Senior Manager, Release & Program Management

About the role

This position offers the opportunity to lead and scale release management, program execution, and product operations within a fast-growing technology environment. You will help establish predictable, efficient, and collaborative ways of working across product, engineering, design, and customer-facing teams.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the release management function, ensuring predictable, high-quality launches across product, engineering, design, and go-to-market teams.
• Lead release planning, readiness activities, quality processes, testing coordination, and communication workflows to support successful deployments.
• Manage and mentor a team of Technical Program Managers and QA professionals while remaining hands-on with critical releases and strategic initiatives.
• Establish clear expectations, improve execution standards, and foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Drive cross-functional alignment by ensuring teams have visibility into project status, risks, decisions, dependencies, and launch readiness.
• Partner with product and engineering leadership to identify opportunities where program management can improve execution of strategic priorities.
• Oversee program management for key customer initiatives, coordinating across technical and business teams to deliver successful customer experiences.
• Define success metrics for releases and programs, analyze outcomes, and implement improvements that increase efficiency and stakeholder confidence.
• Identify process bottlenecks, streamline workflows, and introduce scalable frameworks that improve delivery predictability.
• Promote AI-powered ways of working by encouraging adoption of automation, AI-assisted tools, and efficient workflows that reduce manual effort and improve team productivity.
• Support incident management, operational improvements, and continuous enhancement of product delivery practices.

Requirements

• 5+ years of leadership experience in release management, program management, QA, product operations, or related roles within SaaS or technology organizations.
• Proven experience managing teams while maintaining hands-on ownership of strategic projects and operational initiatives.
• Strong track record delivering complex cross-functional programs from planning and alignment through successful launch.
• Experience improving processes through measurable outcomes, operational efficiency, and stakeholder confidence.
• Exceptional communication and facilitation skills with the ability to align technical and business teams.
• Strong leadership abilities with experience coaching teams, setting expectations, and driving high performance.
• Experience using program management and incident management tools such as Linear, PagerDuty, or similar platforms.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with a strong bias toward action.
• Customer-focused mindset with the ability to advocate for internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of modern product development practices and release processes.
• AI fluency and experience using AI tools such as Claude, Copilot, Cursor, or similar solutions to improve research, communication, execution, and automation.
• Growth mindset with curiosity about emerging technologies and innovative approaches to team productivity.

Benefits

• Full-time remote work opportunity across Canada.
• Flexible work-from-anywhere environment.
• Competitive compensation package with salary range of CAD $148,800-$202,700 per year.
• Health and dental benefits.
• Unlimited paid time off.
• Home office support with up to $2,025 CAD for IT setup.
• Internet and mobile service support allowance.
• RSP matching program of up to 2%.
• Learning and professional development opportunities.
• Opportunity to work with creative, technology-driven teams on impactful products.
• Inclusive workplace culture focused on collaboration, innovation, and employee success.