DevOps Lead and Release Manager

The DevOps Lead and Release Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, communicating, mitigating risks, ensuring quality, and managing the release process from start to finish. This role requires knowledge of both development and operations, as well as effective communication with stakeholders.

 Key Responsibilities

• Plan the release of project deliverables and manage the release life cycle.

• Communicate project-related tasks such as plans, timelines, and requirements between different teams.

• Coordinate the release schedule and resources required, considering third-party applications, defect backlogs, planned releases, and infrastructure updates.

• Identify and manage risks that could delay the release, ensuring the scope, schedule, and quality are not affected.

• Track progress and identify issues, continuously working to improve the release process.

• Ensure releases are planned according to requirements and budget.

• Schedule release readiness reviews before deployment and milestone reviews after each release.

• Create implementation and deployment plans as per the release schedule.

• Provide weekly updates on release activities.

• Ensure the allocation of Release Engineers to every release.

• Communicate with release managers from different IT departments.

• Lead Go-Live activities to deploy software successfully.

• Collaborate with development teams responsible for building automation tools used to develop and deploy software.

• Schedule CAB meetings to discuss release schedules and identify roadblocks.

• Maintain documentation related to build and release procedures, notification lists, and dependencies.

• Improve methodologies used for configuration management and software development.

• Have a thorough understanding of the environment being managed, maintain great control, and be knowledgeable about privilege access management. Advocate for zero trust policies to keep production data safe.

 Job Requirements

Essential Skills:

• Strong working experience in Copado for Salesforce development pipelines.

• Expertise in DevOps/DevSecOps and Agile methodologies.

• Expertise in Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, including complex branching strategies.

• Working knowledge of the Software Development Lifecycle.

• Strong team management skills.

• Experience with Application Release Automation tools such as Copado and Visual Studio Release Management, with integrations including Jira, codescan.io, GitHub, and GitHub Copilot.

• Knowledge of other DevOps processes on tech stacks like AWS.

• Familiarity with Scrum, Waterfall, and Kanban.

• Good understanding of application infrastructure, system architecture, and operating systems.

• Excellent documentation skills with the ability to implement audits and assessments that drive continuous improvement.

• Strong understanding of managed environments and privilege access. Commitment to zero trust principles.

Nice to Have Skills:

• Project management experience.

• Team leadership.

• Stakeholder management.

• Documentation and process mapping.

• Continuous improvement mindset.

• Knowledge of best practices in DevOps tooling.

Qualifications:

• Salesforce certifications in admin, development, and DevOps (Trailhead and formal training).

• Toolset expertise:

  • Copado: Advanced

  • Copado Robotic Testing: Intermediate–Advanced

  • Visual Studio Release Management: Intermediate

  • Jira: Intermediate–Advanced

  • codescan.io: Advanced

  • GitHub/GitHub Copilot: Advanced

  • Jenkins: Advanced

  • AWS: Basic–Intermediate

 Travel and Location

• Location: Onshore, with 40% office presence in London (typically 2 days/week).

• Team: Will lead a team of 5 (2 onshore, 2 offshore).

• Security: Must be SC cleared or eligible for clearance.