Release Manager

Role Summary

As Release Manager, you own WellHive's Alpha → Beta → GA release-management gate process end to end. You are the single point of accountability for deciding which completed features ship immediately and which are bundled through the full activation gate, and for building the release bundles that carry those features through testing, validation, and hand-off. Your work turns a steady stream of completed development items into a predictable, well-documented release cadence that WellHive, its System Integrator partners, and its customers can plan around.

You will build and maintain the three-packet Activation Packet Portfolio, the Alpha Testing Packet, Beta Testing Packet, and GA Activation Packet. You will enforce the exit criteria that gates each phase, including defect-priority thresholds and volume/load testing at Beta. You will chair go/no-go reviews, run daily defect triage during Alpha and Beta windows, and ensure that System Integrator engagement begins only once a capability reaches General Availability, consistent with WellHive's SI Engagement Policy.

You will also run the Monthly Feature Activation Cycle: collecting the activation-capable queue from Product Engineering, proposing the monthly (targeting bi-weekly in the future) release slate, and driving approval with SI and customer stakeholders. This role requires equal comfort with operational rigor and cross-functional facilitation. You will keep engineering, product, customer delivery, and SI partners aligned on scope, timing, and risk, while steadily compressing and streamlining the path from feature-complete to fully activated.

Responsibilities

• Own and chair the Alpha → Beta → GA release-management gate process for every WellHive integration and feature, facilitating go/no-go reviews at each phase transition
• Apply and continuously refine the immediate-release vs. full Alpha→Beta→GA decision matrix, evaluating completed items from GAL, MAG, and Product Dev Teams to determine the appropriate release path
• Bundle completed features into coordinated release bundles for the Monthly Feature Activation Cycle, maintaining the live bundle tracker and reconciling it against As-Built and GA-determination source data
• Build, maintain, and quality-check the three-packet Activation Packet Portfolio to include the Alpha Testing Packet, Beta Testing Packet, and GA Activation Packet. You will ensure each contains required test cases, per-tester pass/fail sheets, permissions and user-group instructions, and training materials
• Enforce phase-gate exit criteria, including the hard defect-priority gate (no open P1/P2/P3 defects) and the Beta-stage volume testing requirement, confirming every in-scope integration can sustain projected full-user-base load before advancing to GA
• Run daily defect triage during Alpha and Beta testing windows, coordinating with Customer Solutions Engineering squads and engineering leads to resolve blocking issues ahead of each gate review
• Operate the feature tier model that determines which items require a full activation packet versus lightweight documentation, validating tier assignments at story refinement
• Run the Monthly Feature Activation Cycle end to end: collect the activation-capable queue from Product Engineering, propose the monthly activation slate, and drive go/no-go approval with SI and customer stakeholders
• Own the timing and content of SI hand-off, ensuring System Integrator engagement begins only at GA declaration and that the GA Activation Packet is distributed per WellHive's SI Engagement Policy
• Maintain and evolve WellHive's feature-flag and feature-group policy so gated capabilities can be rolled out to targeted alpha and beta cohorts without exposing them broadly
• Track and document waivers or exceptions to the standard gate process, including regulatory holds and zero-user-impact maintenance items released outside the cadence
• Publish the recurring release calendar and status reporting, distributing updates to Customer Delivery & Programs leadership, Product, Engineering, and SI stakeholders on a predictable cadence
• Partner with Product Owners, Engineering leads, and Customer Delivery Managers to keep the release pipeline forecasted rather than reactive, advancing WellHive toward faster, more frequent release cycles
• Maintain living release-tracking artifacts (bundle trackers, gate summaries, decision logs) so release status is always current and auditable
• Escalate cross-team blockers, scope conflicts, or resourcing gaps that put a gate date at risk to Customer Delivery & Programs leadership
• Manage Feature Flags and Feature Groups

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in release management, release engineering, or program/project management for a SaaS or enterprise software product, ideally in a regulated or federal environment
• Demonstrated experience running a phased release or gate process (alpha/beta/GA or equivalent), including go/no-go reviews and enforcement of exit criteria
• Familiarity with feature-flag-driven deployment models that decouple code deployment from feature activation
• Experience with defect triage and prioritization frameworks, and coordinating volume or load testing ahead of a general-availability release
• Strong organizational and documentation skills, with the ability to produce clear, audience-appropriate release artifacts for both internal engineering teams and external SI or customer stakeholders
• Experience with Jira and Confluence for release tracking, backlog management, and living documentation
• Comfort working across Product, Engineering, Customer Success, and external systems-integrator partners to align on scope, timing, and risk
• Experience working with or within the Department of Veterans Affairs, other federal health systems, or major systems integrators (such as Deloitte or Booz Allen Hamilton) is strongly preferred
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to set clear cadences and hold cross-functional teams accountable to them