DevOps Release Manager

Role Title : DevOps Release Manager

Location Remote / Client Site as Required (Germany)

Experience : 10-12+ Years

Employment Type : Full-Time

Role Overview

• We are seeking an experienced German-speaking DevOps Release Manager to lead DevOps, Release Management, and Environment Management activities for a large-scale Pega Customer Decision Hub (CDH) platform. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience managing enterprise application releases, CI/CD pipelines, deployment governance, and production operations in complex customer engagement environments.
• The candidate must be fluent in German and English and possess strong stakeholder management skills to work effectively with business users, development teams, infrastructure teams, and senior client stakeholders. Experience in customer engagement, marketing decisioning, CRM, or customer communications platforms is highly desirable.
• This role requires a hands-on leader capable of driving automation, ensuring release quality, managing deployment risks, and enabling seamless delivery across multiple environments.

Key Responsibilities

DevOps & Environment Management

• Lead the DevOps function for Pega CDH applications across Development, Test, UAT, Pre-Production, and Production environments.
• Define and implement DevOps best practices, standards, and governance processes.
• Ensure platform stability, deployment reliability, and operational excellence.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance deployment efficiency and application availability.
• Manage environment provisioning, refresh activities, configuration management, and access controls.

Release Management

• Own the end-to-end release management lifecycle, including planning, scheduling, deployment, validation, and post-release reviews.
• Manage release calendars and coordinate deployments across multiple projects and teams.
• Lead release readiness assessments, go/no-go decision meetings, and deployment governance forums.
• Ensure proper rollback strategies, contingency plans, and deployment documentation are maintained.
• Coordinate closely with Change Advisory Boards (CAB) and operational teams.

CI/CD & Automation

• Design and manage CI/CD pipelines for Pega CDH applications.
• Automate build, deployment, testing, and release processes to improve efficiency and quality.
• Integrate automated testing, security validation, and quality checks into deployment pipelines.
• Drive Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and deployment automation initiatives where applicable.

Production Support & Service Transition

• Support production releases and major deployment activities.
• Ensure smooth transition from project delivery to operational support.
• Lead root cause analysis for release-related incidents and implement preventive measures.
• Monitor deployment KPIs, environment health, and operational SLAs.
• Ensure high availability and performance of the Pega platform.

Stakeholder & Vendor Management

• Act as the primary interface between development, testing, infrastructure, operations, and business teams.
• Communicate release status, risks, deployment readiness, and operational metrics to stakeholders.
• Collaborate with client leadership and delivery teams in both German and English.
• Coordinate with external vendors and technology partners where required.

Governance, Compliance & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with enterprise security, audit, and regulatory requirements.
• Establish release governance frameworks and approval processes.
• Perform deployment risk assessments and mitigation planning.
• Support internal and external audits related to change and release management.

Required Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related discipline.
• Master's Degree preferred.

Experience

• 10-12+ years of IT experience with at least 5 years in DevOps and Release Management leadership roles.
• Proven experience managing enterprise-scale application deployments.
• Strong experience supporting Pega-based customer engagement solutions.
• Experience working in Agile, DevOps, and large transformation programs.
• Experience leading distributed, offshore, and cross-functional teams.

Language Requirements

• Native or Fluent German (Mandatory)
• Professional English proficiency (Mandatory)

Technical Skills

Pega Expertise

• Pega Customer Decision Hub (CDH)
• Pega Customer Engagement Applications
• Pega Deployment Manager
• Pega DevOps Framework
• Rules Migration & Application Packaging
• Enterprise Release Management for Pega Platforms

DevOps & Automation

• Azure DevOps
• Jenkins
• GitHub / GitLab
• Bitbucket
• Bamboo
• SonarQube
• Maven

Cloud & Infrastructure

• AWS
• Microsoft Azure
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• Linux/Unix Environments

Monitoring & Operations

• Splunk
• Dynatrace
• AppDynamics
• ELK Stack
• Grafana

IT Service Management

• Change Management
• Release Management
• Incident Management
• Problem Management
• Service Transition
• ITIL Framework

Key Competencies

Leadership & Delivery

• Enterprise DevOps Leadership
• Release Governance
• Environment Management
• Continuous Integration & Delivery
• Operational Excellence
• Process Improvement

Stakeholder Management

• Executive Communication
• Client Relationship Management
• Vendor Coordination
• Risk & Escalation Management
• Cross-functional Collaboration

Personal Attributes

• Strong Ownership and Accountability
• Excellent Communication Skills
• Problem-Solving Mindset
• Ability to Work Under Pressure
• Customer-Focused Approach
• Strong Decision-Making Skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Pega Certified Senior System Architect (CSSA)
• Pega Certified Lead System Architect (CLSA)
• Azure DevOps or AWS DevOps Certifications
• ITIL Foundation or Above
• Experience with CRM, Customer Communications Management (CCM), Customer Engagement Platforms, or MarTech solutions
• Experience managing releases in highly regulated enterprise environments