Release manager - CRISIL

We are seeking an experienced Release Manager to lead the end-to-end release management function for a large-scale Risk Transformation Program within a leading investment bank.This role is responsible for governance, planning, coordination, and execution oversight of releases across multiple risk and regulatory platforms. The ideal candidate will bring strong leadership experience, deep understanding of enterprise release processes, and proven capability in managing releases in a highly regulated financial environment .

Release Strategy & Governance

• Define and implement the release management strategy, framework, and governance model
• Establish and enforce release policies, standards, and controls aligned with regulatory requirements
• Oversee compliance with audit, SOX, and internal risk controls
• Lead Change Advisory Board (CAB) discussions and approvals

Release Planning & Portfolio Oversight

• Own the enterprise release calendar, ensuring alignment across multiple workstreams and applications
• Manage interdependencies across risk systems, upstream/downstream platforms, and shared services
• Drive release readiness assessments and go/no-go decision-making
• Provide consolidated release reporting to senior stakeholders and program leadership

Stakeholder Management

• Act as the central point of contact for all release-related activities
• Coordinate across Technology, DevOps, Infrastructure, QA, Risk, and Business teams
• Engage with senior stakeholders to communicate release status, risks, and issues
• Facilitate alignment between delivery teams and program objectives

Release Execution Oversight

• Oversee execution of releases across environments (Dev, UAT, Pre-Prod, Production)
• Ensure robust deployment plans, rollback strategies, and contingency processes are in place
• Monitor release progress and ensure minimal disruption to business operations
• Manage production releases, including out-of-hours deployments where required

Risk, Issue & Dependency Management

• Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate release risks and dependencies
• Manage and escalate critical issues impacting release timelines or quality
• Ensure proper documentation and traceability of risks and decisions

Continuous Improvement & Automation

• Drive adoption of DevOps practices, CI/CD, and release automation
• Identify opportunities to improve release efficiency, stability, and scalability
• Standardize release processes across the transformation program
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• Relevant certifications (preferred):
• DevOps / Cloud certifications (AWS, Azure)
• ITIL Certification
• Agile / Scrum certifications

Core Expertise

• Proven experience as a Release Manager in complex, enterprise-scale environments
• Strong understanding of release management frameworks, ITIL practices, and SDLC
• Hands-on familiarity with CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitLab, Azure DevOps, etc.)
• Experience managing large, cross-functional delivery teams and dependencies

Banking & Risk Domain Experience

• Extensive experience in investment banking or financial services
• Exposure to risk transformation programs (Market Risk, Credit Risk, Liquidity Risk preferred)
• Understanding of regulatory frameworks and compliance expectations

Technical Knowledge

• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP)
• Familiarity with DevOps tooling, version control systems (Git), and automation frameworks
• Understanding of application, infrastructure, and database release processes

Leadership & Soft Skills

• Strong leadership and decision-making capability under pressure
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and influencing skills at senior levels
• Ability to manage complex programs with multiple parallel releases
• Exceptional communication, planning, and organizational skills

Good to have

• Experience in large-scale regulatory or transformation programs in investment banks/global markets domain