Director, Service and Release Management

Cubic Corporation•Austin, MA

2d•$140,000 - $200,000

About The Position

The Director, Service and Release Management is a senior leader responsible for operational execution, delivery governance, and release integrity across live and in-flight services in Cubic Transportation Systems’ Global Services portfolio. The role leads Operational Service Delivery Managers (SDMOs), Project Managers, and Release Managers, aligning the teams that operate services, deliver programs, and govern changes across lower and production environments. As a senior operational liaison to customers and customer-facing teams, the Director partners with Service Delivery Managers (SDMs), Associate General Managers, and regional Customer Success Heads to connect service performance with customer confidence. The role establishes consistent relationships and accountability across these groups, and owns the maturity agenda for Service Delivery, Project Management, and Release Management by developing scalable processes and integrating the functions across the organization. The Director oversees team development, customer and regional engagement, service escalations, process excellence, release and change planning, launch governance, capacity and impact planning, and cross-functional coordination. This includes maintaining a rolling 3–6-month release calendar, governing readiness and go/no-go decisions, ensuring post-launch stabilization, and providing leadership with a forward-looking view of delivery capacity, risks, and operational exposure.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in IT, Engineering, Operations, Business, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
At least 10 years of experience in service delivery, program management, or technology operations roles in complex enterprise environments.
At least 5 years in a senior leadership role managing multidisciplinary operational or delivery teams.
Demonstrated success leading delivery and operations functions through a maturity uplift and establishing consistent processes, governance, and execution standards.
Deep working knowledge of ITIL practices, particularly Incident, Problem, Change, and Release Management, and how they integrate in live service environments.
Proven ability to lead release governance, delivery planning, and operational readiness across lower and production environments in high-availability, mission-critical settings.
Experience coordinating delivery across engineering, infrastructure, operations, and third-party vendors in a matrixed organization.
Strong track record working directly with customers and customer-facing teams.
Executive presence to represent operational complexity credibly at senior levels and manage high-stakes escalations with clarity and composure.
Customer-focused approach that connects operational excellence to customer confidence.
Strategic and disciplined leadership, including setting direction, building systems, and maintaining execution standards.
Ability to lead clearly and authoritatively under pressure during escalations, incidents, and high-stakes delivery events.
Ability to influence and build alignment and accountability across peer functions through credibility, relationships, and clear reasoning.
Commitment to developing team members and fostering accountability and continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

Experience in transit, payments, public-sector technology, or regulated, high-availability managed services.
Exposure to compliance frameworks such as PCI DSS, ISO 27001, or similar, and their implications for release and change governance.
Familiarity with cloud-based infrastructure delivery, such as AWS or Azure, and its operational implications.
Experience in global service organizations with teams and customers across NAM, EMEA, and APAC.
Background working alongside or within a Centre of Excellence (CoE) model for service delivery standards.

Responsibilities

Lead, develop, and hold accountable SDMOs, Project Managers, and Release Managers across the Global Services portfolio.
Build a high-performing team culture grounded in operational discipline, customer accountability, and continuous improvement; establish performance expectations, escalation standards, and consistent ways of working.
Define career development paths and capability-building plans, grow internal talent, ensure appropriate program coverage, and identify and address resourcing gaps.
Serve as the senior operational leader connecting delivery execution with customers and customer-facing teams across regions.
Partner with regional Heads of Customer Success to align operational performance with regional customer commitments, priorities, and expectations.
Ensure SDMOs work effectively with assigned SDMs and Associate GMs on escalations, service performance narratives, and customer communications.
Represent the function in customer operational forums, executive briefings, and QBR preparation when senior operational leadership is required.
Ensure delivery and release activity and its impact across environments are communicated proactively to customer-facing teams.
Own the maturity roadmap for Service Delivery, Project Management, and Release Management; establish standard processes, playbooks, and operating procedures across the functions.
Build the team's understanding of program commercial context, customer value, and how operational decisions affect customer and business outcomes.
Embed customer health metrics into standard team practices and use customer health indicators to guide prioritization, escalation, and communication.
Identify systemic execution gaps and lead structural root-cause resolution; champion tools, templates, and governance that improve predictability, reduce risk, and scale across the portfolio.
Act as the senior escalation point for operational and delivery issues spanning programs, teams, or functions.
Lead high-severity escalations across SDMOs, Tech Ops, engineering, and vendor partners, keeping SDMs and customer-facing teams informed.
Define, follow, and improve escalation paths based on lessons learned; partner with Customer Success Heads and SDMs to align service performance with customer expectations and contractual commitments and surface risks early.
Own a rolling 3–6-month Global Services release and change calendar covering planned changes, upgrades, and releases across programs and environments.
Coordinate change intake and ensure changes are assessed, prioritized, and scheduled with operational, customer, and environment impacts understood.
Ensure SDMs and customer-facing teams have advance visibility of changes and releases so they can prepare customers, set expectations, and plan support coverage.
Partner with Global Tech Ops Change Management to ensure CS-originated changes follow governance standards and approval paths.
Define and enforce release governance, including readiness criteria, approval gates, go/no-go frameworks, and post-launch validation across environments.
Ensure releases and go-live events have cutover, rollback, and communications plans, confirmed support models, rehearsal evidence, and sign-off from customer-facing teams and SDMs.
Chair or sponsor release readiness reviews and launch governance forums, driving clear, evidence-based go/no-go decisions.
Manage post-release stabilization across lower and production environments, ensuring launch issues are escalated, tracked, resolved, and communicated promptly.
Own capacity and impact planning for the function and ensure sufficient team capacity to manage programs, releases, and escalations without compromising quality or customer commitments.
Lead operational impact assessments for significant changes, major releases, and large-scale delivery activity, preparing downstream teams, customer-facing partners, and customers and mitigating risks.
Coordinate with Project Managers and SDMOs to identify peak delivery periods and manage resource contention across environments.
Give leadership a forward-looking view of delivery capacity, risk concentration, and operational exposure across the portfolio.
Build working relationships with Global Tech Ops, Customer Success Operations, Technical Account Management, Business Analysis, and Financial Services.
Work with cross-functional partners to incorporate customer health metrics, satisfaction signals, and commercial risk indicators into operational planning and prioritization.
Represent Service and Release Management in senior leadership forums, portfolio reviews, and governance committees.
Partner with the CS Operations Senior Manager to embed operational processes, playbooks, and reporting standards within the team.