Release Analyst

Here in Admiral, we have a very busy release schedule and a complicated technical landscape. We need someone who can coordinate and manage our releases and the risks associated with them.  You will own the release management lifecycle including scheduling, coordinating and the management of releases across the IT Change Department for multiple applications across various portfolios.  You will work with a range of internal teams as well as key vendors to ensure all releases are understood and actively managed. Your ultimate responsibility is to ensure that the production status of all core applications is planned, understood, and actively managed.

The release management responsibilities also include building the IT Release Calendar in collaboration with change management to form a centralised view of all releases. You will act as a central contact for key business stakeholders to ensure that the release calendar considers their needs and is effectively communicated. You will lead our effort to define the IT strategic direction for release management tools for IT to ensure the process requirements of release management are built in.

Main Duties

• Work with Change Management to create a release schedule.
• Manage risks and resolve issues that affect release scope, schedule, and quality.
• Measure and monitor progress to ensure application releases are delivered on time and within budget, and that they meet or exceed expectations.
• Coordinate release content and effort based on the service request backlog, pending service requests, third party applications, or operating system updates.
• Communicate all key project plans, commitments, and changes including requirements, QA plans, schedule, and scope changes.
• Ensure appropriate resource is available at the right times in the release life cycle.
• Manage relationships and coordinate work between different teams and third-party vendors.
• Produce Deployment, Run Books and Implementation Plans at a portfolio level
• Weekly Release Reporting.
• Communicate release details and schedules to stakeholders as required
• Negotiate, plan, and manage all release activities.
• Work with release engineers to understand impacts of branches and code merges.
• Maintains the release schedule for all core services and ensure alignment across key partners and vendors.
• Work with change management to manage priority calls required within the release schedule.
• Continually work towards making improvements in the release process.
• Lead and co-ordinate the Go-Live activities including the execution of the deployment plans and checklists.
• Participate in CAB meetings, and go no go meetings where applicable, to discuss release scope and/or risks.
• Responsible for ensuring the level of testing is fit for purpose.
• Maintains a release repository and manages key information such as build and release procedures, dependencies, and notification lists.
• Lead on resolution of post release incidents.
• Research new software development and configuration management methodologies and technologies and analyses their application to current configuration management needs.

This is not a full definition of the role but covers the main aspects and drivers for success.

Experience / Qualifications Required

Essential:

• Advanced knowledge of software development lifecycle.
• Knowledge of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CD/CI) pipelines.
• Experience in the use of Application Release Automation tools such as ElectricFlow, Puppet Enterprise, Buildmaster, and Visual Studio Release Management.
• Knowledge of traditional agile methodologies, including Scrum, Waterfall, or Kanban.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate cross-functional work teams toward task completion.
• Demonstrated effective leadership skills.
• Advanced written and verbal communication skills.

Desirable:

• Expertise in computer programming.
• Good understanding of application infrastructure, system architecture, and operating system.

Interviews and feedback

CVs will be reviewed as soon as they come through and interviews will typically be arranged for the following week.

Salary, Benefits and Work-Life Balance

We do not have a set salary for this position, as it will be dependent on the successful candidate’s experience. We are happy to see CVs from all candidates who meet the requirements and will be happy to discuss the remuneration package.

At Admiral, we are proud to be a diverse business where we put our people and customers first. We have great benefits to ensure employees have a great work-life balance; it's one of the reasons we're consistently voted one of Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For in the UK. We want you to have an element of freedom to define a working lifestyle that supports this, so accommodate flexible hours wherever possible.

You can also view some of our other key benefits here; https://admiraljobs.co.uk/employee-benefits/.

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