post-release support phases
• Manage release calendars, dependencies, and scheduling conflicts across concurrent projects
• Partner with Change Management teams to ensure releases meet governance, audit, and compliance standards
• Identify, assess, and mitigate release risks, including environment readiness, dependency management, and rollback planning
• Prepare and maintain release documentation, deployment plans, release notes, and back-out procedures
• Serve as the central coordination point between security, infrastructure, application, and project teams
• Facilitate stakeholder communications before, during, and after production releases
• Support governance reviews and communicate release readiness, risks, and go/no-go decisions

Required Skills & Experience (Must-Haves)

• Experience managing enterprise technology releases in complex environments
• Strong understanding of release management, change management, governance, and risk controls
• Experience coordinating releases across multiple teams, vendors, and stakeholders
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent releases while maintaining visibility and control
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Experience supporting infrastructure, cybersecurity, or regulatory remediation initiatives
• Experience with release and change management tools such as: ServiceNow Azure DevOps (ADO) Jira Similar enterprise release management platforms

Preferred Skills & Experience (Nice-to-Haves)

• Financial services or other highly regulated industry experience
• Experience supporting cybersecurity, network, firewall, identity, or cloud security initiatives
• Familiarity with CI/CD concepts and enterprise deployment processes
• Experience working with audit, compliance, and change control requirements
• Advanced organizational and project coordination skills

Key Competencies & Behaviors

• Strong attention to detail and risk awareness
• Excellent organizational and prioritization skills
• Ability to influence and coordinate across technical and non-technical teams
• Proactive problem solver with strong decision-making capabilities
• Comfortable working in fast-paced, highly regulated environments
• Collaborative mindset with a focus on execution and delivery

Work Environment

Location: Chicago, IL

Work Model: Hybrid

Work Schedule: 3 days onsite per week (Monday-Thursday preferred) | 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM CST

Compensation & Benefits

Pay Range: The approximate pay range for this position is between $45.00 and $65.00. Please note that the pay range provided is a good faith estimate. Final compensation may vary based on factors including but not limited to background, knowledge, skills, and location. We comply with local wage minimums.

• Medical, Dental, & Vision Insurance Plans
• Employee-Owned Profit Sharing (ESOP)
• 401K offered

About KellyMitchell

At KellyMitchell, our culture is world class. We're movers and shakers! We don't mind a bit of friendly competition, and we reward hard work with unlimited potential for growth. This is an exciting opportunity to join a company known for innovative solutions and unsurpassed customer service. We're passionate about helping companies solve their biggest IT staffing & project solutions challenges. As an employee-owned, women-led organization serving Fortune 500 companies nationwide, we deliver expert service at a moment's notice.