Release Manager

Job Title

Maximus is a trusted federal partner supporting mission-critical programs across national security, defense, and public service delivery. Our work focuses on sustaining, operating, and improving essential government systems and services, with proven operational excellence, and a commitment to mission success for our customers.

Joining Maximus means becoming part of a collaborative, mission-driven organization where teamwork, accountability, and professional growth are core to how we operate. We invest in our workforce through training, education, and career development, empowering professionals to deliver high-impact solutions while contributing to outcomes that matter at a national scale.

This position is contingent upon contract award and position availability. Selected candidates will receive a contingent offer of employment, which will become final only upon successful contract award to Maximus, availability of the position, and receipt of authorization to proceed.

Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust is required. Active Public Trust and/or DHS Suitability is preferred. U.S. citizenship or U.S. national status required.

Job-Specific Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as the enterprise Release Manager, responsible for coordinating, planning, and executing releases across multiple teams, value streams, and technical domains.
• Lead release planning, sequencing, and dependency management across service areas, ensuring integration with configuration, change, and release management processes.
• Coordinate closely with the Configuration Change Manager to ensure all releases are governed and executed in accordance with agency-directed processes, system engineering lifecycle, and IT lifecycle standards.
• Facilitate Program Increment (PI) planning activities, working with Product Owners and cross-functional teams to manage 3-6 month delivery plans.
• Align release schedules with stakeholders, ensuring clear communication of release readiness, planned outages, and deployment windows.
• Coordinate cross-team dependencies and resolve conflicts to minimize operational impacts and maintain service stability and SLA performance.
• Synchronize release activities with incident management, operational support, and disaster recovery stakeholders to ensure continuity of operations and recovery readiness.
• Track release progress, risks, and performance metrics using dashboards, reporting tools, and Agile/SAFe methodologies (e.g., burn-up/down charts).
• Support integration of Agile and SAFe practices across teams, promoting transparency, efficiency, and continuous improvement in release execution.
• Ensure release documentation, artifacts, and reporting are accurate, complete, and audit-ready in alignment with ITSM and governance requirements.

Job-Specific Minimum Requirements

• Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust is required. Active Public Trust and/or DHS Suitability is preferred. U.S. citizenship or U.S. national status required.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a Release Manager or Release Train Engineer (RTE) in enterprise IT environments.
• Proven experience coordinating large-scale, multi-team release planning and execution across complex technical environments.
• Strong knowledge of ITIL-based change and release management processes.
• Experience applying Agile and SAFe frameworks, including PI planning and cross-team coordination.
• Demonstrated ability to manage release dependencies, risks, and scheduling conflicts across multiple stakeholders.
• Experience supporting enterprise ITSM tools (e.g., ServiceNow) for release tracking and reporting.
• Ability to produce and maintain release documentation, metrics, and audit artifacts.
• Experience coordinating releases in environments requiring high availability and strict SLA adherence.
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Engineering, Business, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• 8+ years of experience in IT service management, release management, or Agile program delivery roles.

Preferred Skills and Qualifications

• Experience supporting federal government environments.
• Familiarity with system engineering lifecycle frameworks.
• Experience coordinating releases across multi-domain environments (network, cloud, applications, telecom).
• Strong understanding of CMDB integration with release and change processes.
• Experience using Agile metrics and reporting tools to track performance and delivery outcomes.
• Ability to lead cross-functional coordination efforts in large-scale enterprise environments.
• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience driving continuous improvement and Agile transformation initiatives.
• SAFe certification (e.g., SAFe RTE, SAFe Agilist, or equivalent).
• ITIL Foundation (or higher) preferred.