Lead Change and Release Manager

JetBlue Airways Corporation•New York, NY

3d•$118,800 - $177,100•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Change & Release Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and governing software releases and production change activity across JetBlue’s technology organization. This role ensures technology changes are sequenced safely, communicated effectively, and executed with minimal disruption to JetBlue’s customer and crewmember experiences. Operating as “Production Air Traffic Control,” this role serves as the central point of visibility for enterprise release activity, aligning Engineering, Infrastructure, Product, and Operational stakeholders to support production readiness, risk-based decision-making, and operational stability. This role is not responsible for deploying builds or managing CI/CD pipelines. Reporting to the Senior Manager, Technology Change & Release Management, this role partners closely with Technology leadership and delivery teams to improve release predictability, strengthen Change governance, drive organizational adoption of Release Management standards, and support the continued evolution of JetBlue’s Change & Release Management Center of Excellence.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field; OR demonstrated capability to perform job responsibilities with a High School Diploma/GED and at least four (4) years of previous relevant work experience
Five (5) years of related experience in release management, technology delivery, production operations, enterprise application support, or related technology functions
Experience coordinating production releases or technology change activity across multiple systems and teams
Experience working within Agile or modern software delivery environments
Familiarity with ITIL Change and Release Management processes and terminology
Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to work across technical and non-technical teams
Demonstrated ability to manage operational risk, cross-team dependencies, and competing priorities in complex environments
Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills
Available for occasional overnight travel (10%)
Must pass a pre-employment drug test
Must be legally eligible to work in the country in which the position is located
Authorization to work in the US is required, this position is not eligible for visa sponsorship

Nice To Haves

Experience coordinating enterprise release calendars, production deployment schedules, or large-scale cross-functional initiatives
Experience working in high-availability, customer-facing production environments
Familiarity with enterprise change governance, operational readiness, or production risk management practices
Proficiency with tools such as Jira, Confluence, ServiceNow, and/or Jira Service Management for Change & Release Management
Experience supporting or improving release management tooling, workflows, or operational reporting processes
Strong interpersonal and influencing skills with the ability to drive alignment across multiple teams and stakeholders
Demonstrated ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives, build stakeholder alignment, and drive coordinated execution across multiple teams and business areas
Familiarity with Agile software delivery practices and modern release management workflows
Experience supporting operationally sensitive or highly regulated environments such as airline, transportation, financial services, or similar industries
Ability to tailor communication to both technical and non-technical audiences

Responsibilities

Manage the enterprise release calendar, deployment windows, and production change schedule to support operational stability and business priorities
Coordinate release planning and production change activity across technology and operational teams to ensure visibility, alignment, and production readiness
Identify and manage cross-team dependencies, operational risks, and scheduling conflicts associated with production releases
Sequence and coordinate technology changes to minimize customer impact and reduce operational risk across production environments
Serve as the central coordination point for enterprise release activity, ensuring alignment between technology changes, operational priorities, and business events
Ensure production releases meet established readiness standards, including implementation planning, rollback preparedness, validation activities, and support coordination
Support risk-based release decision-making during operational events, production instability, or elevated risk periods
Facilitate communication and coordination across stakeholders during release execution, operational events, and release escalations
Maintain release management documentation, reporting, and enterprise release visibility artifacts
Provide leadership visibility into release schedules, production risks, operational constraints, and deployment readiness
Track and analyze release management metrics and trends to improve release predictability, operational stability, and governance effectiveness
Drive adoption of enterprise change and release management standards across technology teams
Identify opportunities to improve release management processes, operational transparency, and cross-team coordination
Other duties as assigned