Your New Role
As a D365 Release Manager, you will play a critical role in governing and executing the end-to-end release management lifecycle for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain, and Commerce platforms. The role will report to the Senior Director Retail Experiences Technology and will be based out of Leavesden Park, Watford.
You will own the technical release strategy, environment management, and deployment governance, ensuring code, configuration, and data changes move seamlessly through development, test, and production environments with minimal risk and maximum stability.
This is a hands‑on leadership role that combines DevOps engineering, Azure infrastructure management, and D365 deployment expertise, ensuring the enterprise D365 platform operates as a reliable, secure, and scalable foundation for Warner Bros. Discovery’s global business operations.
Acting as the central coordination point between technical teams, solution architects, Microsoft partners, and program management, you’ll design and operate robust release pipelines, quality gates, and environment controls to deliver continuous improvement across the D365 ecosystem.
Your Role Accountabilities
* Release Governance & Planning
* Define and own the Dynamics 365 release management framework, including deployment calendar, release cadence, quality gates, and approval workflows.
* Establish and enforce release governance processes, ensuring all code/config changes are reviewed, tested, and signed off prior to deployment.
* Coordinate with delivery leads, solution architects, and functional consultants to align release schedules with project milestones and business readiness.
* Manage cutover planning, go-live execution, and post-release validation activities.
* Serve as the single point of accountability for all D365 releases across multiple environments and vendors.
DevOps & Automation
* Design, build, and manage Azure DevOps pipelines for Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (F&O), Commerce, and supporting services.
* Implement CI/CD automation for build, package, deploy, and regression testing across environments.
* Govern branching, merging, and build strategies in Azure Repos or Git-based source control systems.
* Collaborate with development teams to define automated testing and quality validation processes.
* Maintain deployment scripts, tools, and templates to accelerate and standardize D365 releases.
Environment & Infrastructure Management
* Oversee all D365 environments—Development, SIT, UAT, Pre-Prod, and Production—ensuring consistency and version alignment.
* Manage environment refreshes, data masking, configuration migration, and database backups in collaboration with infrastructure and Microsoft support teams.
* Optimize LCS (Lifecycle Services) projects and environment topology to ensure performance and reliability.
* Coordinate with Azure Infrastructure teams to manage resource provisioning, scaling, and monitoring for the D365 platform.
* Ensure high availability and disaster recovery readiness through Azure-based resilience strategies.
Technical Leadership & Collaboration
* Partner with Solution and Technical Architects to define and implement DevSecOps best practices for Dynamics 365.
* Act as the technical authority for release and deployment decisions—balancing speed, quality, and control.
* Collaborate with Microsoft FastTrack, Managed Services, and SI partners to resolve release issues and adopt platform best practices.
* Provide mentoring, knowledge transfer, and upskilling for internal DevOps and support teams.
Quality, Security & Compliance
* Ensure releases adhere to internal IT governance, SOX, GDPR, and change management controls.
* Implement automated compliance validation and reporting within Azure DevOps pipelines.
* Maintain complete audit trails and release documentation for traceability and operational assurance.
* Define rollback and contingency strategies for high-risk releases.
Continuous Improvement
* Monitor deployment metrics (frequency, lead time, failure rate) and drive ongoing improvements in release efficiency and quality.
* Evaluate new Microsoft and Azure DevOps features, proposing enhancements to existing toolchains and workflows.
* Champion a culture of automation, reliability, and transparency in delivery practices.
Qualifications & Experiences
Required
* 8+ years of experience in ERP technical delivery, with 4–5+ years specializing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (F&O) and/or Commerce.
* Proven experience managing end-to-end release cycles for enterprise-scale D365 implementations or global rollouts.
* Deep hands‑on expertise with Azure DevOps (Pipelines, Repos, Artifacts, Boards) for CI/CD automation and code deployment.
* Strong understanding of D365 code and metadata structure, ISV solution deployment, and extension management.
* Skilled in Azure infrastructure administration, including resource groups, networking, security, scaling, and monitoring.
* Proficiency with Microsoft Lifecycle Services (LCS)—environment management, asset library, and update deployments.
* Experience with PowerShell, YAML pipelines, and automated deployment scripting.
* Strong grasp of ITIL change management, DevSecOps principles, and release governance frameworks.
* Excellent communication and stakeholder coordination skills, with the ability to manage global release calendars across vendors and regions.
Preferred
* Experience in multi-entity or global retail / commerce environments integrating D365 F&O and Commerce.
* Familiarity with D365 dual-write, Dataverse, and Power Platform integrations.
* Knowledge of Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and Log Analytics for D365 performance management.
* Exposure to Microsoft FastTrack methodologies and release validation practices.
* Experience with containerization (Docker/Kubernetes) or Azure automation frameworks.
Certifications
* MB-700: Microsoft Dynamics 365: Finance and Operations Apps Solution Architect Expert.
* MB-300: Dynamics 365: Core Finance and Operations.
* MB-310 / MB-330 / MB-340: Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain, and Commerce (advantageous cross-domain knowledge).
* AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions (strongly preferred).
* AZ-305: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions.
* ITIL v4 Foundation or Practitioner (for release governance best practice).
Hybrid Working
Hybrid Working - This role is advertised as a Hybrid work model, that combines remote and in-office work, following our current company policy and to be agreed with your Line Manager. Subject to any applicable laws, WBD / your Line Manager reserves the right to change this working agreement where this is essential to business needs and upon reasonable notice to you.
How We Get Things Done
This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.
Championing Inclusion at WBD
Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, regardless of sex, gender identity, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, disability or any other category protected by law.
If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.
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