Senior Manager, Software Release Program Management
About The Position
The Senior Manager, Software Release Program Management will lead the program-management organization responsible for making vehicle software releases more predictable and scalable. The role will establish clear release plans, surface risks early, resolve delivery bottlenecks, and evolve releases toward a more frequent cadence, including monthly releases and regular security updates, while maintaining quality and readiness standards. The position has the visibility and influence to improve how releases move from development through validation and into vehicles, and will build a strong program-management organization. The role leads a team of 10–20 technical program managers, establishing release standards, operating rhythms, and clear ownership. It oversees integrated release planning, readiness and change governance, risk management, cross-functional alignment, validation, and post-release improvement. The position is categorized as hybrid, with the selected candidate expected to report to a specific location at least three times a week or at another frequency set by their manager.
Requirements
- At least 5 years of experience leading technical program managers or a program-management organization, including hiring, coaching, and developing people.
- At least 10 years of experience managing software release, delivery, or release-engineering programs for complex embedded, platform, or comparable software.
- A track record of improving release frequency, cycle time, and delivery predictability at scale.
- Working knowledge of modern release practices, including change control, release readiness, gating, and CI/CD, and the judgment to guide strategy and trade-offs.
- Experience partnering with engineering and quality teams to improve early validation, reduce rework or respins, and increase delivery throughput.
- Strong cross-functional leadership, risk and dependency management, and written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level reporting.
Nice To Haves
- Experience delivering embedded automotive, infotainment, Android Open Source Project (AOSP), or other connected-device software.
- Familiarity with over-the-air (OTA) updates, security-patch delivery, and software configuration or part-number release processes.
- Experience with release governance, change review boards, validation sign-offs, or hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and emulator-based testing.
- Experience building release dashboards and using metrics to improve velocity, predictability, and quality.
- Familiarity with Jira and Confluence or similar program-management tools.
Responsibilities
- Hire, coach, and develop technical program managers and establish clear ownership across release programs.
- Set practical standards, playbooks, and operating rhythms to support consistent, high-quality program execution.
- Prioritize team capacity toward important release outcomes and support individual growth and performance.
- Lead the evolution toward more frequent software releases and regular security updates.
- Identify and remove bottlenecks from code completion through validation and vehicle delivery to reduce cycle time and improve on-time performance.
- Create integrated plans with milestones, risk visibility, and go/no-go criteria.
- Build scalable release operations with clear intake, prioritization, work-in-progress practices, and service expectations.
- Align upstream software development with downstream validation and over-the-air delivery.
- Lead release planning, change governance, readiness reviews, and stakeholder communication.
- Partner with engineering and quality teams to introduce validation evidence earlier and shorten test-and-fix cycles.
- Use automated test and quality-gate results to inform release readiness and decisions, partnering with system owners to improve outcomes.
- Lead post-release reviews and defect-escape analysis, translating lessons into measurable improvements.
- Build working relationships across Development, Product, Quality Assurance, Configuration and Software Change Management, Security, and OTA delivery.
- Communicate status, dependencies, trade-offs, and risks to senior leaders and delivery teams.
- Bring stakeholders together around shared plans, decisions, and accountability for release outcomes.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision benefit options
- Health Savings Account
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Retirement savings plan
- Sickness and accident benefits
- Life insurance
- Paid vacation and holidays
- Tuition assistance programs
- Employee assistance program
- GM vehicle discounts
- Incentive pay program with payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance
- Company vehicle evaluation program, subject to a motor vehicle report review and program requirements
- Relocation benefits for candidates who qualify under company policy
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
