Release Manager

AXA Group; Bolton; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurance company in Bolton is seeking a Release Manager for a 12-month fixed term contract. The role involves coordinating release progress, managing communications with stakeholders, and ensuring release readiness. Candidates should have project management experience and familiarity with Agile methodologies. The position offers a competitive salary up to £50,000, along with a range of benefits including a pension scheme and private medical cover. This is a hybrid role with flexible working arrangements available.

Benefits

Competitive annual salary

Discretionary company bonus

Contributory pension scheme

Private medical cover

25 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays

Qualifications

• Proven track record of project/release management in large projects following an Agile delivery approach.
• Foundation level accredited and making progress towards practitioner level in PM or Change qualification.
• Strong stakeholder management skills are essential.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and monitor release progress during daily stand-ups.
• Manage release status communications with key stakeholders.
• Ensure release readiness for pre-production and production checkpoints.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Agile delivery

Cloud release management

Communication skills

Education

Prince2 practitioner

ITIL certification

Job description

We have a new opportunity for a Release Manager to join us on a 12-month fixed term contract.

Working as a Release Manager, you’ll coordinate and monitor release progress during daily stand-ups, manage release issues, assess the effectiveness of releases and identify and implement improvements to optimize the release process to ensure smooth delivery. This role involves working within a broader release team, with release responsibilities allocated based on demand. At AXA we work smart, empowering our people to balance their time between home and the office in a way that works best for them, their team and our customers. You’ll work at least two days a week (40%) away from home, moving to three days a week (60%) in the future. Away from home means either attendance at one of our office locations, visiting clients or attending industry events. We’re also happy to consider flexible working arrangements, which you can discuss with Talent Acquisition.

What you’ll be doing:

• Responsibility for overall release planning and liaison with the key contacts to deliver the agreed functionality to the agreed timescales on the commercial insurance and claims releases
• Managing release status communications with AXA Insurance key stakeholders
• Ensuring release readiness for pre-production and production check points
• Managing resulting warranty periods, ensuring any production defects are identified and resolved in line with business expectations
• Defining, documenting and communicating the release process to the release stakeholders
• Regularly reviewing release progress against plans and identifying and resolving non project resource conflicts alongside the lead release manager
• Reviewing release content and scope to identify and communicate any increase in risk, impact or issues relating to the release as a whole

Due to the number of applications we expect to receive for this role, we reserve the right to close this advert earlier than the listed closing date to ensure we’re able to effectively manage interest. Therefore, if you’re interested in joining us at AXA, please don’t hesitate to apply.

What you’ll bring:

• Previous experience with proven track record of project/release management in large projects, programmes, released following an Agile delivery approach
• Accredited at foundation level and making progress towards/have attained practitioner level in a PM or Change qualification (Prince2 practitioner, ITIL, ISEB, APMP, ISO, CMMI)
• Strong stakeholder management
• Expert understanding of end-to-end IT solutions and the IT delivery lifecycle
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment
• Experience of public cloud release management and migration programs would be desirable
• Able and willing to learn new technologies, skills and methodologies

Internal candidates are encouraged to apply for this role as a secondment opportunity through the internal careers site.

As a precondition of employment for this role, you must be eligible and authorised to work in the United Kingdom.

What we offer:

At AXA UK, we’re appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:

• Competitive annual salary of up to £50,000 dependent on experience
• Discretionary company & performance-based bonus
• Contributory pension scheme (up to 12% employer contributions)
• Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary)
• Private medical cover
• 25 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Opportunity to buy up to 5 extra days leave or sell up to 5 days leave
• Wellbeing services & resources
• AXA employee discounts

To apply, click on the ‘apply for this job’ button, you’ll then need to log in or create a profile to submit your CV. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer and don’t discriminate against employees or potential employees based on protected characteristics. If you have a long-term condition or disability and require adjustments during the application or interview process, we’re proud to offer access to the AXA Accessibility Concierge. For our support, please send an email to [e-mail].

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Who we are:

AXA UK Support Functions power AXA’s three customer-facing business units, providing the infrastructure, support and expertise to ensure our customers can always count on us. Whether you’ve got heaps of experience and qualifications behind you, or you’re just starting out, we’ll give you the support and opportunities to help you grow and develop with confidence.