Release Manager - Product and Stores

Job Introduction

Are you looking for a new challenge in Selfridges that gives you the chance to get technical and use your knowledge of the business to take IT to the next level?  Looking for a company that wants to help further your career in IT as well as provide you with an exciting, inspiring and fun place to work?  

If the answer to all of these questions is ‘yes’ then you’re just the kind of person we’re looking for! 

A bit about the role

The Release Manager organizes, directs and manages activities for delivering technical changes for the Selfridge’s Product and Stores Service Lines. This role creates the overall Release plans and directs the required resources to deliver the changes for each Release, supporting both BAU and Project deliveries.

Responsible for ensuring the capture, management, planning and coordination of the Release requirements for the above-mentioned Service lines, from reviewing designs, planning environments, through Test stages and into Live Service.

To oversee the software lifecycle through design and transitional stages and delivering solutions to Production. Working closely with internal stakeholders and a large number of external suppliers to plan, schedule and execute the necessary activities to establish appropriate Test facilities, ensuring suitable deployment controls and effective route to live for change.

The role sits within the Release & Environments team, which is made up of several Release Managers supporting different Service lines plus Environment Managers. The role will need to work within a consistent framework and adopt a standard approach consistent with other release Managers in the team.

The role will work closely with Production Support, Product Owners, Project Teams and other stakeholders to capture and schedule work. Will need to liaise with Architects, Testers, Suppliers and other internal and external teams as required to ensure Test Environments are established, configured and that deployments are managed and controlled to agreed standards. This includes the end to end coordination for all Release & Environment activities for these Service lines and providing support during the lifecycle. This role will also support any technical requirements or issues identified during the lifecycle, setup, access and incidents, as well as managing all technical changes and configuration logging.

The role requires the ability to deal with different types of stakeholder, from technical, end user or administration functions, therefore the ability to communicate at those levels is key. Excellent planning, communication and teamwork are essential, as is the ability to assess impact and follow through issues to resolution.

This is not a hands-on product SME role, but a suitable understanding of the main products used in these Service lines will be needed.

As Release Manager you will:​

• Manage the overall delivery process for changes from these Service Lines
• Be the primary contact for stakeholders from these Service lines for anything related to Release or Environment policies and processes, as well as details of current and future Releases in plan
• Collaborate with Production Support, Project teams, Development & Deployment Partners and Test teams to plan and deliver Releases
• Capture plans, timelines and requirements to support each Release
• Review requirements and assess delivery options and potential synergies or impact to other work underway
• Plan and establish the technical Test environments needed to successfully support Development and Testing phases of the lifecycle, through to Production deployment
• Schedule and track all changes and supporting activities throughout the lifecycle
• Evaluate scope and set priorities for Release criteria and product quality requirements
• Ensuring the correct mix of resources across Development, Product SMEs and other technical teams are available to deliver each Release
• Proactively identify and address Release issues and risks, work with stakeholders and supporting teams to resolve
• Track and log all incidents, risks and issues and ensure these are both maintained for the lifecycle and useable for future PIR and lessons learnt activities
• Establish regular and repeatable delivery patterns for the applications in scope
• Communicate Release plans and status to stakeholders and senior management
• Manage Change Control throughout the lifecycle
   

A bit about you

• Someone with extensive experience in a similar Release Management role and having worked in a heavily federated environment
• Knowledgeable of Oracle based products, such as MOM, DAS, RIB and the SOA/ODI/MFT middleware layer is required for this role
• As Oracle provide both Development, Product Support and Deployment services then knowledge of having worked with their processes and tools through the focus of Release Management would be highly desirable.
• Other products in scope include Automic (batch scheduler), Mnetics, Hyperion, IAM, Mashery, Forth and Board, therefore previous knowledge in some of those would also be beneficial.
• Familiar with PoS (Point Of Sale) products like Oracle POS Suite, (Falcon Crowdstrike), AppLocker, BitLocker, CRM is required for this role
• Take ownership to coordinate issues resolution with different stakeholders.
• Understanding of Cutover activities and ability to work with Cutover Manager.
• Very good understanding and experience of the full SDLC
• Specifically, detailed experience and knowledge in the Design and Transition areas
• Knowledge of DevOps and automation processes and tooling is desirable
• Experience in fast pace delivery environments with competing priorities
• Previous retail would be preferable but is not a necessity
• Familiar with Infrastructure configuration such as firewalls and connection protocols, as well as Knowledge of Private/Public SSH configuration.
• Understanding of data refresh and data obfuscation.

This job is a brilliant opportunity to join a close-knit team who are incredibly passionate about taking IT to the next level. If you’re looking to come into a new role and make a real impact, then this will be perfect for you.

A bit about us

Our creative spirit

We are more than a shop. We are a social space where culture and commerce collide to release an energy that we call the Selfridges spirit. We are here to make our world brighter, and everyone is welcome.

Our awards cabinet

We’re not ones to brag, but since you asked...Selfridges has won the award for The World’s Best Department Store an unprecedented four times at the IGDS awards, with an additional award for the Best Sustainability Campaign. 

Our future

Since 1909 we have been at the forefront of retail and today our stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham – alongside selfridges.com and the Selfridges App – continue to redefine the way we shop and socialise. As a Selfridges team member, you will learn what it takes to consistently drive innovation, success and amazing customer experiences.

THE FUN STUFF

There are lots of reasons to be excited about joining Team Selfridges – from our fantastic team member communities to volunteer days and behind-the-scenes Selfridges experiences throughout the year.

Other benefits and rewards include:

• Generous bonus and/or commission scheme

• Discounted gym memberships

• Pension contributions 

• Annual travel pass and cycle to work schemes

• A volunteer day for all team members

• Access to a wide range of training programmes to help your career development