Release Manager

The Fountain Group; Jersey City (NJ); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

The Fountain Group is seeking a Release Manager for a hybrid role in Jersey City, NJ. The candidate will coordinate complex technology releases, manage dependencies, and drive governance to ensure predictable deployments.

Ideal candidates bring 5+ years in release management or PM, strong stakeholder communication, and experience with Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery models. This is a contract role budgeted through year-end with potential extension.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of Release Management & PM experience in IT environments.
• Experience managing complex, cross-functional technology releases.
• Experience with Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery models.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Ability to handle competing priorities in a fast-paced setting.

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage integrated release plans across multiple applications and teams.
• Coordinate release schedules, deployment activities, milestones, and dependencies.
• Align major releases with calendars, blackout periods, and business priorities.
• Lead governance, readiness reviews, and go/no-go decisions.
• Maintain communications and dashboards for leadership updates.

Skills

Release Management

Project/Program Management

Stakeholder management

Communication

Risk management

Agile/Hybrid delivery

Cross-functional coordination

Problem solving

Leadership

Vendor coordination

Tools

ServiceNow

Jira

SharePoint

Power BI

Microsoft Office Suite

Job description

The Fountain Group is currently seeking Release Manager for a prominent client of ours. This is a Hybrid Role in Jersey City, NJ 07310 (3days Onsite & 2 days Remote / week). Details for the position are as follows:

Job Type - Contract Role (Currently budgeted till the end of the year with HIGH potential for further extension)

Pay Rate - Bid Rate/ Competitive Rate

Job Description

The Release Manager within the Major Release Management Office (MRMO) is responsible for planning, coordinating, governing, and facilitating technology releases across IT. This role ensures releases are delivered in a predictable, controlled, and low-risk manner by driving end-to-end release readiness, managing dependencies, coordinating stakeholders, and providing leadership visibility throughout the release lifecycle. The Release Manager acts as the central point of coordination between Business, Product, Development, Infrastructure, Change Management, and Support teams to promote production stability and successful release execution.

Key Responsibilities

Release Planning & Coordination:

• Develop and manage integrated release plans across multiple applications and delivery teams.
• Coordinate release schedules, deployment activities, milestones, and dependencies.
• Align major releases with enterprise calendars, blackout periods, and business priorities.
• Facilitate release planning sessions and readiness reviews.

Release Governance & Readiness:

• Drive adherence to MRMO governance standards, controls, and release checkpoints.
• Validate release readiness, including testing completion, deployment plans, rollback strategies, monitoring, and support coverage.
• Coordinate Go/No-Go reviews and Green Light approvals.
• Ensure all required approvals, artifacts, and change records are completed prior to deployment.

Risk & Dependency Management:

• Identify, document, track, and elevate release risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies.
• Partner with application and infrastructure teams to develop mitigation and contingency plans.
• Drive resolution of release blockers to support successful execution.

Stakeholder Management & Communication:

• Serve as the central coordination point between Business, RTD, Product, Infrastructure, EAS, Change Management, and Support teams.
• Lead release meetings and provide executive-level updates.
• Prepare release summaries, leadership communications, and readiness dashboards.
• Maintain clear communication before, during, and after release execution.

Production Release Execution:

• Coordinate release weekend activities and command center support when required.
• Monitor execution progress and manage escalations during deployment windows.
• Ensure timely communication of release status, issues, and recovery actions.
• Support post-deployment validation and business confirmation activities.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of Release Management & Project/Program Management experience.
• Experience managing complex, cross-functional technology releases.
• Experience working with Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery models.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and facilitation skills.
• Ability to effectively manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and risk management capabilities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within Financial Services or Risk Management preferred.
• Familiarity with ServiceNow, Jira, SharePoint, Power BI, and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Knowledge of Change Management and production deployment processes.
• PMP, Agile, or related certifications preferred.