Release Manager

**About the Department**

The Department of Education leads on Victoria's new Child Information Sharing Reforms, including the whole of Victorian Government policy development, legislation and stewardship of the change program, and in addition, the delivery of Child Link. Responding to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse, these reforms promote the optimisation of children's engagement in government funded services, and a shared commitment to child wellbeing and safety across services and communities

**About the Division**

The Early Childhood Education Digital Services Team is made up of a number of Branches and teams, which work collaboratively together to achieve the whole of Victorian Government and Divisional goals. Working with new and emerging technologies to transform and support the Early Childhood Educations sector.

**The Early Childhood Education Digital Services Team designs and supports a variety of technology solutions, including Child Link-a groundbreaking system built on leading-edge technology such as a Master Data Management (MDM) platform and cloud-based services. Child Link compiles child profiles that track engagement with education and wellbeing services across multiple source systems, providing a comprehensive view of each child's journey. In late 2022, the team launched the Arrival Program to deliver a digital solution for collecting kindergarten attendance data. This initiative aims to enhance outcomes for children, support performance reporting, and meet the requirements of the Commonwealth Pre-School Reform Agreement.**:
**About the Role**

The Release Manager plays a crucial role in ensuring the effective delivery of software releases across multiple digital solutions within the Early Childhood Education Digital Services branch. This position is responsible for providing comprehensive delivery and release management support, contributing to project planning, and driving ongoing system enhancements.

As a key member of the Delivery Management team, the Release Manager will oversee release coordination activities, governance, planning, and reporting, ensuring optimal team performance and value delivery. They will manage the planning and scheduling of software releases, working closely with technical and business Subject Matter Experts to coordinate, communicate, and align release schedules across various solutions and delivery streams.

The role requires active engagement in both projects and Business as Usual (BAU) operations, effectively managing dependencies, impacts, and processes across multiple teams and organisational units. Drawing upon their expertise in project management methodologies, the Release Coordinator will integrate traditional principles with a tailored Agile approach to support complex, business-critical initiatives. They will maintain the right balance between agility and predictability, ensuring seamless release execution and continuous improvement.**

**Attributes**

The responsibilities will include.
- Release planning & scheduling: Develop and maintain release schedules, project roadmaps, and timelines, ensuring alignment with business and technical requirements.
- Stakeholder communication & coordination: Communicate release schedules, dependencies, and impacts across various solution streams and IT teams to ensure transparency and readiness.
- Change management: Oversee the request for change process and facilitate Change Advisory Board approvals where necessary.
- Documentation & compliance: Prepare and coordinate release documentation, production verification testing, and release communications, ensuring compliance with organisational standards.
- Demand management & prioritisation: Assist in coordinating prioritisation efforts across multiple teams, aligning releases with business needs.
- Project planning & risk management: Contribute to project planning efforts, including schedule updates, dependency mapping, timeline adjustments, and risk management strategies.
- Reporting & Analysis: Produce relevant reports and documentation to support release tracking and reporting.
- Team collaboration: Foster strong relationships across teams, ensuring smooth coordination between business, IT, and external vendors.
- Governance: Coordinate and provide input for authorisation bodies such as the Information Management and Technology Committee and Change Advisory Board.
- Quality assurance & testing Support: Work with testing teams to ensure adequate validation before production deployment.
- Post-Release Evaluation: Conduct reviews to assess release success and gather feedback for future improvements.

**Desirable**Qualifications and Experience**
- Proven ability to manage release processes simultaneously across Business as Usual (BAU) operations and complex IT programs, ensuring seamless coordination across multiple project streams and technology solutions.
- Experience in multi-stream release coordination activities such