Senior Release Manager - IFS Copperleaf

We are looking for a Senior Release Manager to manage, coordinate, and govern the delivery of IFS Copperleaf’s product releases. The Senior Release Manager is the single point of accountability for a release, owning it from planning through general availability, and ensuring the committed scope ships on the agreed upon date at the agreed upon level of quality.

Reporting to the VP of Engineering in R&D, the Senior Release Manager works closely with the three Senior Directors leading the R&D pillars, as well as teams in Product, Customer Experience, Operations, Marketing and Sales. The role involves daily coordination with Program Managers and Technical Product Owners (Champions) who report to their respective Senior Directors.

• Release Train Coordination:
  Control and manage the release project plan across the three R&D pillars and the cells within them; own and run the release battle rhythm, bringing all pillars, Product, and key cross‑functional stakeholders together to agree and deliver on scope and dependencies; lead cross‑pillar meeting cadences and govern release activities.
• Release Planning & Scope Governance:
  Maintain the release project plan, release calendar, and canonical scope baseline; coordinate cross‑pillar dependencies, sequencing, and shared‑capacity decisions; establish release‑level commitments, exit criteria, and definition of done at each gate; run change control and uphold release‑level governance documentation.
• Cross‑Pillar Coordination:
  Partner with Program Managers and Technical Product Owners across the R&D pillars as the primary interface for release coordination; aggregate pillar‑level status, risks, and dependencies into a release‑level view; convene cross‑pillar problem‑solving sessions.
• Cross‑Functional Alignment:
  Establish and own specific gate release meetings, aligning Operations and Client Experience on support readiness, client migration, and infrastructure readiness; drive active participation in release enablement and coordinate demo releases; own Executive Status meetings with senior leadership.
• Risk, Issue & Dependency Management:
  Identify, track, and elevate release‑level risks, issues, and dependencies; run release risk reviews and contingency planning; govern hotfix and out‑of‑band releases.
• Release Readiness:
  Frame release readiness across three tiers—commercial readiness, early access or limited availability, and general availability—coordinate security, compliance, and regulatory sign‑off; coordinate early access and beta programs; track client adoption and renewal risk.
• AOM Integration:
  Operate within the Agentic Operating Model, collaborating with Program Managers, Technical Product Owners, and Senior Directors on AOM adoption from a release‑readiness perspective; use AI‑powered tools to streamline release workflows.
• Continuous Improvement & Operating Model Stewardship:
  Run cross‑functional post‑release retrospectives; track release metrics such as deployment frequency, lead & cycle time, MTTR, and scope variance; maintain and evolve the release‑management playbook.
• Building Knowledge:
  Stay fluent in AOM practices, AI tools, and emerging delivery capabilities; build broad awareness of how each function consumes the release; cultivate trusted relationships across R&D pillars and cross‑functional partners.

• Applying
  
  Skills:
  
  Communicate clearly with technical and non‑technical audiences at all levels; operate decisively under ambiguity and time pressure; balance competing priorities; use modern delivery tooling effectively; apply structured thinking to scope, risk, and dependency management; use AI‑powered tools to improve release visibility and decision‑making.
• Influencing Behavior:
  Drive accountability across functions without direct line authority; hold the line on governance and quality; surface uncomfortable truths early; foster a culture of release discipline, transparency, and continuous improvement; promote release‑management best practices through documentation and knowledge‑sharing.
• Background: 5+ years in software delivery with 3+ years leading release management or large‑scale software delivery in complex, multi‑team…