Lead Release Manager

***This is a Project Hire that is planned to run 18 months will possible extension***

“We Power the Magic!” That’s our motto at Disney Experiences (DX). Our team creates world-class immersive digital experiences for the Company’s premier vacation brands including Disney’s Parks & Resorts worldwide, Disney Cruise Line, Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa, and Disney Vacation Club.

The Lead Release Manager manages across individuals and Studios (groups of developers) associated with release scope and release processes. This individual will manage progression of testable packages of work and their inclusion in the named release scope and provide internal and external teams Release process support and guidance as required, in line with defined release practices and standards.

Required Experience Includes:

• Minimum of 7 years of Release Management experience in a large-scale enterprise.
• Reviews standards with Release Managers from other Portfolios and improves them with an eye on effectiveness and efficiency.
• Creates and administers criteria that determine the appropriate level of release independence for in scope applications (Cadenced, Independent Deployment, Fully Independent) to ensure consistent release standards and procedures are followed.
• Audits and advises where new applications best align for level of release independence, and trains independent teams on expected release protocols.  Ensures alignment with key stakeholders, including executive stakeholders, when problems arise.
• Sets performance expectations for production certification, and monitors progress against agreed quality and performance criteria.
• Provides effective feedback throughout the release cycle to ensure optimum performance in production.
• Mentors other Release Mangers and individuals, often within other parts of the organization, to successfully navigate security, quality, performance, financial, and accessibility testing requirements.
• Takes a leadership role in formal processes such as SOX Attestation, Change Management advisory and approvals, release timing negotiations with business customers, and release rollback testing.

Education Required Includes:

• Minimum of a 4 year degree with additional preference being shown for a higher levels of education and closely related external certifications.

Specific Duties Include:

Relationship Management

Leads and influences Release Management standards outside of direct scope of control.  Participates in, and drives agenda for broad reaching initiatives / centers of excellence.  These may include the Commerce MyJira Community of Practice, the Disney Experconiences Release Management Center of Excellence,  the training of Release Management professionals outside the domestic US, as well as consulting with various audit professionals (SOX, PCI, Management Audit, etc.) on current and evolving standards for Commerce Release Management.

Builds long-term, strategic relationships with senior stakeholders in the largest client organizations (internal or external). Acts as a single point of contact for major projects that intersect with sales, marketing, and reservation functions. Facilitates teams external to commerce access to colleagues and subject matter experts in the appropriate Commerce studio(s). Maintains a strong understanding of reservation and booking business and assists clients in coordinated releases that reduce downtime for reservations agents and digital properties.  Acts to ensure that outside stakeholders are aware of release plans and aligned to the timelines / plans. Negotiates with internal and external stakeholders, including executives, on schedule and quality issues. Influences the development and enhancement of reliable, automated, deployment services.  Oversees less experienced team members or contractor(s) in the management and planning of predictable releases into the production environment(s).

Production Release Planning

Leads the assessment, analysis, planning and design of release packages, including assessment of risk. Liaises with business and IT partners on release scheduling and communication of certification progress. Conducts post release reviews. Ensures release processes and procedures are applied to in scope portfolio, and that release collisions are managed appropriately based on risk and impact.  Creates the overall Release plan, taking into consideration IT application deployments, Database change activities, Cloud Migrations, Systems Engineering and capacity change events, and business activities required to integrate into the Production environment. Determines the readiness levels of both code and stakeholders (QE, PE, FIT, Security, A11y, etc.) with regard to upcoming changes; uncovers readiness gaps and creates and implements action plans to close the gaps prior to going live. Assists the development community in change planning and sequencing on complex implementations. Liaises with project teams external to the directly managed portfolio. Proactively monitors and reports risks on code certification, performance targets, security checks, and other required testing activities. 

Service Level Management

Ensures that release scope meets agreed service levels and is certified for production across all stakeholders. Creates and maintains a catalog of changing services per release and tracks detailed environment / certification status. Escalates on code version mismatches and initiates actions to maintain integrity of the test environment. In consultation with testing stakeholders, negotiates service level requirements and agreed service levels for inclusion into the test environment(s).  Operationalizes a "lock down" of shared testing environments when required for dedicated test scenarios. 

Release Acceptance

Owns the transition process to production, develops the release approach and defines the plan as well as acceptance criteria for successful transition. Promotes and monitors quality outputs to ensure they are fit for purpose and fit for use within an operational service. Actively engages with delivery studios, UX design teams, testing teams and Security to promote awareness and compliance with Release plans and processes. Broadly tracks material events (releases) across project/program managers to manage collisions and promote production stability as well as change visibility.

Quality Assurance

Advocates for high quality code, in close partnership with multiple testing organizations (Quality, Performance, Security, Finance, Accessibility, etc).  Uses testing teams defined quality standards to review influence release activities. Conducts audits of quality requirements and produces reports that ultimately lead to application certification. Monitors and actions on the outputs from multiple quality assurance and audit processes to ensure a predictable outcome in production.

Studio Support

Ensures that the inventory of applications / services to be supported is complete and current.  Responsible for ensuring that day-to-day management and release ceremonies meet defined two-week cadence including all interim milestones. Ensures that tracking, monitoring and remediation of defects is carried out, metrics and reports are analyzed, and issues are resolved before approving production changes.  Focuses on continuous improvement via post sprint retros and quarterly voice of the customer sessions.

Change Management

Assesses, analyzes, approves changes based on schedule and technical certification.  Participates as a required member of the Change Advisory Board for one or more Disney Experience sites.  Negotiates revisions to schedule to manage collisions between portfolios and ensures clear communication to external stakeholders.

Business Analysis

Takes responsibility for investigative work to determine Release requirements and specify effective Release processes.  Focuses, through manipulation of information systems, information management, practices, procedures, and organizational change, improvements to Release transparency, accuracy, and efficiency. Applies new processes, tools and standards to improve the Release experience, giving special consideration to client perspectives. Collaborates with stakeholders at all levels in the execution of continuous improvement and sharing of best practices for Release Management. Prepares proposals for change which define risks, potential benefits, options for achieving these benefits through development of new or changed processes, and associated business impact.

Application Support

Identifies and escalates release blocking issues with applications in the testing environment, while following agreed procedures with complementary Quality teams.

Uses IT Service Management tools as well as application delivery tools to manage multiple aspects of release certification and defect tracking / environment control.

#DISNEYTECH

The hiring range for this position in California is $126,400 to $169,500 per year based on a 40 hour work week. The amount of hours scheduled per week may vary based on business needs. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.