Release & Deployment Manager (Outside IR35)

Contract: 6 months | Rate: £500-£600/day

Location: Central London once per week max (remainder remote)

Overview

Senior Release & Deployment Manager required to design, embed and operate a unified release management model across Azure DevOps, Azure integration services, Dynamics 365 (CE & F&O), and Adobe platforms. The role focuses on establishing standards, running early releases, and handing over a proven, auditable model into BAU.

Key Responsibilities

• Orchestrate and manage end-to-end release processes across DEV, SIT, UAT, Pre-Prod and Production for Integration, Dynamics 365 CE & F&O, and Adobe platforms using Azure DevOps.
• Develop and implement the Release & Deployment Management Strategy, defining release cadence, calendars, promotion gates, Go/No-Go, cutover, rollback and audit evidence.
• Define and enforce branching and ALM standards in Azure DevOps (and Bitbucket where applicable), including protected branches, PR policies, approval gates and tag-driven, immutable releases.
• Establish build-once / deploy-many patterns with immutable artefacts to prevent environment drift and ensure full traceability.
• Create and execute cross-platform cutover and deployment playbooks, leading early production cutovers to validate the release model.
• Embed release activity into Change Governance and CAB, managing the forward schedule of change, pre-reads, approvals and PIRs.
• Ensure end-to-end traceability from Azure DevOps work items and tags through pipelines, environments, change records and approvals, with clear release communications and operational readiness.

Essential Experience

• Proven enterprise release management experience within formal Change and CAB environments.
• Strong Git branching strategy design and enforcement in Azure DevOps (trunk-based or justified GitFlow).
• Hands-on experience with tag-driven releases, immutable artefacts, automated release notes and environment promotion controls.
• CI/CD delivery in Azure DevOps for Azure Data Factory and Logic Apps, including templating, parameterisation, secrets and approvals.
• Dynamics 365 CE ALM: solution management, pipelines, managed/unmanaged strategy, environment gating and rollback.
• Dynamics 365 F&O release and deployment experience, including build and deploy pipelines, environment promotion, release evidence and rollback planning.
• Release management for Adobe CDP / Adobe Campaign Classic, including promotion approaches, CAB evidence and rollback documentation.
• Strong stakeholder communication skills; confident chairing release forums and driving alignment across multiple teams.

Desirable

• ITIL Change or Release Management certification.
• Azure and/or Azure DevOps certifications.
• Experience aligning CRM, ERP, integration and data platforms to a single release calendar.