Release/Environment Manager

Koniag Government Services, LLC•Washington, DC

3d•$120,000 - $131,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Koniag IT Systems, LLC a Koniag Government Services company, is seeking a Release/Environment Manager to support KITS and our government customer in Washington, DC. The position is hybrid, requires 1 day onsite. This position requires the candidate to be able to obtain a Public Trust. The Release/Environment Manager is responsible for planning, coordinating, and managing the controlled release and deployment of application changes across Client’s enterprise environment, and for maintaining the availability, integrity, and readiness of Client’s non-production and production application environments. This individual serves as the central coordination point for all application release activities and environment management functions across the enterprise. This role requires a disciplined, process-oriented professional with strong technical knowledge of enterprise application environments, release management methodologies, and environment lifecycle management practices. The Release / Environment Manager ensures that application changes move through the release pipeline in a controlled, well-documented, and low-risk manner, and that non-production environments are available, properly configured, and ready to support development, testing, and release activities at all times. This individual must demonstrate strong organizational skills, deep familiarity with ITIL 4 release and change management practices, and the technical depth to coordinate complex, multi-system release activities across Client’s on-premises and cloud environments.

Requirements

Minimum 4–6 years of hands-on release management, environment management, or IT operations experience in an enterprise environment
Demonstrated experience planning, coordinating, and executing application releases in a Federal or comparable enterprise environment
Proven experience managing non-production application environments at enterprise scale
Experience coordinating release activities across multiple application teams and infrastructure teams simultaneously
Familiarity with CI/CD pipeline concepts and release automation in an enterprise environment
Experience with ITIL 4 change and release management practices in a formal IT service management environment
Demonstrated experience using a formal ITSM platform (e.g., ServiceNow) for release and change management activities
Experience in a Federal or private-sector enterprise environment of comparable scale, complexity, and security posture
Solid proficiency in: Release planning, scheduling, and coordination for enterprise application portfolios
Non-production environment management and lifecycle operations
ITIL 4 release management, change management, and configuration management practices
Release risk assessment, readiness review, and quality assurance
Deployment runbook development and release documentation
ITSM platform administration for release and change management workflows (e.g., ServiceNow)
Release calendar management and stakeholder communication
Environment configuration management and CMDB maintenance
SaaS Platforms such as Salesforce, Mulesoft, Snowflake, etc.
Working knowledge of: CI/CD pipeline concepts and release automation tools (e.g., Azure DevOps, Jenkins, GitHub Actions)
Microsoft Azure Government and AWS environments as they relate to application deployment
Application deployment methodologies (e.g., blue/green deployments, canary releases, rolling updates)
FedRAMP requirements for change and release management in cloud environments
Zero Trust Architecture principles as applied to environment access management
NIST SP 800-53 security controls relevant to change and configuration management
Data masking and data protection requirements for non-production environments
Agile/Scrum delivery practices and integration with release management workflows

Nice To Haves

ITIL 4 Specialist: Deploy, Adopt, and Manage (DAM) or equivalent
Microsoft Certified: Azure DevOps Engineer Expert (AZ-400)
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent
Certified Scrum Master (CSM) or equivalent

Responsibilities

Serve as the central coordinator for all application release activities across Client’s enterprise environment, maintaining a current and accurate release calendar
Lead release planning activities, including release scoping, scheduling, dependency mapping, and risk assessment for all planned application changes
Coordinate with application teams, infrastructure teams, the Service Management Lead, and the Applications & Integration Lead on release planning and scheduling
Develop and maintain release plans, deployment runbooks, and rollback procedures for all planned releases
Facilitate release readiness reviews to validate that releases are fully prepared, tested, and approved prior to production deployment
Maintain accurate release records, release calendars, and deployment documentation in the Government ITSM platform
Coordinate with the Government COR and TPOC on release scheduling and approval activities as directed by the Applications & Integration Lead
Coordinate and oversee execution of application releases across Client’s enterprise environment, ensuring controlled and well-managed deployment
Serve as the release execution coordinator during scheduled release windows, managing deployment activities, stakeholder communications, and real-time issue resolution
Maintain on-call availability for scheduled release windows outside core business hours as needed to support release execution
Monitor release execution progress, escalating issues to the Senior Application Operations Engineer or Applications & Integration Lead as appropriate
Conduct post-release validation activities, including smoke testing coordination, monitoring review, and release closure documentation
Maintain accurate post-release records, including deployment outcomes, issues encountered, and lessons learned in the Government ITSM platform
Coordinate emergency release activities for critical fixes and high-priority changes in accordance with ITIL 4 emergency change procedures
Manage the availability, integrity, configuration, and readiness of Client’s non-production application environments, including development, test, staging, and pre-production environments
Maintain accurate environment inventory, configuration records, and status documentation for all managed environments
Coordinate environment refresh, data masking, and configuration alignment activities to ensure non-production environments accurately reflect production configurations
Monitor non-production environment health and availability, taking proactive action to address issues before they impact development and testing activities
Manage environment access and user administration for non-production environments in coordination with the Microsoft Infrastructure and Infrastructure and Platform Operations teams
Support environment provisioning and decommissioning activities in coordination with the Infrastructure and Platform Operations team
Develop and maintain environment management standards, procedures, and runbooks
Support development and maintenance of release pipeline automation workflows in coordination with the Senior Application Operations Engineer and Integration / Middleware Engineer
Coordinate with the Infrastructure and Platform Operations team on CI/CD pipeline infrastructure requirements and maintenance
Support implementation of release automation improvements that reduce manual effort, improve deployment consistency, and decrease release risk
Maintain accurate release pipeline documentation, automation workflow records, and pipeline configuration standards
Monitor release pipeline performance and identify opportunities for improvement in coordination with the Applications & Integration Lead
Support testing and validation of release pipeline automation changes prior to production use
Serve as the primary liaison between release management and the ITIL 4 change management process, ensuring all releases are properly documented and approved as change records
Coordinate with the Service Management Lead on change advisory board (CAB) participation, change record management, and change approval activities for application releases
Ensure all application release changes are accurately documented as standard, normal, or emergency change records in the Government ITSM platform
Support development and maintenance of standard change templates for routine, low-risk application release activities
Contribute to change management reporting, including change success rate tracking, failed change analysis, and release metrics
Provide change and release data for Sprint metrics reporting, monthly performance dashboards, and continual improvement activities
Maintain accurate configuration management records for all managed environments, including environment topology, component versions, configuration baselines, and change history
Support configuration management database (CMDB) accuracy for environment-related configuration items in the Government ITSM platform
Conduct periodic environment configuration audits to validate that environment records accurately reflect the actual environment state
Coordinate environment configuration change activities with the Infrastructure and Platform Operations team and application teams
Develop and maintain environment configuration management standards and procedures
Support FISMA assessment and authorization activities that require accurate environment configuration documentation
Develop and distribute release communications to CLIENT stakeholders, including release schedules, maintenance window notifications, and post-release status updates
Coordinate with the Customer Success / Service Delivery team on user-facing release communications and service adoption messaging
Maintain a current and accurate release calendar that is visible and accessible to all relevant stakeholders
Facilitate release coordination meetings, including pre-release planning sessions, release execution stand-ups, and post-release retrospectives
Provide timely and accurate updates on release status, environment availability, and deployment outcomes to the Applications & Integration Lead and Contractor Program Manager
Support Sprint Reviews and monthly reporting with accurate release and environment metrics and status information
Actively participate in Agile Sprint Planning, Daily Coordination, Sprint Reviews, and Retrospectives
Maintain and contribute to the prioritized backlog for release and environment management work items
Deliver committed Sprint work items at or above the 85% completion target
Coordinate release activities with the Agile Sprint cadence, ensuring that release windows and environment management activities are aligned with Sprint boundaries and commitments
Provide timely and accurate updates on release and environment management status, project progress, and upcoming activities to the Applications & Integration Lead
Contribute actionable improvement recommendations to Sprint Retrospectives based on release and environment management observations and metrics