Manager - Release Engineering Services

JOB SUMMARY

Manages ERCOT Release Engineering Services function encompassing three core delivery disciplines — Release DevOps Engineering (CI/CD, automated deployments, DevSecOps, and pipeline operations), Release Planning and Governance (product release planning, backlog facilitation, change management, and ITSM governance), and Release and Scope Management (release scope baselining, formal scope change control, and traceability from approved backlog items through production deployment). Leads a team of Release Engineers and Release Train Engineers across all technology stacks and product lines. Responsible for the end-to-end software delivery lifecycle from code commit to production — ensuring releases are automated, scope-controlled, compliant with NERC CIP requirements, governed through ServiceNow, and continuously improved through DORA metrics and retrospective practices. Operates at the intersection of DevOps execution, Agile delivery governance, scope/change control, and regulated change management serving ERCOT's mission to reliably operate the Texas power grid.

ADDITIONAL JOB DUTIES

Release Engineering Strategy & Toolchain Governance

• Define and govern the CI/CD pipeline architecture, branching strategy, and deployment toolchain standards (GitHub Actions, Harness, Jenkins, Azure DevOps) across all product lines; ensure engineering practices align to DevOps industry benchmarks and NERC CIP compliance requirements. 

Production Deployment Oversight 

• Provide management oversight of all deployments to test, UAT, staging, and production environments; govern release readiness criteria, change authorization processes, and rollback decision authority for high-impact releases across Agile and waterfall delivery tracks. 

Release and Scope Management 

• Own end-to-end release and scope governance for all product lines, ensuring every release is delivered against a formally approved, traceable scope baseline and that scope changes are controlled rather than absorbed informally. 

• Define and baseline release scope for each release cycle and Program Increment, including scope statement, work breakdown of committed backlog items, and acceptance criteria, in alignment with PMI Scope Management practices (Plan Scope, Define Scope, Create WBS, Validate Scope, Control Scope). 

• Establish and enforce scope-lock checkpoints within Agile Release Train (R-train) cadences; require documented justification, impact assessment, and CAB or Release Train Engineer approval for any story, RFC, or requirement introduced after scope lock. 

• Own formal scope change control: evaluate scope change requests against schedule, capacity, risk, and downstream dependencies, and route approved changes through the Change Advisory Board before they enter a committed release. 

• Define and report scope health metrics — stories added after scope lock, silent scope drops, scope creep rate, and stories committed versus delivered per cycle — and integrate them into DORA and executive release reporting. 

• Maintain requirements traceability between the approved scope baseline and shipped deliverables, ensuring RFCs, user stories, and acceptance evidence map back to in-scope items and that out-of-scope requests are logged for future cycles rather than dropped without record. 

• Facilitate scope trade-off and re-prioritization decisions during PI Planning Adjustments, Inspect & Adapt sessions, and mid-cycle re-baselining; balance business demand against team capacity, schedule, and release risk. 

• Serve as the management escalation point for scope disputes between product, engineering, and business stakeholders, ensuring scope decisions are documented, communicated to all teams, and reflected in the release calendar and CAB record. 

DevSecOps & NERC CIP Compliance Leadership 

• Own the DevSecOps framework for Release Engineering; ensure NERC CIP-aligned controls (vulnerability scanning, SBOM, image signing, secrets management, audit trails) are embedded in all CI/CD pipelines and production deployment workflows. 

​DORA Metrics Governance 

• Own DORA metrics instrumentation and executive reporting for Release Engineering; track deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, and MTTR; drive continuous improvement against DORA elite performance targets. 

Release Readiness & Production Gate Authority 

• Serve as the management-level gate authority for production releases; validate release readiness criteria, scope completion against the approved baseline, test completion evidence, and all stakeholder approvals before deployment execution. 

• Own IT change metric definitions and executive reporting; track change volume by type, change success rate, unauthorized change incidents, CAB throughput, and change-to-incident correlation via ServiceNow and Power BI. 

• Serve as the primary management interface between Release Engineering Services, product teams, infrastructure, Cloud Ops, Security, and business leadership; communicate release status, scope, risk, and governance decisions to audiences from team leads to VP level. 

• Lead cross-function retrospectives and Inspect & Adapt sessions spanning Release Engineering, Release Planning, and Release/Scope Management; measure improvement impact using DORA metrics, flow metrics, scope stability metrics, and ITC change success rates. 

• Serve as the management escalation authority for critical production deployment decisions, major pipeline incidents, scope disputes, and emergency change requests. 

EXPERIENCE

• Requires minimum 8 years of experience in Release Engineering, DevOps, Platform Engineering, or Release Management, including at least 2 years in a people management or technical leadership role spanning CI/CD pipeline ownership, ITSM change management governance, and release scope management. 

• Requires demonstrated technical depth in CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions, Harness, Jenkins, or Azure DevOps), DevSecOps practices (NERC CIP or equivalent compliance controls), and ITSM platforms (ServiceNow Change Management). Experience managing both software deployment engineering and release governance functions strongly preferred. 

• Requires experience managing delivery across Agile (Scrum, SAFe, Kanban), waterfall, and hybrid delivery methodologies. Must demonstrate ability to govern DORA metrics programs, lead CAB processes, and drive continuous improvement across cross-functional engineering and planning teams. 

• Requires demonstrated experience governing release and project scope across the full delivery lifecycle, including scope baselining and formal change control (per PMI Scope Management practices: Plan Scope, Define Scope, Create WBS, Validate Scope, Control Scope), scope-lock enforcement within Agile Release Train (SAFe PI) cadences, and requirements traceability from approved backlog items through production deployment. 

EDUCATION

• Bachelor's Degree: Business, Computer Science, MIS or related field (Required)

• or a combination of education and experience that provides equivalent knowledge to a major in such fields is required

CERTIFICATION

• TIL Foundation v4 or higher (Preferred) | SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) or Release Train Engineer (RTE) (Preferred) | PMP or PgMP (Preferred)

The foregoing description reflects the minimum qualifications and the essential functions of the position that must be performed proficiently with or without reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities.  It is not an exhaustive list of the duties expected to be performed, and management may, at its discretion, revise or require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned.  This job description is not intended to create a contract of employment with ERCOT.  Both ERCOT and the employee may exercise their employment-at-will rights at any time.

ERCOT is firmly committed to equal employment for all qualified persons without regard to race, sex, medical condition, religion, age, creed, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, ancestry, veteran status, genetic information or any other protected category under federal, state or local law.

Expected Salary Range:

$145,000 - $200,000