DevOps and Release Engineering Manager

Overview:

When you join the Members 1st team, you become part of something much bigger than a credit union. You become part of our faM1ly—a tight-knit bunch with big dreams and even bigger values. It is an exciting time for us as we continue to grow, and we hope that you will choose to grow along with us. Wanting the absolute best for our associates means more than just competitive pay. It means fantastic healthcare, paid benefits, opportunities for professional advancement and work-life balance - and best of all, a place where you are accepted and respected for your individuality.

Responsibilities:

The DevOps and Release Engineering Manager is a hands on technical leader and people manager responsible for owning DevOps practices, CI/CD platforms, and enterprise release management across software solutions, Salesforce delivery, and cloud/on prem environments.
This role directly manages DevOps Engineers, with future Release Engineers reporting into this role as the function continues to mature. The position blends technical execution, technical leadership, and technical product management, ensuring delivery is predictable, automated, increasingly frequent, and low risk while scaling with the organization.

 
The role treats DevOps and Release Management as products—with a roadmap, backlog, standards, and measurable outcomes—not just operational support functions.

 
Role Composition
• 50% Hands On Engineering
• 25% Technical Leadership & People Management
• 25% Technical Product Management
Key Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

 
DevOps & CI/CD Ownership
• Own end to end CI/CD pipelines across:
o Software solutions (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps)
o Salesforce delivery (Copado)
o Azure and remaining on prem platforms
• Design, build, and optimize pipelines, promotion models, approval gates, rollback strategies, progressive delivery mechanisms (e.g., feature flags, phased rollouts) and reusable templates.
• Lead complex or high risk deployments and serve as hands on technical escalation.
• Own the evolution of tooling and practices, including the deprecation of Octopus Deploy.
Release Management & Governance
• Partner with engineering teams to reduce change size and release risk, leveraging feature flags, decoupled deployments, and low risk change patterns to safely increase release frequency.
• Own and evolve the enterprise release calendar, driving a shift toward smaller, more frequent releases while retaining appropriate coordination for platform level and Salesforce seasonal events.
• Coordinate release readiness across Engineering, Testing, Product, Platform, and Operations.
• Present release plans, readiness, and risk assessments to governance bodies (e.g., CAB), with rigor scaled to risk.
• Ensure releases meet audit, security, and compliance expectations with clear documentation and traceability.
People Leadership
• Directly manage DevOps Engineers and build a Release Engineering function.
• Provide coaching, technical direction, and career development.
• Establish clear responsibilities and boundaries across DevOps, Release Engineering, and Software Engineering.
• Lead as a player coach, remaining close to the work while scaling team capability.
Technical Product Management
• Own the vision, roadmap, and backlog for:
o CI/CD platforms
o Release automation
o Salesforce delivery patterns
o DevOps standards and maturity
• Prioritize work using value based tradeoffs aligned to delivery outcomes, risk reduction, and platform strategy.
• Align DevOps and release roadmaps with architecture direction and product delivery plans.
• Communicate sequencing, dependencies, and investment needs clearly to stakeholders.
Quality, Risk & Continuous Improvement
• Define release of entry/exit criteria and pre release validation standards.
• Partner with testing resources to ensure quality in the absence of formal QA.
• Collaborate with Operations to monitor post release health and improve observability.
• Establish and report on key DevOps metrics (deployment frequency, change failure rate, MTTR), using them to drive concrete improvements in release velocity and stability over time.
• Lead post release retrospectives and drive continuous improvement.
This role provides clear ownership and accountability for DevOps and Release Engineering, ensuring delivery speed, reliability, and compliance scale together—by replacing ad hoc practices with repeatable, product driven delivery patterns. This role exists to intentionally move the organization away from large, infrequent, high risk releases toward smaller, safer, and more continuous delivery, without compromising governance or regulatory expectations.

 
SKILLS
• DevOps & CI/CD Platform Ownership – End‑to‑end ownership of CI/CD pipelines across GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Salesforce (Copado), and hybrid environments
• Hands‑On Release Engineering – Designing, executing, and troubleshooting complex, high‑risk releases with automation‑first practices
• People Leadership & Coaching – Direct management of DevOps Engineers and scaling a Release Engineering function through player‑coach leadership
• Release Management & Governance – Enterprise release planning, risk assessment, change governance, and audit‑ready delivery practices
• Technical Product Management – Owning vision, roadmap, and backlog for DevOps and release capabilities; prioritizing work based on value and risk
• Salesforce Delivery Expertise – Managing Salesforce deployment models, seasonal releases, environment strategy, and CI/CD automation
• Tooling Modernization & Migration – Leading platform transitions (e.g., GitHub adoption, Octopus Deploy deprecation) with minimal delivery disruption
• Risk, Quality & Reliability Engineering – Defining release entry/exit criteria, rollback strategies, and production readiness standards
• Cross‑Functional Stakeholder Alignment – Partnering effectively with Engineering, Product, Architecture, Security, and Operations teams
• Metrics‑Driven Continuous Improvement – Using DevOps and release metrics (deployment frequency, failure rates, MTTR) to drive maturity and transparency

 
COMPETENCIES
• Accountability and self-management
• Communication
• Effective knowledge
• Innovation and problem-solving
• Teamwork and leadership

 
WORKING CONDITIONS/PHYSICAL DEMANDS
• Ability to communicate effectively in English, both orally and in writing
• Visually able to perform activities such as preparing and analyzing data and figures, viewing a computer terminal, and extensive reading
• Ability to sit for extended time periods
• Sufficient manual skill for operation of PC keyboard and other standard office equipment
• Ability to travel, including occasional overnight travel
• Ability to exert minimum amounts of force occasionally to lift, carry, push, pull or move objects

Qualifications:

5-8 years of related experience; 3-5 years of leadership/management experience

Education Level: General and business knowledge equivalent to a bachelor's degree Certifications: None Compensation Overview:

We are excited to offer a competitive salary for this position. This figure serves as the entry point in our salary range, and there is potential for the actual salary to be higher based on a variety of factors, such as your experience, skills, education, and location. We believe in recognizing and rewarding talent, so our compensation packages are thoughtfully designed to reflect the unique qualifications and contributions of each candidate.

The minimum salary for this position is: $129,000.00+/yr About Us:

At Members 1st, we look for individuals who will show up as their whole self because we value diversity, inclusion, and belonging, as well as people who believe in the philosophy of, WE> me. To be sure you align with our company mission, vision, values and culture reference the information below.
Company Culture is at Our Core
If there is one concept, we want you to understand about us, it is this. WE. It is a simple little word but means everything here. We think as one. One faM1ly. One community. One place where everyone belongings. Everything we do is in the best interest of all of us.
What WE Believe
Our Missions: WE serve our members, associates, and communities through support, empowerment, and meaningful relationships.
Our Vision: WE are growing our faM1ly by delivering everything they need to live well financially, through all life’s moments and milestones.
Our Values: WE deliver unparalleled experiences through a culture of WE. WE > me. WE are servant leaders- at work and in the communities we serve. WE are financially safe and sound stewards of members dollars. WE are faM1ly.

Join a company that grows with you – personally and professionally

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Members 1st provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.