Senior SaaS Software Release Manager

Duck Creek Payments; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Duck Creek Payments in the Bay Area seeks a Senior SaaS Software Release Manager to own the end-to-end release system. You will guide engineering, QA, DevOps, and product teams to ensure timely, high-quality software releases.

You will focus on improving CI/CD, merge validation, and deployment reliability while coordinating risk and dependencies. Ideal candidates have 7+ years in DevOps or cloud infrastructure, strong communication skills, and a track record of reducing release risk in complex

Qualifications

• Experience with AI-native software development lifecycle, release management, and deployment processes.
• Proficient in branching strategies, CI/CD, version control, and release automation.
• Ability to coordinate across multiple technical teams and manage competing priorities.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage the software release calendar, milestones, and readiness checkpoints.
• Coordinate release activities across engineering, QA, DevOps, product, and support teams.
• Manage/ supervise branching, merge coordination, code freeze, release candidate validation, and deployment readiness.
• Identify release risks, blockers, and dependencies, and drive them to resolution.
• Improve release cadence, predictability, and quality through process improvements and automation.
• Communicate release status, risks, timelines, and decisions to stakeholders and leadership.
• Ensure release documentation, approvals, and post-release follow-ups are completed.

Skills

Release management

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud (AWS/Azure)

Git/GitLab

Docker

Kubernetes

Python scripting

Networking & security

Communication

Agile / SDLC

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/IT

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Jenkins

GitLab / GitHub

Terraform

Argo CD

CircleCI

CloudFormation

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

**TITLE**:**Senior SaaS Software Release Manager** **Work Location: Bay Area, CA and requires 2 days a week in the office** **WHAT YOU’LL DO:**A Software Release Manager is a technical leader responsible for architecting, owning, and continuously improving the end-to-end software release system across engineering with a penchant towards bringing in new industry standards and fully support AI-SDLC. They are also responsible for planning, coordinating, and overseeing software releases across engineering teams to ensure timely, predictable, and high-quality delivery. This role manages release schedules, release readiness, branching strategy, deployment coordination, risk tracking, and communication across product, engineering, QA, DevOps, and business stakeholders. The Senior Software Release Manager ensures that release processes are clearly defined, consistently followed, and continuously improved. They help identify release risks, drive issue resolution, coordinate dependencies, and maintain visibility into release status. This role also supports improvements in automation, merge validation, release cadence, and deployment reliability. * Own and manage the software release calendar, release milestones, and readiness checkpoints.* Coordinate release activities across engineering, QA, DevOps, product, and support teams.* Manage/ supervise branching, merge coordination, code freeze, release candidate validation, and deployment readiness.* Identify release risks, blockers, and dependencies, and drive them to resolution.* Improve release cadence, predictability, and quality through process improvements and automation.* Communicate release status, risks, timelines, and decisions to stakeholders and leadership.* Ensure release documentation, approvals, and post-release follow-ups are completed.* Partner with engineering teams to improve merge validation, build stability, and deployment processes.* Support continuous improvement of release governance, tooling, and operational practices.* Design, maintain, and evolve branching strategies, merge coordination workflows, and code freeze policies that support both development velocity and release stability.* Architect and improve CI/CD pipelines, build automation, and release tooling in partnership with DevOps and engineering teams — driving measurable gains in build stability, deployment reliability, and release cadence **Required Skills and Experience** * Strong understanding of AI native software development lifecycle, release management, and deployment processes.* Experience with branching strategies, CI/CD pipelines, version control, and release automation.* Ability to coordinate across multiple technical teams and manage competing priorities.* Strong problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills.* Ability to manage risk, drive accountability, and maintain release discipline in a complex engineering environment.**Nice to have (highly recommended) Skills and Experience** * Technical background in DevOps, software engineering, build/release engineering, or systems operations.* Demonstrated proficiency with modern SaaS release and DevOps tooling; For example: GitHub/GitLab, CI/CD platforms, Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, Argo CD, Terraform, cloud deployment services, feature-flagging, observability, security scanning, and AI-enabled delivery automation **WHAT YOU’VE DONE** REQUIRED: * Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.* 7+ years of experience in DevOps, cloud infrastructure management, or a similar role.* Deep expertise in cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure) and infrastructure automation.PREFERRED: * Master’s degree in a relevant field or equivalent work experience.* Experience in a global software company or high-volume production environment.* Certifications such as AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, Azure DevOps Engineer Expert, or similar.***K*****nowledge, Skills, Abilities & Behaviors:** * Expertise in cloud computing platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and managing cloud-based infrastructure.* Advanced knowledge of CI/CD tools like Jenkins, GitLab, or CircleCI, and experience in pipeline automation.* Strong programming and scripting skills (Python, Bash, Ruby, or similar) for automation tasks.* Proficiency in containerization technologies such as Docker and orchestration platforms like Kubernetes.* Deep understanding of networking, security, and cloud architecture, including VPCs, firewalls, and load balancing.* Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible) and version control systems like Git.* Strong analytical skills with the ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex system issues.* Solid understanding of software development life cycle (SDLC) and Agile methodologies.* Familiarity with monitoring and logging tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack) for system performance and alerting.* Knowledge of security protocols, authentication, and data encryption in cloud environments.* Excellent communication skills, capable of collaborating across teams to ensure smooth operations.* Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple priorities and projects simultaneously.* Strong attention to detail and ability to develop robust documentation and maintain accurate records.* A results-driven approach, focused on optimizing performance, efficiency, and scalability.* Commitment to continuous learning and staying updated on emerging technologies and Release Engineering practices.**Other:**Travel: 0-10% Location: Remote US Work Authorization: Legally authorized to work in the country of job location. The Company does not sponsor visa petitions for this position.