Senior Manager, Software Release Program Management

General Motors Company; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

General Motors Company seeks a Senior Manager to lead the Software Release Program Management across vehicle software releases. You will set plans, surface risks early, and drive scalable release operations while maintaining safety and quality standards.

You will shape governance, enable faster release cadence, and partner with engineering, product, and quality teams to improve validation and delivery. This role demands executive-level communication and cross-functional leadership.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience leading technical program managers or a program-management organization.
• 10+ years of experience managing software release, delivery, or release-engineering programs for complex embedded, platform, or comparable software.
• A track record of improving release frequency, cycle time, and delivery predictability at scale.
• Working knowledge of modern release practices, including change control, release readiness, gating, and CI/CD, with the judgment to guide strategy and trade-offs.
• Experience partnering with engineering and quality teams to improve early validation, reduce rework or respins, and increase delivery throughput.
• Strong cross-functional leadership, risk and dependency management, and written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level reporting.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a high-performing team.
• Hire, coach, and develop technical program managers; establish clear ownership across release programs. This position will lead a team of 10-20.
• Set practical standards, playbooks, and operating rhythms that help the team deliver consistent, high-quality program execution.
• Prioritize team capacity toward the most important release outcomes and support individual growth and performance.
• Make releases faster and more predictable.
• Lead the evolution toward more frequent software releases and regular security updates.
• Identify and remove bottlenecks from code completion through validation and vehicle delivery, reducing cycle time and improving on-time performance.
• Create realistic, integrated plans with clear milestones, risk visibility, and go/no-go criteria - so teams can meet commitments without relying on last-minute heroics.
• Build scalable release operations, with clear intake, prioritization, work-in-progress practices, and service expectations.
• Align upstream software development with downstream validation and over-the-air delivery so work moves smoothly across teams.
• Strengthen readiness and quality.
• Lead release planning, change governance, readiness reviews, and communication so stakeholders understand what is shipping, when, and with what risks.
• Work with engineering and quality partners to bring validation evidence earlier into the development process and shorten test-and-fix cycles.
• Use automated test and quality-gate results to inform release readiness and drive timely decisions; partner with the dedicated owners of those systems to improve outcomes.
• Lead post-release reviews and defect-escape analysis, turning lessons into measurable improvements for future releases.
• Align leaders and stakeholders
• Build strong working relationships across Development, Product, Quality Assurance, Configuration and Software Change Management, Security, and OTA delivery.
• Communicate status, dependencies, trade-offs, and risks clearly to senior leaders and delivery teams.
• Bring stakeholders together around shared plans, decisions, and accountability for release outcomes.

Skills

Team leadership

Program management

Release management

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Senior Manager, Software Release Program Management

At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We're turning today's impossible into tomorrow's standard - from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features.

Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.

The Role

Vehicle software releases bring together complex systems, teams, and dependencies. Your team will make that work more predictable and scalable: setting a clear release plan, surfacing risks early, and helping teams resolve the issues that slow delivery down.

You’ll shape the evolution toward more frequent releases, including a monthly release cadence and regular security updates, while maintaining the quality and readiness standards customers and the business depend on. You’ll have the visibility and influence to improve how releases move from development through validation and into vehicles - and the opportunity to build a strong program-management organization along the way.

Why join us?

You’ll help shape the operating model behind how vehicle software reaches customers. The work calls for a leader who can bring order to complexity, build trust across technical organizations, and improve delivery in measurable ways - while keeping safety and quality at the center.

What you’ll do

• Build and lead a high-performing team
• Hire, coach, and develop technical program managers; establish clear ownership across release programs. This position will lead a team of 10-20.
• Set practical standards, playbooks, and operating rhythms that help the team deliver consistent, high-quality program execution.
• Prioritize team capacity toward the most important release outcomes and support individual growth and performance.
• Make releases faster and more predictable
• Lead the evolution toward more frequent software releases and regular security updates.
• Identify and remove bottlenecks from code completion through validation and vehicle delivery, reducing cycle time and improving on-time performance.
• Create realistic, integrated plans with clear milestones, risk visibility, and go/no-go criteria - so teams can meet commitments without relying on last-minute heroics.
• Build scalable release operations, with clear intake, prioritization, work-in-progress practices, and service expectations.
• Align upstream software development with downstream validation and over-the-air delivery so work moves smoothly across teams.
• Strengthen readiness and quality
• Lead release planning, change governance, readiness reviews, and communication so stakeholders understand what is shipping, when, and with what risks.
• Work with engineering and quality partners to bring validation evidence earlier into the development process and shorten test-and-fix cycles.
• Use automated test and quality-gate results to inform release readiness and drive timely decisions; partner with the dedicated owners of those systems to improve outcomes.
• Lead post-release reviews and defect-escape analysis, turning lessons into measurable improvements for future releases.
• Align leaders and stakeholders
• Build strong working relationships across Development, Product, Quality Assurance, Configuration and Software Change Management, Security, and OTA delivery.
• Communicate status, dependencies, trade-offs, and risks clearly to senior leaders and delivery teams.
• Bring stakeholders together around shared plans, decisions, and accountability for release outcomes.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• 5+ years of experience leading technical program managers or a program-management organization, including hiring, coaching, and developing people.
• 10+ years of experience managing software release, delivery, or release-engineering programs for complex embedded, platform, or comparable software.
• A track record of improving release frequency, cycle time, and delivery predictability at scale.
• Working knowledge of modern release practices, including change control, release readiness, gating, and CI/CD, with the judgment to guide strategy and trade-offs.
• Experience partnering with engineering and quality teams to improve early validation, reduce rework or respins, and increase delivery throughput.
• Strong cross-functional leadership, risk and dependency management, and written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level reporting.

What will give you a competitive edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience delivering embedded automotive, infotainment, Android Open Source Project (AOSP), or other connected-device software.
• Familiarity with over-the-air (OTA) updates, security-patch delivery, and software configuration or part-number release proce