Senior Software Release Manager

Safran; Brea (CA); On-site; USD 112,000 - 127,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Home allowance for home workspace

Discretionary bonus program

401(k) with company match

Paid time off with year-end shutdown

9/80 alternative schedule

Job summary

RAVE Aerospace is seeking an experienced Senior Software Release Manager in California to drive strategic product and complex airline releases. You will lead cross-functional teams, align stakeholders, manage testing, and negotiate with customers to ensure on-time, quality deployments.

Strong technical delivery background and excellent communication are essential for success. The role requires 6+ years in software release or related fields, with demonstrated ability to manage risk, dependencies,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 6+ years of experience in software release management or related fields.
• Experience in complex customer-facing software delivery environments, preferably aviation/aerospace.
• Strong understanding of software release lifecycle and customer-impacting issues.
• Ability to translate technical issues into clear schedules and risks.
• Experience collaborating with engineering, QA, system engineering, and customers.
• Proficient with Jira and MS Project for release tracking and reporting.
• Leadership and stakeholder communication skills for executive updates.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate software release processes with focus on quality and timeliness.
• Lead cross-functional teams across Engineering, Product, and Program Management.
• Oversee defect prioritization and negotiate scope and schedule.
• Manage release risks and develop contingency plans.
• Document release plans, progress, and outcomes for stakeholders.
• Provide release insights during development and testing phases.
• Support customer meetings during complex deployments and communicate status clearly.
• Maintain release dashboards, dependencies, and milestones in reporting tools.
• Own release schedule, milestones, and action items; drive readiness reviews.

Skills

Release management

Project management

Jira

MS Project

Cross-functional collaboration

Stakeholder communication

Risk management

Software delivery

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Jira

MS Project

Job description

Job Summary

The Senior Software Release Manager will lead the strategic execution of Product Releases and complex airline releases by driving cross-functional collaboration, stakeholder alignment, and issue resolution. Oversee testing, prioritize defects, and manage customer negotiations to ensure seamless deployment, schedule consensus, and high-quality outcomes. This role requires strong software technical understanding, senior-level delivery and project management skills, excellent interpersonal skills, strong process understanding, and the ability to clearly present release status to stakeholders. Experience in complex customer-facing software delivery environments is required.

Job Summary

The Senior Software Release Manager will lead the strategic execution of Product Releases and complex airline releases by driving cross-functional collaboration, stakeholder alignment, and issue resolution. Oversee testing, prioritize defects, and manage customer negotiations to ensure seamless deployment, schedule consensus, and high-quality outcomes. This role requires strong software technical understanding, senior-level delivery and project management skills, excellent interpersonal skills, strong process understanding, and the ability to clearly present release status to stakeholders. Experience in complex customer-facing software delivery environments is required.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinate software release processes, including planning, scheduling, and deployment, with a strong focus on quality and timeliness
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams such as Engineering, Product Management, and Program Management to ensure effective communication and alignment throughout the release lifecycle, including SW and System Engineering, integration, and customer-facing teams. Provide leadership and influence across cross-functional team members so they remain focused, put effort into improving execution, remove blockers, and meet agreed deadlines
• Oversee defect prioritization and resolution efforts, negotiating scope and schedule to maintain high standards of quality
• Manage release risks by identifying potential blockers, developing contingency plans, and ensuring proactive issue resolution. Provide recovery plans when release dates or quality are at risk
• Document and communicate release plans, progress, and outcomes to stakeholders, including senior leadership and customers. Prepare clear release status updates, dashboards, decision points, risks, dependencies, and customer/program impact for stakeholders
• Participate actively in development and testing phases, providing insights and oversight to maintain release integrity
• Support customer meetings when necessary, supporting complex deployments with established release strategies and clear status communication for customer-facing software deliveries
• Contribute to stakeholder communication, ensuring alignment and consensus on release timelines and outcomes
• Own release schedule, milestones, dependencies, risks, blockers, and action items
• Lead release readiness reviews and delivery checkpoints
• Maintain Jira and MS Project views to support release planning, schedule tracking, issue follow-up, and management reporting

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 6+ years of experience in software release management, technical project management, software delivery, or software program management
• Experience in complex customer-facing software delivery environments, preferably within aviation, aerospace, IFE, embedded systems, or other integrated technology platforms
• Strong software technical understanding, including software development lifecycle, release lifecycle, software features, defects, builds, integration issues, validation, deployment readiness, and customer-impacting software issues
• Ability to translate technical software issues into clear schedule, quality, risk, dependency, and customer-impact language
• Experience working closely with software engineering, QA, system engineering, integration, validation, product, program management, and customer-facing teams
• Strong hands‑on experience with Jira and MS Project, including release tracking, task ownership, dependencies, blockers, milestones, dashboards, and schedule management
• Skilled in project planning and execution, including ownership of release schedules, milestones, dependencies, risks, blockers, action items, and recovery plans
• Strong understanding of risk management, mitigation planning, governance frameworks, and release decision-making
• Experience supporting project management process improvements, and organizational transformation
• Knowledge of portfolio and program management concepts
• Strong presentation, leadership, and stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to present clear release status to leadership, customers, and cross-functional teams
• Ability to influence cross-functional team members without direct authority, drive accountability, and motivate teams to meet commitments and deadlines
• Strong verbal communication skills
• Detail-oriented, highly organized, and able to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic environment
• Team-oriented work style with strong collaboration, negotiation, and problem-solving skills

Benefits

The starting pay range for this position is $112,000 - 127,000 per year however, the base pay offered may vary depending on the level of the position, skills, experience, job-related knowledge, and location.

In addition to a comprehensive package of health benefits that include company contributions, RAVE Aerospace offers a variety of additional benefits and perks to enhance your work-life balance experience including but not limited to:

• A home allowance to elevate your home workspace
• Discretionary bonus program
• Future financial security with a 401(k) program with a company match
• Paid time off covering vacations, personal time off, and sick days, capped off by an exciting year-end holiday shutdown
• Embraced flexibility with our alternative work schedule (9/80) to navigate your workweeks with every other Friday off