Test and Release Manager

Maximus is a global organisation that specialises in providing health and employment services to millions of people every year. Here in the UK we employ around 5,000 people across the country to deliver services that have a profound impact on people’s lives. From assessments and health services to employability programmes and specialist support, we do work that matters with people who care. Role Summary The Test and Release Manager is responsible for planning, managing, and controlling the releases of technology and to assure the quality of the release by planning and leading the testing of the end to end solution to a successful go-live into production. They are also accountable for working with Service Operations to assure that all aspects of services are designed, delivered, and tested to assure quality service introduction to the live environment. To partner with the Operations Service Managers to assure the embedding of post go-live support to meet agreed SLAs. This is achieved through managing a team of testers, 3rd parties, stakeholders, end users and working closely with technical delivery teams and Service Operations teams. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Testing Strategy and Implementation Develop a testing strategy for the project/programme and setup the tools and methods to be used across the team including automation where possible. Develop or facilitate the development of the test plans for all testing phases from system – user – integration – performance – operational testing as required. Release Planning and Coordination Develop the programme release schedule with the delivery teams, the client and 3rd parties assuring all dependencies are understood and buy-in gained, ensuring meeting all delivery commitment milestones. Ensure all resources required are available to deliver the release schedule – people, environments and tools. Manage the release schedule with all parties to assure correct functions are available on time for testing and go-live depending upon internal/clients and 3rd party applications, defect backlogs, planned infrastructure, software and data releases. Define and manage the technology go-live checklist for each release to agreed standards. Service Introduction Work with Service Operations and 3rd parties to define services and SLAs post go-live aligned with end user and client expectations – Identify and analyse handover requirements, and design the service post project. Design, build, test, and document any Service Operations requirements e.g. automated processes, tools, monitoring. Oversee deployment of the service, ensuring service acceptance criteria are met. Partner with Service Management on hypercare post go-live or post each release to assure all SLAs can be met and all backlogs of agreed defects are fixed. Stakeholder Management Manage interfaces with external stakeholders (clients, business partners, commissioners etc.) in order to ensure full integration of solutions. Work with relevant technology teams (internal, client and 3rd parties) responsible for building the tools used to develop and deploy solutions. Manage the internal and external teams of testers. Manage the budget and expenditure associated with testing and release, ensuring that costs are contained within agreed levels and that the benefits are realised. Plan and publish weekly updates on the release activities. Qualifications & Experience Three years’ experience in a similar role or in a senior technical solution delivery and/or Development Manager role. Experience of delivering and managing all types of testing and use of testing tools and ideally certified e.g. ISTQB. Good understanding of all delivery methodologies including Agile & DevOps methodologies and ideally certified. Experienced with ITIL processes and in particular Service introduction processes, ideally ITIL3 or 4 certified. Demonstrable experience of process improvement, including automation of development or testing activity, especially automated testing. An understanding of architectural principles and product integration management. Experience assuring solutions are delivered to enable organisational goals and required benefits. Experience engaging with Clients and customers with an ability to understand things from an end user perspective. Experience managing teams. Experience of simultaneously working with and managing multi-discipline teams across multiple projects. Experience working with or reporting to senior leadership teams or individuals. Good verbal and written communication skills. Strong and proven line manager capability. Ability to communicate technical information in a non-technical manner. Ability to remotely develop good relationships that are positive, supportive and collaborative with teams and individuals including members of the leadership team. Good self-motivation and ability to maintain appropriate pace of work. Ability to understand business objectives and maintain appropriate levels of confidentiality. Good problem-solving skills. Ability to understand and manage expectations of individuals from across the business. Calm, logical and analytical approach, even under pressure. Ability to identify opportunities for improvement, including investigation and implementation of best practice methodologies, practices and tools. Ability to proactively monitor, manage, report on and remove project and product availability impediments. Strong influencing skills demonstrated across a wide variety of stakeholders, vendors, users to assure delivery of outcomes. #J-18808-Ljbffr