Release Manager

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:

• CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• CURRENT PENN STATE STUDENT (not employed previously at the university) and seeking employment with Penn State, please login to Workday to complete the student application process. Please do not apply here, apply internally through Workday.

• If you are NOT a current employee or student, please click “Apply” and complete the application process for external applicants.

Approval of remote and hybrid work is not guaranteed regardless of work location. For additional information on remote work at Penn State, see Notice to Out of State Applicants.

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POSITION SPECIFICS​

Penn State University is excited to announce an opportunity for a talented and experienced individual to join us as a Release Manager on the Enterprise Customer Relationship Management Program Team! As an enterprise implementation, this program is designed to advance engagement and service delivery for the entire university community, including faculty, students, staff, and alumni, ensuring integrated solutions that create value across all Penn State constituencies. The Release Manager is responsible for orchestrating and streamlining the software release process across development, testing, and production environments. This role combines technical expertise in DevOps practices with project management skills to ensure reliable, efficient, and traceable software deployments.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Release Planning & Strategy

●      Develop and maintain comprehensive release management strategy and roadmap

●      Coordinate release schedules across multiple teams and projects

●      Define release criteria, processes, and approval workflows

●      Establish and monitor service level agreements for release activities

DevOps & Automation

●      Deploy and maintain enterprise DevOps services to streamline release management

●      Enhance automation capabilities across the CI/CD pipeline

●      Implement and maintain deployment automation tools and processes

●      Ensure full environment traceability throughout the release lifecycle

●      Serve as point of contact for the purchased devops and backup tool

●      Maintain disaster recovery plans and support business continuity efforts, including monitoring and testing of backups

Environment Management

●      Oversee development, testing, staging, and production environments

●      Maintain environment configuration consistency and documentation

●      Coordinate environment provisioning and capacity planning

●      Monitor environment health and performance metrics

Process & Quality Assurance

●      Establish and enforce code versioning best practices

●      Implement deployment methodologies and standards

●      Conduct release readiness assessments and go/no-go decisions

●      Manage rollback procedures and incident response protocols

Stakeholder Coordination

●      Facilitate release planning meetings and communication

●      Coordinate with development, QA, operations, and business teams

●      Provide release status updates to leadership and stakeholders

●      Manage change control processes and documentation

QUALIFICATIONS

Qualified candidates will demonstrate strength across several of the following areas: 

Experience

• Strong background in software development lifecycle (SDLC) processes
• Experience with both waterfall and agile development methodologies
• Demonstrated experience owning end-to-end software releases through production, including coordinating complex releases across multiple technical teams, applications or workstreams, and environments
• Experience coordinating releases across development, testing/UAT, staging, and production environments
• Salesforce-specific release management experience
• Experience with cloud platforms, including AWS and/or Azure
• Proficiency with Azure DevOps or a comparable CI/CD and release management platform

Process & Project Management

• Strong understanding of ITIL practices and change management
• Experience with project management methodologies and tools
• Experience with production change control, including release approvals, go/no-go decisions, rollback planning, and incident response
• Knowledge of risk assessment and mitigation strategies
• Understanding of compliance and regulatory requirements
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate release activities and communicate status, risks, and dependencies across technical and business stakeholders

MINIMUM EDUCATION, WORK EXPERIENCE & REQUIRED CERTIFICATIONS

If filled as DevOps Engineer - Advanced Professional, this position requires:
Bachelor's Degree
3+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience accepted
Required Certifications:
None

If filled as DevOps Engineer - Senior Professional, this position requires:
Bachelor's Degree
6+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience accepted
Required Certifications:
None

WORKING HOURS

Standard work hours are in the Eastern Time Zone. Release/Change window for production is 5:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. EST. Flexibility is needed with off-hours work for deployments and major incidents.

APPLICATION MATERIALS

Applicants are encouraged to submit both a resume and cover letter for full consideration.

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies.Penn State does not sponsor or take over sponsorship of a staff employment Visa. Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.

SALARY & BENEFITS

The salary range for this position, including all possible grades, is $81,312.00 - $137,280.00.

Salary Structure - Information on Penn State's salary structure

Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional well-being. In addition to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, employees enjoy robust retirement plans and substantial paid time off which includes holidays, vacation and sick time. One of the standout benefits is the generous 75% tuition discount, available to employees as well as eligible spouses and children. For more detailed information, please visit our Benefits Page.

CAMPUS SECURITY CRIME STATISTICS

Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act and the Pennsylvania Act of 1988, Penn State publishes a combined Annual Security and Annual Fire Safety Report (ASR). The ASR includes crime statistics and institutional policies concerning campus security, such as those concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. The ASR is available for review here.

EEO IS THE LAW

Penn State is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. If you are unable to use our online application process due to an impairment or disability, please contact 814-865-1473.

Penn State is committed to and accountable for advancing equity, respect, and belonging. We embrace individual uniqueness, as well as a culture of belonging that supports equity initiatives, leverages the educational and institutional benefits of inclusion in society, and provides opportunities for engagement intended to help all members of the community thrive. We value belonging as a core strength and an essential element of the university’s teaching, research, and service mission.

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