Senior Manager, Software Release Program Management

Description
Senior Manager, Software Release Program Management
At General Motors, our product teams are redefining mobility. Through a human-centered design process, we create vehicles and experiences that are designed not just to be seen, but to be felt. We're turning today's impossible into tomorrow's standard - from breakthrough hardware and battery systems to intuitive design, intelligent software, and next-generation safety and entertainment features.
Every day, our products move millions of people as we aim to make driving safer, smarter, and more connected, shaping the future of transportation on a global scale.
The Role
Vehicle software releases bring together complex systems, teams, and dependencies. Your team will make that work more predictable and scalable: setting a clear release plan, surfacing risks early, and helping teams resolve the issues that slow delivery down.
You'll shape the evolution toward more frequent releases, including a monthly release cadence and regular security updates, while maintaining the quality and readiness standards customers and the business depend on. You'll have the visibility and influence to improve how releases move from development through validation and into vehicles - and the opportunity to build a strong program-management organization along the way.
Why join us?
You'll help shape the operating model behind how vehicle software reaches customers. The work calls for a leader who can bring order to complexity, build trust across technical organizations, and improve delivery in measurable ways - while keeping safety and quality at the center.
What you'll do
Build and lead a high-performing team

• Hire, coach, and develop technical program managers; establish clear ownership across release programs. This position will lead a team of 10-20.
• Set practical standards, playbooks, and operating rhythms that help the team deliver consistent, high-quality program execution.
• Prioritize team capacity toward the most important release outcomes and support individual growth and performance.

Make releases faster and more predictable

• Lead the evolution toward more frequent software releases and regular security updates.
• Identify and remove bottlenecks from code completion through validation and vehicle delivery, reducing cycle time and improving on-time performance.
• Create realistic, integrated plans with clear milestones, risk visibility, and go/no-go criteria - so teams can meet commitments without relying on last-minute heroics.
• Build scalable release operations, with clear intake, prioritization, work-in-progress practices, and service expectations.
• Align upstream software development with downstream validation and over-the-air delivery so work moves smoothly across teams.

Strengthen readiness and quality

• Lead release planning, change governance, readiness reviews, and communication so stakeholders understand what is shipping, when, and with what risks.
• Work with engineering and quality partners to bring validation evidence earlier into the development process and shorten test-and-fix cycles.
• Use automated test and quality-gate results to inform release readiness and drive timely decisions; partner with the dedicated owners of those systems to improve outcomes.
• Lead post-release reviews and defect-escape analysis, turning lessons into measurable improvements for future releases.

Align leaders and stakeholders

• Build strong working relationships across Development, Product, Quality Assurance, Configuration and Software Change Management, Security, and OTA delivery.
• Communicate status, dependencies, trade-offs, and risks clearly to senior leaders and delivery teams.
• Bring stakeholders together around shared plans, decisions, and accountability for release outcomes.

Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• 5+ years of experience leading technical program managers or a program-management organization, including hiring, coaching, and developing people.
• 10+ years of experience managing software release, delivery, or release-engineering programs for complex embedded, platform, or comparable software.
• A track record of improving release frequency, cycle time, and delivery predictability at scale.
• Working knowledge of modern release practices, including change control, release readiness, gating, and CI/CD, with the judgment to guide strategy and trade-offs.
• Experience partnering with engineering and quality teams to improve early validation, reduce rework or respins, and increase delivery throughput.
• Strong cross-functional leadership, risk and dependency management, and written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level reporting.

What will give you a competitive edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience delivering embedded automotive, infotainment, Android Open Source Project (AOSP), or other connected-device software.
• Familiarity with over-the-air (OTA) updates, security-patch delivery, and software configuration or part-number release processes.
• Experience with release governance, change review boards, validation sign-offs, or hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and emulator-based testing.
• Experience building release dashboards and using metrics to improve velocity, predictability, and quality.
• Familiarity with Jira and Confluence or similar program-management tools.

Compensation: The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position, as well as geography of the selected candidate.

• The salary range for this role is $201,600 - $365,700. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.
• Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance.
• Benefits: GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more.

Company Vehicle: Upon successful completion of a motor vehicle report review, you will be eligible to participate in a company vehicle evaluation program, through which you will be assigned a General Motors vehicle to drive and evaluate. Note: program participants are required to purchase/lease a qualifying GM vehicle every four years unless one of a limited number of exceptions applies.
#LI-LL2
GM does not provide immigration-related sponsorship for this role. Do not apply for this role if you will need GM immigration sponsorship now or in the future. This includes direct company sponsorship, entry of GM as the immigration employer of record on a government form, and any work authorization requiring a written submission or other immigration support from the company (e.g., H1-B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.)
This role is categorized as hybrid. This means the selected candidate is expected to report to a specific location at least 3 times a week {or other frequency dictated by their manager}.
Relocation benefits are available for candidates who qualify under company policy.
About GM
Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.
Why Join Us
We believe we all must make a choice every day - individually and collectively - to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.
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