Program Manager, Release & Delivery - ELN Platform

What do we need  

We are looking for a Program Manager to lead our release management and broader program delivery for the Dotmatics ELN Platform. This is a high-impact role that combines hands-on release execution with strategic program oversight, sitting at the intersection of planning, delivery, and cross-functional alignment. You will have the opportunity to have real influence over how program and release management operate across the business, gaining broad visibility across the organization, working with and presenting to stakeholders from engineering teams through to executive leadership, and supporting notable impact. 

You will bring the operational precision of a release manager alongside the governance and rigor of a program manager, ensuring that releases are delivered with quality and consistency and that the wider program of work is well-planned with dependencies clearly visible. You will work closely with Engineering, Product Management, Quality Assurance, Customer Operations, Services, Marketing, and Sales, operating as a trusted collaborative and strategic partner with a clear, decisive voice across all stages of delivery. 

In this role you will get to 

Release Management 

• Own the end-to-end release management process. Refine, lead, and continuously improve practices that deliver high-quality, timely releases. Champion a release culture aligned to business and customer objectives, and actively replace practices that do not serve those goals 
• Lead a core group of representatives from Product Management, Engineering, Quality Assurance, and Customer Operations through the release process from planning to external release, ensuring capacity and risk are part of the equation         
• Track, monitor, and drive execution of release plans with pace and accountability. Escalate and hold others accountable when needed
• Define and maintain a clear release calendar. Provide timely updates on release readiness, risk, and post-release adoption metrics across all relevant audiences 
• Lead coordination of in-flight work across Jira (our system of record). Identify and mitigate release risk, flagging unrealistic plans early and ensuring alignment with Product Management and Services to support escalations and customer-specific builds 
• Align release artifacts across Product, Engineering, Marketing (including tier 1 and tier 2 launches), Sales (enablement), and Services (training) 
• Lead cross-functional release meetings and asynchronous processes as the definitive voice driving the holistic release process forward 

Program Management 

• Lead program-level planning and governance across the ELN Platform. Manage dependencies, milestones, and delivery roadmaps across multiple concurrent workstreams 
• Translate company and customer objectives into a clear execution strategy. Ensure teams understand priorities and how their work connects to broader business goals 
• Identify, track, and mitigate program-level risks and issues early. Escalate where needed and hold stakeholders accountable for resolution 
• Provide regular, audience-appropriate reporting to stakeholders from engineering teams through to executive leadership. Cover progress, risk, and strategic alignment 
• Support the rollout of Solution Area Initiatives. Play an active role in embedding this new operational model across the company as it is defined and scaled 
• Build and maintain strong relationships across functions. Practice influence without authority and drive alignment across a wide range of internal and external stakeholders 

Ways of Working 

• Champion agile delivery across the release and process. Align with and actively influence agile methodology to support effective product and engineering execution 
• Enable and coach product and engineering teams. Listen to day-to-day challenges and incorporate their input into how the teams plan and deliver 
• Apply a growth mindset. Embrace operational improvements and lead collaborative processes where team members feel heard and empowered 

We are looking for people who have 10 + years of experience in program management and/or enterprise SaaS product release management. Agile SCRUM, Product Owner, SCRUM Master, or PMP certification is strongly preferred. 

The keys skills we are looking for  

• Proven track record of leading and executing release and program management strategies through agile leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and proactive follow-through 
• Strong program governance skills, including milestone planning, dependency management, risk tracking, and executive-level reporting 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, clear and consistent across all audiences and deliverables, from engineers to executive stakeholders 
• Ability to bring structure and calm to a fast-paced environment with competing priorities across multiple workstreams 
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills across functions and seniority levels, internally and externally 
• Advanced Jira and Confluence skills, including creating and maintaining custom reports, dashboards, and program views 
• Proficiency in diagramming and planning tools such as Visio, Lucidchart, or Miro 
• Experience planning and executing long-term, multi-phase programs spanning development, configuration, and deployment 
• Openness to embracing how AI can improve you in your role. We are all learning how AI can help us be more efficient and collaborative, creating space for us to grow. We use Claude 

Nice to have: 

• Background or relevant work experience in life sciences or scientific software   
• People management or mentorship experience