Role Details Role/Job Title: Release Manager Work Location: Wokingham (with travels if required) Mode of Working: Office (Wokingham) Any Other Working Conditions: with travels if required The Role The Release Manager will lead and coordinate network release activities and CNI (Critical National Infrastructure) cutovers, ensuring controlled, secure, and high quality deployments across mission critical environments. The role requires strong leadership during complex cutovers, excellent planning skills, and experience working with network engineering, infrastructure, cyber security, and operations teams. Candidates must be eligible for UK Security Check (SC) clearance; active SC is advantageous. Your Responsibilities 1. Release Planning & Governance Own the end to end release lifecycle for network and CNI related changes. Define and maintain a cutover plan, release calendar, and integrated deployment timelines. Coordinate with network, security, test, environment, and change management teams to ensure readiness. Conduct release readiness reviews, impact assessments, and Go/No-Go meetings. 2. Network & CNI Cutover Coordination Lead network cutovers including: WAN/LAN migrations SD WAN transitions Firewall/proxy/security rule changes Routing updates, IP schema changes CNI protected service migrations Oversee Major Releases, Emergency Releases, and CNI off-peak cutovers. Validate pre cutover configuration baselines, rollback plans, and network dependencies. Monitor real time cutover execution, manage escalations, and coordinate between engineering teams. 3. Deployment & Technical Oversight Ensure deployment artefacts (config files, templates, scripts) are validated and approved. Oversee automated and manual releases across environments. Ensure alignment with security, architecture, and compliance requirements. Work with Test Leads to ensure post cutover verification (PCV) is completed and documented. 4. Risk, Change & Compliance Management Identify risks, interdependencies, and mitigation actions for all network releases. Ensure adherence to ITIL Change Management processes for CNI environments. Produce accurate release documentation, evidence packs, and audit logs. Support incident reviews and root cause analysis for failed or partially successful releases. 5. Stakeholder Communication Provide clear communication to project managers, network leads, operational teams, and CNI governance stakeholders. Deliver daily/weekly release status reports, dashboards, and cutover readiness summaries. Facilitate cross team coordination during complex CNI related implementation windows. Key Skills & Qualifications Technical Skills 5 years of experience as a Release Manager or Delivery Lead for network or infrastructure projects. Strong understanding of: Enterprise networks (WAN/LAN) SD WAN architectures Routing (BGP/OSPF), firewalls, load balancers Secure network zones & segmentation (CNI/OT/IT) Cloud/on prem hybrid network models Experience managing complex cutovers, migrations, and multi vendor network deployments. Familiarity with CI/CD tools (Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitLab) and ServiceNow/JIRA for change governance. Soft Skills Excellent communication and leadership abilities. Strong stakeholder management, including engineers, architects, operations, and security teams. High attention to detail and ability to manage high pressure deployment windows. Strong analytical and problem solving mindset. SC Clearance Eligibility Candidates must be eligible for UK Security Check (SC) clearance, which typically requires: 5 years continuous UK residency Clean criminal and financial/credit history Ability to comply with government vetting standards Holding an active SC clearance is preferred but not mandatory.