Director, Service and Release Management

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in California, +9 more states.

📋 Description

• Lead, develop, and hold accountable a team of SDMOs, Project Managers, and Release Managers within the Global Services portfolio.

• Foster a high-performing team culture anchored in operational discipline, customer accountability, and continuous enhancement.

• Act as the senior operational leader connecting delivery execution with customers and customer-facing teams across all regions.

• Own the maturity roadmap for Service Delivery, Project Management, and Release Management.

• Establish and implement standardized processes, playbooks, and operating procedures across all three functions.

• Serve as the primary escalation point for operational and delivery concerns that span multiple programs, teams, or functions.

• Manage the forward release and change calendar with a rolling 3–6-month view across programs and environments.

• Define and uphold release governance standards, readiness criteria, approval gates, go/no-go frameworks, and post-launch validation.

• Chair or sponsor release readiness reviews and governance forums for launches.

• Oversee capacity and impact planning for the Service and Release Management function.

• Cultivate relationships with Global Tech Ops, Customer Success Operations, Technical Account Management, Business Analysis, and Financial Services.

• Represent the function in senior leadership forums, portfolio reviews, and governance committees.

⛳️ Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in IT, Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related field (or equivalent experience).

• Over 10 years of experience in service delivery, program management, or technology operations roles within complex enterprise environments.

• More than 5 years in a senior leadership position managing multi-disciplinary operational or delivery teams.

• Proven track record of successfully leading delivery and operations functions through maturity uplift, establishing processes, governance, and execution standards where consistency was previously lacking.

• Extensive working knowledge of ITIL practices, especially Incident, Problem, Change, and Release Management.

• Demonstrated ability to lead release governance, delivery planning, and operational readiness across lower and production environments in high-availability, mission-critical settings.

• Experience in coordinating delivery across engineering, infrastructure, operations, and third-party vendors in a matrixed organization.

• Strong history of direct collaboration with customers and customer-facing teams.

• Background in transit, payments, public-sector technology, or regulated, high-availability managed services.

• Familiarity with compliance frameworks such as PCI DSS, ISO 27001, or similar standards.

• Knowledge of cloud-based infrastructure delivery (e.g., AWS, Azure).

• Experience working within global service organizations with teams and customers across NAM, EMEA, and APAC.

• Prior experience alongside or within a Centre of Excellence (CoE) model for service delivery standards.

🏝️ Benefits

• Benefits

• Inclusive workplace