NRG Energy

Manager, Software Release Management

NRG Energy$108K — $130K *
Lehi, UT 84043In-Person
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years in Release Management, Technical Program Management, or Software Delivery with 3+ years in leadership roles
  • Experience scaling release management across cloud, mobile, embedded, and firmware technology domains
  • Proven track record in managing and developing a team of 5-10 Release Managers
  • Expertise in release governance and risk management in complex environments
  • Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and modern release automation practices
  • Experience defining release metrics, KPIs, and dashboards for decision-making
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or relevant field

Responsibilities

  • Lead and develop a team of Release Managers supporting multiple engineering groups
  • Drive aligned and coordinated release execution by collaborating with cross-functional teams
  • Establish release governance, standards, and best practices across product and engineering teams
  • Oversee release calendars and milestone planning across varied delivery streams
  • Identify and manage release risks and operational constraints to avoid surprises
  • Define and operationalize metrics and dashboards for release performance visibility
  • Drive continuous improvement in release processes, tooling, and automation

Benefits

  • Opportunities for mentoring and career development
  • Collaborative work environment that fosters continuous improvement
  • Potential for involvement in diverse technology domains including IoT and cloud solutions
  • Strong emphasis on leadership development and team growth
  • Opportunity to work in a high-performing and agile organizational culture
Full Job Description
Summary

As Vivint Smart Home continues to scale across cloud, mobile, embedded, and firmware product lines, release operations have become a critical lever for delivery speed, platform reliability, and customer trust. We are seeking a Manager, Release Management, to lead the strategy, execution, and continuous evolution of release operations across this full portfolio.

This role operates at the intersection of technical delivery and organizational leadership. You will build and develop a high-performing Release Management function, drive alignment across Engineering, Quality Engineering (QE), Vertical Quality Leads (VQL), Product, Program, DevOps, and Operations, and ensure every release is governed, executed, and delivered with rigor and consistency.

You will balance process discipline with agility-leveraging CI/CD maturity, automation, and evidence-based decision making to improve release velocity, reduce risk, and strengthen operational confidence across all product domains.

Key Responsibilities

1. Team Leadership: Build the function, grow the talent
  • Lead, coach, and develop a team of Release Managers supporting multipleengineering groups
  • Create role clarity, strong operating rhythms, and consistent execution standards across the team
  • Build organizational capability through mentoring, performance management, and career development, while fostering a culture of accountability, urgency, collaboration, and continuous improvement


2. Cross-Functional Execution: Team One for release delivery
  • Partner closely with Engineering, QE, VQL, Product, Program, DevOps, Operations, and Support to drive aligned, coordinated release execution
  • Create a shared release operating cadence that brings clarity to priorities, risks, dependencies, and readiness across teams
  • Ensure stakeholders are aligned early, escalations are surfaced quickly, and release decisions are made with the right level of visibility and accountability


3. Release Governance: Clear standards, stronger decisions
  • Establish and scale release governance, standards, policies, and best practices across product and engineering teams
  • Define release readiness criteria, checkpoints, approval workflows, and standard artifacts that improve consistency and auditability
  • Guide Go/No-Go decisions with clear, risk-based recommendations grounded in scope health, quality signals, dependency status, and operational readiness


4. Integrated Planning: One portfolio, multiple release domains
  • Oversee release calendars, milestone planning, dependency tracking, and integrated schedules across cloud, mobile, embedded, and firmware delivery streams
  • Support release planning by aligning timing, sequencing, capacity, and organizational interdependencies
  • Ensure release plans include quality validation, environment readiness, launch coordination, rollback strategies, and support preparedness - so releases are ready operationally, not just technically


5. Risk Management & Escalation: No surprises in the critical path
  • Identify, assess, and manage release risks, dependencies, and operational constraints across a complex portfolio
  • Drive proactive mitigation planning throughout the release lifecycle, not just at the end
  • Serve as a senior escalation point for critical blockers, quality concerns, timeline risks, and deployment issues - helping teams navigate trade-offs quickly while protecting customer experience, business commitments, and platform stability


6. Metrics & Visibility: From release status to release intelligence
  • Define and operationalize release health metrics, KPIs, and dashboards that provide meaningful visibility into release performance
  • Measure and report on outcomes such as on-time delivery, deployment failures, release confidence, change failure rate, rollback rates, production incidents, MTTR, and deployment automation coverage
  • Improve executive reporting with clear status, actionable risk views, and trend-based insights that support better planning and decision-making


7. Operational Excellence & CI/CD Maturity: Manual effort 6#47; scalable release systems
  • Drive continuous improvement in release processes, tooling, and automation to improve speed, reliability, and efficiency
  • Partner with engineering and platform teams to advance CI/CD maturity, reduce manual release overhead, and strengthen deployment practices
  • Standardize release workflows across the portfolio - from frequent cloud deployments to coordinated mobile launches to controlled embedded/firmware releases - adapting where domain differences matter
  • Automate where practical and eliminate recurring sources of friction that create delay, confusion, or release instability
  • Lead post-release reviews, retrospectives, and root cause analysis; use data, trends, and team feedback to strengthen planning, governance, and execution every cycle


How You9;ll Measure Success (KPIs)
  • On-time release delivery: % of releases shipped on or before the committed date - trending up across all release domains
  • Deployment failure 6#38; rollback rate: % of deployments requiring rollback or emergency intervention - trending down
  • Release cycle time: time from code complete to production - reduced without eroding reliability or customer experience
  • Change failure rate (CFR): % of releases causing production incidents - trending down
  • Mean time to recovery (MTTR): time from release-related incident to resolution - trending down
  • Release readiness compliance: % of releases meeting all governance checkpoints before deployment - trending up
  • Deployment automation coverage: % of release steps automated vs. manual - increasing over time
  • Release dashboard signal quality: executive reporting accuracy, dependency transparency, milestone accuracy, and scope-to-outcome traceability - improved quarter over quarter


Required Qualifications
  • 10+ years in Release Management, Technical Program Management, or Software Delivery, with 3+ years leading teams in a multi-product software organization
  • Proven experience building or scaling a release management function across multiple technology domains (cloud, mobile, embedded, firmware)
  • Track record managing and developing a team of 5-10 Release Managers, including coaching, performance management, and career development
  • Strong expertise in release governance, readiness frameworks, Go/No-Go decision-making, and risk/escalation management across complex delivery environments
  • Working knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, deployment orchestration, and modern release automation practices
  • Experience defining release health metrics, KPIs, and dashboards that drive decision quality and operational visibility
  • Proven ability to drive aligned execution across Engineering, QE, Product, Program, DevOps, and Operations boundaries
  • Bachelor9;s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field - or equivalent practical experience


Preferred Qualifications 6#38; Credentials
  • Experience supporting mixed release domains across SaaS/cloud, native mobile, connected devices, and firmware
  • Track record improving CI/CD maturity, deployment automation, and release tooling at scale
  • Proficiency with Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, Tableau, or similar release planning and reporting platforms
  • Experience in consumer technology, IoT, or device-cloud ecosystems
  • Working knowledge of incident management, change control, and operational compliance in production environments
  • Familiarity with AI-assisted release practices (automated change impact analysis, intelligent deployment gating, predictive risk scoring)
  • Agile, SAFe, PMP, or Lean Six Sigma certifications are a plus


Ways of Working
  • Servant-leader first: builds trust, accountability, and psychological safety while holding a high bar for execution quality; creates an environment where Release Managers grow, take ownership, and challenge the status quo
  • Communicates to the audience translates release complexity into crisp executive summaries for leadership and into actionable plans for delivery teams; no one leaves a conversation unclear on status, risk, or next steps
  • Leads through influence, not authority: creates alignment across teams with different priorities, delivery models, and technical constraints; earns credibility through consistency, follow-through, and sound judgment
  • Balances speed with stability: ensures release processes enable the business to move fast without compromising reliability or customer experience; knows when to push and when to protect
  • Runs a disciplined operating cadence: release planning, risk and dependency reviews, release readiness checkpoints, and post-release retrospectives - each with clear inputs, outputs, and owners
  • Partners with stakeholders to ensure release decisions are evidence-based, quality signals are trusted, and governance is shared - not siloed

About NRG Energy

NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy. Whether as the largest solar power developer in the country or by giving customers the latest tools to better manage their energy use, NRG is a pioneer in developing smarter energy choices. Our diverse power generating facilities have a capacity of about 52,000 megawatts, capable of supporting almost 42 million homes. Our retail electricity providers — Reliant and Energy Plus — and thermal energy division serve nearly 3 million residential, business, commercial and industrial customers. A Fortune 250 company, NRG supports clean energy resources and technologies critical to our transition to a sustainable, low carbon society. We built the nation's first privately-funded electric vehicle charging infrastructure and continue to create new, clean energy solutions for our customers. In addition to our environmental efforts, we actively contribute to the local communities where NRG employees live and work. Since 2004, our Global Giving program has provided millions of dollars to organizations and charities that have a direct impact on the lives of the people in our communities, including food banks and those that foster self-sufficiency, improve housing and provide supplemental education to people in need. NRG has also organized special responses for victims of extreme catastrophe, such as the Haitian earthquake and the Japanese tsunami in 2010. Employee donations were tripled to maximize the contributions. NRG has won numerous awards for industry leadership and many of its nationwide econrg initiatives, which are targeted toward meeting the challenges of climate change, clean air and natural resources protection.

NRG Energy Careers

Join the vibrant team at NRG Energy, a leader in the power and energy sector, and contribute to a sustainable future while advancing your career. At NRG Energy, we are committed to innovation, leadership, and diversity, ensuring a dynamic workplace where growth and opportunity are at the forefront.

Work You’ll Do

At NRG Energy, you’ll engage in meaningful work that powers communities and fosters environmental stewardship. Our team of professionals is dedicated to leading the energy sector through cutting-edge innovation and sustainable practices. By joining us, you help shape the future of energy, leveraging your skills to make a significant impact.

Explore Job Opportunities and Internships

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a recent graduate, NRG Energy offers a range of job opportunities and internships that will harness your potential and polish your skills. Our positions span from technical roles in energy management to leadership tracks in corporate functions. Each role is crucial in driving our mission of a sustainable energy future.

Career Development and Benefits

NRG Energy is deeply invested in the professional growth of its employees. We offer robust career development programs, including leadership training, professional networking opportunities, and diversity training. Our benefits package is designed to support the well-being and financial security of our team members and their families, promoting a healthy work-life balance.

Culture of Innovation and Diversity

Our company culture celebrates diversity, encourages innovation, and fosters a collaborative environment. At NRG Energy, you’ll work alongside a diverse team of experts, each bringing unique perspectives that drive our success. We believe that inclusive teamwork and innovative thinking are the keys to our continued growth and leadership in the energy sector.

Join Our Team

Embark on a rewarding career path at NRG Energy by exploring our current hiring opportunities. Tailor your job search to match your career aspirations and skills. Prepare your resume, ace the interview, and join a team that’s committed to making a difference.

Stay Connected

Keep up to date with the latest from NRG Energy: - **Career Insights**: Gain industry-leading insights and read about the latest trends in the energy sector on our careers blog. - **Job Alert Emails**: Customize your subscription to receive job alerts and insider tips that align with your career preferences. At NRG Energy, your career is more than a job—it’s a journey of growth, learning, and leadership. Join us in powering the world’s energy future while building a promising career for yourself. Explore opportunities, embrace our culture, and be part of our mission to lead the energy transition.

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Learn more about NRG Energy
Size
6,635 employees
Market Cap
$7.4 billion
Industry
Net Income
$510 million
Founded
1989
5 Year Trend
+24.8%
Revenue
$9 billion
NASDAQ

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