Sr. Release Manager

FocusKPI, Inc.; Anchorage (AK); On-site; USD 165,000 - 191,000; Part time

Job summary

FocusKPI, Inc. is seeking a Sr. Release Manager for a high-tech SaaS client. The role coordinates multi-project releases, ensuring on-time delivery with quality across global regions.

The position requires deep release orchestration, program management expertise, and hands-on technical ability with tooling like Jira, Confluence, and GitHub Actions. Onsite in Mountain View, CA, 12-month contract with extension potential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience working closely with engineering teams.
• 10+ years of release management experience and/or 10 years of software release/configuration management experience.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent combination of technical education and work experience.
• Master's degree in a related Engineering discipline; MBA a plus.
• Senior release manager with demonstrable depth in release orchestration; multi-region rollout and hotfix/rollback.
• Self-motivated in team-based or independent environments.
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills.
• Data-driven decision-making with go/no-go signals beyond approvals.
• Hands-on technical ability: log-based triage and scripting for automation.
• Experience with Jira, Confluence, GitHub/GitHub Actions tools instead of proprietary systems.
• Consumer device exposure with cloud release across global regions.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment; limited supervision.
• Understanding software product development and release processes for large-scale software.
• Program management background with quality and release accountability.
• Release Management experience; testing or product management background.
• Experience with agile, hybrid methodologies and continuous integration.
• Building processes, project management, and release schedules globally.
• Global, multi-time-zone release coordination.
• PMP Certification

Responsibilities

• Work with project managers, development teams, and system administrators through the SDLC phases.
• Configure and release software updates to QA and production.
• Provide ongoing project feedback to change management.
• Recommend process improvements over new tools and processes.
• Develop reporting tools and metrics for process conformance and tool use.
• Lead collaboration to develop release and development management standards.
• Define project management for professional services.
• Identify new tools and technologies to develop release streams and builds.
• Improve Configuration Management reliability and cost-efficiency.
• Manage releases across test, production and other environments.
• Manage and comply with release schedule and milestones.
• Report product release dependencies across projects.
• Assist cross-program planning to manage dependencies and conflicts.
• Lead impact evaluation for date changes and communicate results.
• Influence program development, testing, and operations on release processes.
• Lead release-related matters spanning multiple projects amid changing priorities.
• Support global Bixby releases for device targets and locales with DevOps teams.
• Build and track processes to ensure efficient releases per schedule.

Skills

Release management

Program management

Agile methodologies

PMP Certification

SaaS releases

Jira

Confluence

GitHub Actions

Multi-region release

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science

Master’s Degree in Engineering

MBA

Tools

Jira

Confluence

GitHub/GitHub Actions

Job description

FocusKPI is seeking a Sr. Release Manager to join one of our clients, a high-tech SaaS company.

To ensure that the various component projects of a particular software release meet customer needs and are brought together and released on time with high quality, and that the overall release reflects the best choices among scope, costs, and time for the company.

Work Location: Mountain View, CA (Onsite role, 5 days/week)

Duration: 12-month contract with a possibility of extension depending on your performance

Pay Range: $120 - 139/hr

Responsibilities

• Work with project managers, development teams, and system administrators through the development, evaluation, testing, and launch phases of the software development life cycle.
• Configure and release software application updates to QA and production environments.
• Collect and provide ongoing project feedback to the change management organization.
• Recommend process improvements as an alternative to rolling out tools and processes.
• Develop reporting tools and an information repository to measure conformance to processes and tool utilization through monthly metrics.
• Lead and direct collaborative efforts to develop release and development management standards.
• Define, roll out, and ongoing project management for professional provided services.
• Identify new tools and technologies to develop release streams and builds.
• Assist in making Configuration Management processes more reliable, efficient, and cost-effective.
• Perform routine project activities required to manage releases across test, production, and other environments.
• Manage and comply with the release schedule and main release milestones throughout programs.
• Search and report product release dependencies throughout projects.
• Help cross-program planning to oversee dependencies and solve conflicts.
• Lead impact evaluation based on project date changes and communicate results.
• Actively conduct and influence program development, management, testing, and operations on release and development processes. Responsible for leading all release-related matters which span across multiple projects while handling changing priorities and tight deadlines.
• Support global Bixby releases for all device targets and locales, working with DevOps and the global release management team
• Build and track processes to ensure releases are efficient and effective in accordance with the development schedule

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience working closely with engineering teams
• 10+ years of release management experience and/or 10 years of software release/configuration management experience
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent combination of technical education and work experience
• Master's degree in a related Engineering discipline; MBA a plus
• Needs to be a senior release manager with demonstrable depth in release orchestration — multi-region and phased rollout, version consistency, rollout pause, and hotfix-forward as well as rollback.
• Self-motivated individual with the ability to thrive in a team-based or independent environment.
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills.
• Data-driven decision-making — can name the technical, functional, and business signals behind a go/no-go call, not just the approval process.
• Hands-on technical ability — log-based triage and root cause analysis, plus enough scripting to build or maintain automation.
• Experience with standard third-party tooling (Jira, Confluence, GitHub/GitHub Actions) rather than primarily proprietary internal systems.
• Consumer device exposure associated with cloud release, which constitutes global/multi-region rollout experience.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
• Limited supervision and the exercise of discretion.
• Well-versed in understanding software product development and release processes for complex, large-scale software
• Program management background with accountability for quality and product release.
• Release Management and/or background in testing and/or prior experience in product management.
• Experience in various agile and hybrid methodologies and continuous integration.
• Experience building processes, project management, and release schedules on a global scale.
• Global and multi-time-zone release coordination.
• PMP Certification

Founded in 2010, FocusKPI, Inc. (FocusKPI) is a data science and technology firm specializing in predictive analytics practice and methodologies. FocusKPI is a US company headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, with an East Coast office in Boston, Massachusetts.