Release Manager

Release Manager

Division – Data Technology and Innovation

Department – Technology Resilience

Team – Cyber Security

Salary – National – ranging from £51,200 – £78,700 and London from £56,400 – £86,600 per annum (salary offered will be based on skills and experience)

About the FCA

The FCA regulates the conduct of 45,000 firms in the UK to ensure our financial markets are honest, fair and competitive. Follow this link to find out more About the FCA

Data, Technology and Innovation (DTI) is leveraging state-of-the-art data & digital capabilities to deliver innovation in regulation. We utilise data science and intelligence gathering to proactively identify and intervene to prevent harm and protect consumers.​

The Release Manager is part of the Cyber Security Product Group and is responsible for the quality of change and release activities and deliverables progressing through the various development and staging environments through to the Live production environment for both new and existing services.  Ensuring that the changes are appropriately tested, whilst meeting the quality expectations and protecting the integrity of the Live environments.

What will you be doing?

• Manage a rolling portfolio of technical\functional system releases, providing guidance on the prioritisation of release candidates through the established policy whilst engaging key internal stakeholders

• Identify release readiness activities, creating detailed implementation plans, managing deployment rehearsals and ensuring live implementations are controlled and managed appropriately to agree governance controls i.e. attending the Release Control Board

• Orchestrate the planning, tracking, reporting and assistance for the delivery of release through the software delivery lifecycle. Drive delivery best practice with a focus on production quality and readiness

• Ensure Services are transitioned from change to live minimising risk and disruption to the organisation

• Manage relationships with partners, internal and external stakeholders to successful implementation of specified releases and contribute to the evolution of the Release Management Framework using Agile and DevOps methodologies

• Ensure risks & issues with regards to release management are being effectively managed and progressed by the nominated owners. Works collaboratively with all participants in the software development life cycle (SDLC) to improve software engineering processes and practices associated with continuously building and deploying software

• Supporting operations out of hours as part of an on-call rota

What will you get from the role?

• We work in small cross functional, self-organising and autonomous teams, passionate about delivering value and having fun

• We like to work smart, not long hours

• We enjoy having a sense of purpose in our job, knowing that we’re serving those in need

• We don’t do micro-managing; we hire people because we believe they are brilliant in getting the job done

• We admire and look out for servant leaders who have exceptional critical soft skills

• We believe in innovation, not prescription

Which skills are required?

We are a Disability Confident Employer; therefore, disabled people or individuals with long-term conditions who best meet the minimum criteria for a role will go through to the next stage of the recruitment process. (To learn more about the Disability Confident Scheme Click Here)

Minimum

• Strong experience of Multi-Supplier Service Delivery Operating Models, IT infrastructure Release Management in a multi-sourced IT Supply Chain Model, Excellent understanding of the SDLC in multiple technologies

• Strong experience of leading IT delivery within project frameworks, project planning, resource forecasting, financial management, incident resolution and project governance

• Experienced in managing application releases within a multi business stream environment including managed service offerings

Essential

• Evidenced based to drive quality management helping to identify delivery improvements through data insights

• Expert relationship manager in managing delivery expectations with internal customers through excellent communication, coordination and collaboration

• Strong experience of implementing large IT functional and technical projects into a live environment via a defined Release Management process

• Strong experience of technical and environment interdependencies across projects and programmes.

• Ability to manage conflicting priorities and solve problems quickly and effectively, using judgement to involve the correct stakeholders at key decision points.

• Analytical, to interpret & understand technical documentation, confident decision maker, using analysis and insight to make sound decisions.

• Able to develop and maintain excellent relationships with external and internal customers, excellent negotiation and influencing skills required, with gravitas and credibility across the stakeholder groups

• Open and clear communication skills, patient, pleasant and diplomatic whilst ensuring that key messages are understood by non-technical stakeholders

Our Values & Diversity

We are proud to be an inclusive employer and our ambition is to cultivate a culture for all employees that respects their individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences and similarities enable us to be a better organisation – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better regulation.

Within the workplace you will have access to various employee resource groups which aim to promote and achieve a healthy work / life balance and support our diversity ambitions.

Did you know? 50% of our Executive Committee are women.

The FCA is committed to achieving greater diversity across all levels of the organisation. Given this, we particularly welcome applications from women, minority ethnic, disabled, and neurodivergent candidates for our role.

Benefits of working at the FCA

• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays

• Hybrid working (work from home up to 60% of your time)

• Private healthcare with Bupa 

• A non-contributory Pension of at least 8%

• Life assurance

• Income protection

We also have a competitive flexible benefits scheme which gives you the opportunity to create a personalised benefits package, tailored to suit your lifestyle.

We welcome applications from candidates who are looking for flexible arrangements.  Many of our staff work flexibly including working part-time, staggered hours, and job shares.  We can’t promise to give you exactly what you want but we can explore what might work best for both sides.

Follow this link to see what life is like at the FCA - Life at the FCA

Application Support

We are dedicated to removing barriers and ensuring our application process is accessible to everyone. We offer a range of adjustments to make your application experience as comfortable and straightforward as possible.

If you have an accessibility need, disability, or condition requiring changes to the recruitment process, please contact your recruiter using the details below and they will be happy to discuss this further with you.

Useful Information and Timeline

This role is graded as Senior Associate – Regulatory

SC Clearance is required for this role – SC Guidance 

• Advert closing date: 23rd February

• CV review/shortlist: W/C 24th February      

• Technical competence interview and presentation task: W/C 3rd March

• Competency based interview: W/C 10th March

Your Recruiter will discuss the process in detail with you during screening for the role, therefore, please make them aware if you are going to be unavailable for any date during this time. 

Got a question?

If you are interested in learning more about the role, please contact: 

• For internal applicants, please contact Melanie Dubock at Melanie.Dubock@fca.org.uk

• For external applicants, please contact Asha Gladis at Asha.Gladis@fca.org.uk  

Applications must be submitted through our online portal. Applications sent via email will not be accepted.