Release and Environments Manager

Job Introduction

Are you looking for a new challenge that gives you the chance to use your knowledge of Release and Environments management to take IT Development Operations at Selfridges to the next level?  Looking for a company that wants to help further your career as well as provide you with an exciting, inspiring and fun place to work?  

If the answer to all of these questions is ‘yes’ then you’re just the kind of person we’re looking for! 

Role Responsibility

The Release and Environments Manager organizes, directs and manages activities and environments for releasing and maintaining the Selfridges multichannel environments, supporting the non-production estate and Path To Live for BAU and Projects. This role determines the required skills and manages the internal resources and external suppliers needed to deliver the Release and Environments Service.

To oversee the process and working closely with internal stakeholders and a large number of external suppliers to plan, schedule and execute the necessary activities to establish appropriate test facilities, ensuring suitable deployment controls and effective Path to Live for changes.

The role manages the Release & Environments team, which is made up of several Release Managers supporting different Service lines plus Environment Managers. The role will need to own and manage a consistent framework and provide standards for the team to work within.

The role direct activities to ensure the software products meet quality standards and performance objectives and manages all deployment and environment activities needed to successfully deploy multichannel releases to production environments.

This role is responsible for implementing process improvements, automation and better use of tooling for areas such as CI, source code management, DML, deployment controls, Access and Configuration Management.  

The role is responsible for managing several managed services provided by 3^rd parties in order to provide successful a Release and Environments function within Selfridges, for example a 3^rd party Release & Environments Managed Service and a Non Production Support Service.

The role requires the ability to deal with different types of stakeholder, from technical, end user or administration functions, therefore the ability to communicate at those levels is key. Excellent planning, communication and teamwork are essential, as is the ability to assess impact and follow through issues to resolution.

As the Release and Environments Manager, you will:

• Collaborate with Service Delivery teams, Project teams, Development & Deployment Partners and Test teams to build, integrate, test and deliver Releases.
• Delivery and assurance of all non-production environments to support the entire non-production estate, including definition, provision and configuration of environments.
• Be the primary contact and escalation point for stakeholders for anything related to Release or Environment policies and processes, as well as details of current and future Releases in plan
• Proactively identifying and addressing release issues and risks and working with project, programme and delivery teams to resolve.
• Evaluating, scoping and setting priorities for release criteria and product quality requirements.
• Overall co-ordination and management of all release and non-production environment activities, including internal resource and external suppliers.
• Utilising existing tooling, or defining and implementing new tooling, to support requirements either tactical or strategic
• Managing tools required to monitor and action Project and Quality Assurance activities required by the project, testing and service teams.
• Line management of the Release and Environments Team.
• Ensuring all internal resources and external suppliers follow the Selfridges Release and Change Managements Processes.
• Define and manage Selfridges Release & Environment standards and frameworks.
• Accountable for delivering and maintaining the service improvements plan for the team
• Providing out of hours support for releases as required.
• Supporting Project Managers with scoping and managing release related costs and budgets.

The Ideal Candidate

• This is a key coordination role and as such needs someone with extensive experience in a similar Release & Environments Management role and having worked in a heavily federated environment
• Experience managing 3^rd party Managed Services is required for this role, including non-production support, hosting and release & environment services
• Experience in fast pace delivery environments with competing priorities is required for this role
• Experience managing similar Release and Environments Team/s is required for this role.
• Experience in defining, provisioning, configuring and managing environments is a requirement for this role.
• Previous retail experience is required for this role

• Knowledge of Digital platforms and applications, such as WCS V6 / V9, AEM, Mobile Apps and supporting services is required for this role.
• Knowledge of Middleware and Integration Platforms, such as MQ/IIB, TIBCO Mashery, Oracle SOA is required for this role
• Knowledge of Oracle Retail applications is preferable for this role
• Experience managing 3^rd party delivery and support teams
• Knowledge of SAAS, PAAS and IAAS and familiarity with Hybrid Cloud architectures would be desirable for this role
• Very good understanding and experience of the full SDLC
• Knowledge of DevOps, automation processes and tooling is required for this role
• Familiarity with Infrastructure configuration such as firewalls and connection protocols would be desirable for this role
• Knowledge of data refresh processes would be preferable for this role
• ITIL qualified, specifically with a good appreciation of Service Transition  
• Strong process knowledge of Software development Life Cycles, including Agile
• Proven track record of delivering software products in complex environments with multiple external delivery teams
• The successful candidate may have a background of technical project management or senior software delivery management from either a corporate or a supplier of software services
• Excellent communication, organization and planning skills, pitching to the appropriate level
• Ability to continually question current customs and practice; and initiate quality improvements
• Personal Effectiveness (resilience)
• Planning and organising
• Commercial Sense
• Strategic and analytical problem solving and effective time management

About the Company

Our Creative Spirit 

We are more than a shop. We are a social space where culture and commerce collide to release an energy that we call the Selfridges spirit. We are here to make our world brighter, and everyone is welcome. 

Our Awards Cabinet 

We’re not ones to brag, but since you asked...Selfridges has won the award for The World’s Best Department Store an unprecedented four times at the IGDS awards, with an additional award for the Best Sustainability Campaign.  

Our Future 

Since 1909 we have been at the forefront of retail and today our stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham – alongside selfridges.com and the Selfridges App – continue to redefine the way we shop and socialise. As a Selfridges team member, you will learn what it takes to consistently drive innovation, success and amazing customer experiences. 

Everyone is welcome

We are committed to a diverse and inclusive working culture, and we see this as key to our success and our working culture. Here at Selfridges, everyone is welcome - irrespective of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age or disability, we stand by equal opportunities for all. We are diverse, we are inclusive, we are Selfridges.

The Fun Stuff  

There are lots of reasons to be excited about joining Team Selfridges – from our fantastic team member communities to volunteer days and behind-the-scenes Selfridges experiences throughout the year. 

Other benefits and rewards include:

• Generous bonus and/or commission scheme 
• Discounted gym memberships 
• Pension contributions  
• Annual travel pass and cycle to work schemes 
• A volunteer day for all team members 
• Access to a wide range of training programmes to help your career development

Selfridges