Release Management Lead

Role:

Pontoon is an employment consultancy. We put expertise, energy, and enthusiasm into improving everyone's chance of being part of the workplace. We respect and appreciate people of all ethnicities, generations, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, gender identities, and more. We do this by showcasing their talents, skills, and unique experience in an inclusive environment that helps them thrive.

Location: London, 4 days on site required

Duration: 6-month

Rate: Via umbrella

Overview:

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Release Management Lead (VP) to join a large, global financial services organisation undergoing major technology transformation. This newly created role will lead the planning, coordination, and governance of software and infrastructure releases across multiple platforms. You will shape release practices, ensure compliance, and work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver secure, well-governed, and efficient releases with minimal business disruption.

What You'll Do:

• Manage and maintain the enterprise release calendar.
• Lead major, minor, and emergency releases across business units.
• Oversee release readiness, rollback planning, and post-release reviews.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory and audit requirements (e.g., SOX, PCI-DSS, GDPR).
• Act as the central point of coordination for senior stakeholders and technology teams.
• Contribute to governance forums including Release Boards and CABs.
• Drive process improvements and support the adoption of release management tooling and automation.

Skills & Experience Required:

• Extensive experience in Release Management, IT Operations, or Technology Delivery.
• Strong background managing enterprise-scale releases in regulated financial services.
• In-depth understanding of ITIL, change governance, and release frameworks.
• Hands-on experience with ITSM tools (e.g., ServiceNow) and CI/CD platforms (e.g., Jenkins, Azure DevOps, GitLab).
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with experience engaging senior leadership.
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance standards (DORA, SOX, PCI-DSS, GDPR).
• Experience working in Agile or SAFe environments.
• Understanding of banking systems, digital platforms, or transaction processing.

Desirable Qualifications & Tools:

• Experience with Terraform, Ansible, Dynatrace, Splunk, or LogicMonitor.

Why Join?

You'll join a globally respected financial institution investing heavily in modernising its technology landscape. This is a key leadership role with the autonomy to build, influence, and shape release practices across the organisation.

Candidates will ideally show evidence of the above in their CV to be considered please click the "apply" button.

We use generative AI tools to support our candidate screening process. This helps us ensure a fair, consistent, and efficient experience for all applicants. Rest assured, all final decisions are made by our hiring team, and your application will be reviewed with care and attention.

Please be advised if you haven't heard from us within 48 hours then unfortunately your application has not been successful on this occasion, we may however keep your details on file for any suitable future vacancies and contact you accordingly.